Jazz

Jazz

Miles Davis (1926 – 1191) was an American jazz trumpeter and composer. He is often described as one of the most influential musicians of the 20^th century, especially for his contribution into the Bebop style – a style of jazz characterized by its fast tempos, asymmetrical phrasing, intricate melodies and rhythm sections – and the Cool. The Cool is a post-war style of jazz that is mostly defined by its more relaxed tempos, lighter tone and subdued approach than that of Bebop, which preceded it. Davis was known to play with John Coltrane (1926 – 1967) and Thelonious Monk (1917 – 1982), who both also inputted greatly into the Bebop style. Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist, active mostly in the 50s and 60s. He was influenced greatly by religion and spirituality which is seen in many of his compositions. Thelonious Monk was a jazz pianist, known for his individual improvisation style and dissonant harmonies, which all contributed to him being seen at times as the ‘unorthodox pianist’. His years of activity range from the 1940s and up to 1973 all over the USA with significant contracts with Riverside and Columbia Records. Buddy Rich (1917 – 1987) was also a famous American jazz musician. He was primarily a drummer and composer in the Big-Band Swing style – a jazz style originating in the late 1920s as a “big band”, a musical ensemble with 12-15 musicians with a range of woodwind, rhythm and brass instruments, that played compositions that founded themselves in a strong rhythm section that was the lead for a range of woodwind and brass instruments that were used to produce a medium to high tempo and a “lilting” swing rhythm − over the 20^th century and up to his death. Dixieland is also a major jazz style. It was an early type of jazz developed in the New Orleans at the start of the 20^th century that migrated to New York and Chicago in the 1910s. It is based on a mixture of ragtime and blues motives that came about as a mixture of woodwind melodies, banjo and piano rhythms and a drum time-keeper and base-player. It is defined by its collective improvisation, dramatic effects and simple harmonies.