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| Dixieland | |
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| Stylistic origins | Jazz |
| Cultural origins | New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Typical instruments | |
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Dixieland jazz, also referred to astraditional jazz,hot jazz, or simplyDixieland, is a style ofjazz based on the music that developed inNew Orleans at the start of the 20th century. The 1917 recordings by theOriginal Dixieland Jass Band (which shortly thereafter changed the spelling of its name to "Original Dixieland Jazz Band") fostered awareness of this new style of music.
TheOriginal Dixieland Jazz Band, recording its first disc in 1917, was the first instance of jazz music being called "Dixieland", though at the time, the term referred to the band, not the genre. The band's sound was a combination of African American/New Orleansragtime andSicilian music.[1] The music of Sicily was one of the many genres in the New Orleans music scene during the 1910s, alongside sanctified church music, brass band music and blues.[2]
Much later, the term "Dixieland" was applied to early jazz bytraditional jazz revivalists, starting in the 1940s and 1950s. In his bookJazz, the critic Rex Harris defined Dixieland as "Jazz played in a quasi-New Orleans manner by white musicians." The name is a reference to the "Old South", specifically anything south of theMason-Dixon line. The term encompasses earlier brass band marches, FrenchQuadrilles,beguine,ragtime, andblues with collective,polyphonicimprovisation. While instrumentation and size of bands can be very flexible, the "standard" band consists of a "front line" of trumpet (orcornet), trombone, and clarinet, with a "rhythm section" of at least two of the following instruments: guitar orbanjo,string bass or tuba, piano, and drums.Louis Armstrong's All-Stars was the band most popularly identified with Dixieland during the 1940s, although Armstrong's own influence during the 1920s was to move the music beyond the traditional New Orleans style.
The definitive Dixieland sound is created when one instrument (usually the trumpet) plays the melody or a recognizable paraphrase or variation on it, and the other instruments of the "front line" improvise around that melody. This creates a more polyphonic sound than the arranged ensemble playing of thebig band sound or the straight "head" melodies ofbebop.
During the 1930s and 1940s, the earlier group-improvisation style fell out of favor with the majority of younger black players, while some older players of both races continued on in the older style. Though younger musicians developed new forms, many beboppers revered Armstrong and quoted fragments of his recorded music in their own improvisations.
The Dixieland revival in the late 1940s and 1950s was formed in reaction to the orchestrated sounds of theswing era and the perceived chaos of the newbebop sounds (called "Chinese music" byCab Calloway).[3] Led by the Assunto brothers' originalDukes of Dixieland, a band known for its virtuoso improvisation and recording history's firststereo record, the movement brought many semi-retired musicians a measure of fame late in their lives, as well as bringing retired musicians back onto the jazz circuit after years of not playing (such asKid Ory andRed Nichols). Many Dixieland groups of the revival era consciously imitated the recordings and bands of decades earlier. Other musicians continued to create fresh performances and new tunes. For example, in the 1950s a style called "Progressive Dixieland" sought to blend polyphonic improvisation withbebop-stylerhythm.Spike Jones & His New Band andSteve Lacy played with such bands. This style is sometimes called "Dixie-bop". Lacy went on to apply that approach to the music ofThelonious Monk,Charles Mingus,Duke Ellington, andHerbie Nichols.
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"Traditional jazz" can refer to both the early-20th century New Orleans-style of jazz performance, as well as the revivals of the genre seen in post-war American and Britain.[4][5][6]
The emergence of Dixieland jazz cannot be understood without considering the socio-cultural environment ofNew Orleans. The city's unique ecological and social conditions played a role in the production of Dixieland.[7] The fusion of multiple musical cultures and backgrounds including African, European, and Caribbean helped create a musical environment that encouraged a blending of styles. Factors such as population, economic conditions, and social practice shaped the development of Dixieland jazz. Parades such asMardi Gras andSt. Patrick's Day provided spaces for musicians to experiment with new sounds and styles.[8]
The social structure of New Orleans also had a significant impact on the development of jazz. African American communities in New Orleans were not only involved in the creation of jazz but through the shaping of its earliest performances. The community had several gatherings in churches, clubs, or at home that helped foster an informal setting in which musicians could express themselves through creativity.[9]
Dixieland largely evolved into Chicago style in the late 1910s and the new style was popularly called that name by the early 1920s.[10]
"Chicago style" is often applied to the sound of Chicagoans such asJimmy McPartland,Eddie Condon,Muggsy Spanier, andBud Freeman. The rhythm sections of these bands substitute thestring bass for the tuba and the guitar for thebanjo. Musically, the Chicagoans play in more of a swing-style 4-to-the-bar manner. The New Orleanian preference for an ensemble sound is deemphasized in favor of solos.[11] Chicago-style Dixieland also differs from its southern origin by being faster paced, resembling the hustle-bustle of city life. Chicago-style bands play a wide variety of tunes, including most of those of the more traditional bands plus many of theGreat American Songbook selections from the 1930s byGeorge Gershwin,Jerome Kern,Cole Porter, andIrving Berlin. Non-Chicagoans such asPee Wee Russell andBobby Hackett are often thought of as playing in this style. This modernized style came to be calledNicksieland, afterNick's Tavern, where it was popular, though the term was not limited to that club.
