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Jazz as an African Derived Music Genre
by
Misha V. Stefanuk
Musicological, Historical and Sociological Perspectives of Developing of Jazz as an African Derived Music Genre Developed Outside of Africa
Part 2: Development of Jazz and its Connection to African Culture
In Thomas Fiehrer's article "From Quadrille to Stomp: The Creole Origins of Jazz," he makes a point that the French, specifically Creole, part of New Orleans played a significant role in the creation of jazz. In Fiehrer's words Creole culture is the reason jazz started in New Orleans instead of South Carolina, Mississippi, Jamaica or even Angola. Fiehrer looks at jazz as a combination of "spontaneous African-American statements of the less formal uptown blacks and the more traditional European expressions of the downtown Creoles."
Jazz presented to American music a communal model for musicing, which was not restricted by the composer's ideas, but instead was flexible and open to all participants. The term jam session referred to an informal gathering of musicians to perform and play improvised solos to exchange ideas, compete and to simply create music together.
One of the most important and colorful figures in early jazz was Ferdinand Jelly Roll Morton. His life, music and philosophy were typical for early jazz musicians. Born in 1890, Morton called himself French, however he was born to a Creole and Haitian family. Like Plessy, he thought of himself as belonging to privileged society, and he always presented himself accordingly, dressed very well and upscale, and acted as if he was the owner of every club he ever played. Jelly Roll started playing piano at bordellos in the Storyville district which had a profound effect on his somewhat vulgar manners and language. His music, aside from the obvious influences of blues and jazz, also reflected his listening to folk music, opera and classical pieces. As in most traditional jazz, Jelly Roll's playing featured improvisation based on the repeated chord progressions, lyrical and easily sung melodies, blue notes and swinging eights rhythm. Most of traditional jazz music was also based on repetitive rhythm, following the African model.
In traditional African music, rhythm was supplied by multiple percussionists playing different instruments. Every available melodic and harmonic instrument would then join in, creating a somewhat polyphonic structure. A very similar sound can be heard on early Dixieland recordings. Usually in jazz there was only one drummer playing a drumset, which was a combination of a number of drums and percussive instruments, mounted so it can be played by one person, rather than multiple drummers.
The roles of melodic and harmonic instruments were similar to those of their African counterparts, however, since in New Orleans musicians had access to European instruments, which could play more notes than African ones, performing practices changed overtime. In Jelly Roll Morton's piano playing, his left hand supplied a steady rhythm of ragtime, while his right hand played a combination of percussive and melodic fragments that imitate the entire band.
A large number of typical early jazz elements originated from African music, including improvisation, spontaneity, voice imitation in instrumental playing, call-response form, multi-layered heterophonic or polyphonic structures and polyrhythms. Special attention should also be paid to the role of dancing in early jazz. First, music and dance were considered to be very similar, and dancers would illustrate musical phrases just as musicians would respond to dance moves, very similar to African tradition of ngoma. Sometimes music would stop for a couple of measures, and dancers would dance, sometimes creating the sound with their movement. The tradition of tap-dance is a culmination of incorporating of music and dancing into one entity. In early New Orleans, jazz dance and music were thought of as inseparables, even when music was played during a funeral procession. This practice unquestionably had its roots in African musical practice.
Spiritual Roots of Jazz and Blues
Jazz developed at the same time as the development of blues, another musical genre also affected by African music and tradition. Where jazz progressed as city music, blues became mostly a music of rural areas, often being performed by traveling singers, most of whom carried a guitar with them. Blues musicians such as Charley Patton, Son House and Robert Johnson became well known in the African American community, and represented their spiritual and philosophical outlook on life. Their use of guitar as the main instrument was dictated mostly by its portability and musical flexibility. Just as piano in jazz, guitar also served as a percussive, melodic and harmonic instrument, often at the same time. Charley Patton, for example, developed the technique of beating the strings with the palm of his hand to get a sound similar to the drum. Vocal techniques of the early blues singers were also very similar to African, making use of not only the singing voice, but also spoken voice, falsetto and sound imitation.