The "West Coast revival" is a movement that was begun in the late 1930s byLu Watters and hisYerba Buena Jazz Band in San Francisco and extended by trombonistTurk Murphy. It started out as a backlash to theChicago style, which is closer in development towardsswing. The repertoire of these bands is based on the music ofJoe "King" Oliver,Jelly Roll Morton,Louis Armstrong, andW.C. Handy. Bands playing in the West Coast style use banjo and tuba in the rhythm sections, which play in a two-to-the-bar rhythmic style.[12]
Much performed traditional Dixieland tunes include: "When the Saints Go Marching In", "Muskrat Ramble", "Struttin' with Some Barbecue", "Tiger Rag", "Dippermouth Blues", "Milenberg Joys", "Basin Street Blues", "Tin Roof Blues", "At the Jazz Band Ball", "Panama", "I Found a New Baby", "Royal Garden Blues" and many others. All of these tunes were widely played by jazz bands of the pre-WWII era, especially Louis Armstrong. They came to be grouped as Dixieland standards beginning in the 1950s.
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Largely occurring at the same time as the "New Orleans Traditional" revival movement in the US, traditional jazz music made a comeback in theLow Countries. However, most Dutch jazz bands (such asThe Ramblers) had since evolved into theswing era, while the few remaining traditional jazz bands (such as theDutch Swing College Band) did not partake in the broader traditional revival movement, and continued to playragtime and early jazz. This greatly limited the number of bands aspiring jazz musicians could join (as they were using instruments unavailable to most Dutch musicians such as double basses and the piano), so were forced to improvise, resulting in a new form of jazz ensemble generally referred to "Oude Stijl" ("Old Style") jazz inDutch.
Influenced by the instrumentation of the two principal orchestral forms of thewind band in theNetherlands andBelgium, the "harmonie" and the "fanfare", traditional Dutch jazz bands do not feature a piano and contain nostringed instruments apart from thebanjo. They include multiple trumpets, trombones and saxophones accompanied by a single clarinet,sousaphone and a section ofmarching percussion usually including awashboard.
The music played by Dutch jazz bands includes originalNew Orleans tunes and songs of the revival era. In playing style, Dutch jazz bands occupy a position between revivalist and original New Orleans jazz, with moresolos than the latter, but without abandoning the principle of ensemble playing. With the average band containing up to 15 players, Dutch jazz bands tend to be the largest ensembles to play traditional jazz music.
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Musical styles showing influences from traditional jazz include later styles of jazz,rhythm and blues, and earlyrock and roll. Traditional New Orleanssecond-line drumming and piano playing are prominent in the music ofFats Domino. The New Orleans drummerIdris Muhammad adapted second-line drumming to modern jazz styles and gained crossover influence on the R&B style ofJames Brown. Soprano saxophonistSteve Lacy combined New Orleans style polyphonic improvisation withbebop. BassistCharles Mingus paid homage to traditional jazz styles with compositions such as "Eat That Chicken" and "My Jellyroll Soul". The contemporaryNew Orleans brass band styles, such as theDirty Dozen Brass Band, The Primate Fiasco, theHot Tamale Brass Band and theRebirth Brass Band, have combined traditional New Orleans brass band jazz with such influences as contemporary jazz,funk,hip hop, and rap. TheM-Base (Multi-Basic Array of Synchronous Extemporization) improvisational concept used by ensembles includingCassandra Wilson,Geri Allen,Greg Osby,Steve Coleman,Graham Haynes,Kevin Eubanks and others is an extension of the polyphonic improvisation of New Orleans jazz.
The Dixieland revival renewed the audience for musicians who had continued to play in traditional jazz styles and revived the careers of New Orleans musicians who had become lost in the shuffle of musical styles that had occurred over the preceding years. Younger black musicians shunned the revival, largely because of a distaste for tailoring their music to what they saw as nostalgia entertainment for white audiences with whom they did not share such nostalgia.[13][14] TheJim Crow associations of the name "Dixieland" also did little to attract younger black musicians to the revival.[15]
The Dixieland revival music during the 1940s and 1950s gained a broad audience that established traditional jazz as an enduring part of the American cultural landscape, and spawned revival movements in Europe. Well-known jazz standard tunes such as "Basin Street Blues" and "When the Saints Go Marching In" are known even to non-jazz fans thanks to the enduring popularity of traditional jazz.Country Joe McDonald's Vietnam-era protest song "Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die Rag" is based on tonal centers and incorporates the "B" refrain from the New Orleans standard "Muskrat Ramble". Traditional jazz is a major tourist attraction for New Orleans to the present day. It has been an influence on the styles of more modern players such asCharles Mingus andSteve Coleman.
New Orleans music combined earlier brass band marches, Frenchquadrilles,biguine,ragtime, andblues with collective,polyphonicimprovisation. The "standard" band consists of a "front line" of trumpet (orcornet), trombone, and clarinet, with a "rhythm section" of at least two of the following instruments: guitar orbanjo,string bass or tuba, piano, and drums. The Dixieland sound is created when one instrument (usually the trumpet) plays the melody or a variation on it, and the other instruments improvise around that melody. This creates a more polyphonic sound than the heavily arrangedbig band sound of the 1930s or the straight melodies (with or without harmonizing) ofbebop in the 1940s.
The "West Coast revival", which used banjo and tuba, began in the late 1930s in San Francisco. The Dutch "old-style jazz" was played with trumpets, trombones and saxophones accompanied by a single clarinet,sousaphone and a section ofMarching percussion usually including awashboard.
There are several active periodicals devoted to traditional jazz: theJazz Rambler, a quarterly newsletter distributed by San Diego's America's Finest City Dixieland Jazz Society;The Syncopated Times, which covers traditional jazz, ragtime, and swing;Just Jazz andThe Jazz Rag in the UK; and, to an extent,Jazz Journal, an online-only publication based in Europe covering a variety of jazz styles.[17]
Arguably the happiest of all music is Dixieland jazz. The sound of several horns all improvising together on fairly simple chord changes with definite roles for each instrument but a large amount of freedom, cannot help but sound consistently joyful.
By the mid-1930s the word 'Dixieland' was being applied freely to certain circles of white musicians. First by the trade press, then by the public. By the end of the decade it all but lost any direct 'Southern' association.
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