African traditional music had a close connection to spirituality, which also can be said about early blues and to some degree jazz. Before he became a musician, Sonny Boy Williamson became a preacher, following the family path. Interestingly, after becoming a professional blues musician, he later preached for the funeral of a friend. Charley Patton wrote a requiem song for himself, which originally was named "Time Ain't Long", later renamed "Oh, Death". Many blues singers believed themselves to be similar to preachers in spreading the word, and considered music to be a part of the religious experience, just as African traditional musicians still do today.
In some instances, blues musicians' statements about religion were negative. Robert Johnson, for example, was believed to have made a pact with the devil, an idea that he never confirmed. Although the sudden improvement in his performance and his disappearance, that started the legend, could be easily explained in less mysterious way. The mystic approach to life and music as a part of it, in itself was philosophically similar to African culture, which also often tied the world of reality with the world of the unexplained.
Many musical characteristics of blues and jazz derived from African music, such as improvisation, intonational freedom using slides and blue notes and heavy involvement with groove, the repetitive rhythmic patterns. Most of these characteristics could not be traced to any Western sources and their effect on contemporary music was profound. Jazz was affected by Western music in many ways similar to many other indigenous and world musics. This resulted in a symbiotic new art form that soon became a symbol of American music. Peter Manuel in his article for Grove Music Online states that "The ethical, ideological and aesthetic ramifications of regional interactions between popular musics are particularly complex in the international realm, where they involve interrelated themes of homogenization and diversity, cultural imperialism, the roles of diasporas, the significance of 'world beat', and other issues pertaining to the contemporary globalization of culture." Westernization of world cultures is a subject of interest to musicologists and sociologists particularly because of its effects on contemporary popular music. In popular music the jazz influence is obvious; the rhythm and improvisation basis for the creation of musical material derived from African music.
Use of Jazz in Contemporary Educational Practice
In American pedagogy, jazz played an important role since its introduction in the sixties. However, even though most schools offer instruction in jazz and jazz study as a part of music history curriculum, the African roots of jazz are often overlooked. The philosophical, sociological and historical connections between jazz and African music and culture could provide students with a more fundamental understanding of music, culture and life itself.
Six suggestions for teaching African culture made by Susan Hume (Hume 1996) could be used as a starting point for developing and improving instruction methodology of teaching jazz, both as a music appreciation subject and as more professionally oriented training. In existing practice, confronting myths and stereotypes is almost unavoidable. Jazz is still often looked upon as a second-rate culture compared to classical music. There is a multiplicity of stereotypes related to jazz, such as jazz being easier to play, the musicians' lack of education, improvisation being a lesser skill than composition, as well as many other assumptions. It is important to teach jazz in a way that develops students' knowledge and appreciation of its technological as well as philosophical side, deeply rooted in African music. Avoiding faulty generalizations is also always important when dealing with world musics and musics derived from them.
Hume's third suggestion on presenting a balanced point of view follows the first two, but broadens the horizons of more philosophical understanding of African music, and jazz as an outcome of it. Limiting the scope of the study in jazz would limit the amount of styles and musicians that should be discussed in detail, even though the broad overview of jazz is necessary as well. Teaching jazz is often different than teaching classical music, its improvisational nature makes it dissimilar to other musical genres commonly taught in schools. Although music notation could and should be used in teaching jazz, the improvisational nature of the art form dictates the fluid and unpredictable nature of music, as well as using chord symbols and chord progressions, a subject specific to jazz music. Unlike classical music, jazz offers a very different communal participation mode, similar to African traditional music as well as many other world musics. Special attention should be paid to the connection between music and dancing, which dominated African music and used to be an important aspect of traditional jazz. Hume's last suggestion of making the musical features part of the pedagogy advocates an improvisational, flexible and communal mode of teaching similar to a jazz jam-session, the informal musicing, where all are invited to participate.
Conclusion
Jazz is one of the most universally recognized and appreciated art forms today, and teaching jazz includes teaching humanitarian and psychological lessons of extraordinary value. The building and reinventing contemporary curriculum of teaching jazz should be rooted in the fundamental understanding of its historical, sociological and philosophical genesis derived from African musical tradition and culture. Jazz's model of universal participation offers an alternative model as a solution to people's interaction. Although teaching jazz can present educators with certain challenges, its intellectual and philosophical rewards for students are substantial.
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