What is Jazz? | National Museum of American History
After the first recordings of jazz were made in 1917, the music spread widely and developed rapidly. The evolution of jazz was led by a series of brilliant ...
Benny's Music Class
Jazz developed in the United States in the very early part of the 20th century. New Orleans, near the mouth of the Mississippi River, played a key role in this development. The city's population was more diverse than anywhere else in the South, and people of African, French, Caribbean, Italian, German, Mexican, and American Indian, as well as English, descent interacted with one another. African-American musical traditions mixed with others and gradually jazz emerged from a blend of ragtime, marches, blues, and other kinds of music. At first jazz was mostly for dancing. (In later years, people would sit and listen to it.) After the first recordings of jazz were made in 1917, the music spread widely and developed rapidly. The evolution of jazz was led by a series of brilliant musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington (listen to Ellington in Duke's Music Class), Charlie Parker, and Miles Davis. Jazz developed a series of different styles including traditional jazz, swing (listen, for example, to Benny Carter, who got his start in swing music, in <anchor>Benny's Music Class</anchor>) bebop, cool jazz, and jazz?rock, among others. At the same time, jazz spread from the United States to many parts of the world, and today jazz musicians--and jazz festivals--can be found in dozens of nations. Jazz is one of the United States's greatest exports to the world.
Benny's Music Class | National Museum of American History
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# Benny's Music Class

Following are a series of activities that explore Benny Carter's musicianship in greater depth. You will need a paper and pencil to complete these activities.

## Story 1

Benny Carter posing

Before Benny Carter, jazz saxophone players tended to play their instruments with a harsh, disconnected attack. In jazz music, it is important for performers to develop a personal, individual sound. Carter was a leader in creating a new style of saxophone playing that featured a smoother, more delicate approach.

Activity: Listen to Carter's alto saxophone solo and list five adjectives that - to you - describe his personal sound and style.

#### I CAN'T GET STARTED

## Story 2

Benny Carter, seated at a piano

Benny Carter had the unusual talent of being a versatile and skilled performer on several instruments, including the alto saxophone, soprano saxophone, trumpet, clarinet, and the piano!

Activity: Listen to excerpts from a variety of Benny Carter performances and decide on which instrument he is performing for each of the five solos: clarinet, trumpet, alto saxophone, or soprano saxophone. List the audio excerpt numbers one through four, and write your answer next to each number.

#### TRUMPET SOLO FROM "TAKE THE 'A' TRAIN"

#### ALTO SAX SOLO FROM "ILL WIND"

#### TRUMPET SOLO FROM "I SURRENDER DEAR"

#### SOPRANO SAX SOLO FROM "LONELY BEAT" FROM THE TELEVISION SERIES "M SQUAD"

## Story 3

Benny Carter playing in front of a band

Benny Carter was an innovator not only in the way he played his instruments, but also in the way he arranged and combined the sounds of different instruments when he wrote music. Carter organized the saxophones into a single section, where they all played together as a "chorus." The saxophone chorus would then alternate with a trumpet "chorus." Between choruses, soloists had opportunities to stand out and perform alone. This "call-and-response" technique, pitting section against section, and setting soloist against section work, defined the swing era style.

Activity: Listen to and follow this diagram of Carter's arrangement of Lonesome Nights. The times on the left indicate your location in the piece.

0:00Trumpet chorus plays the main melody, referred to as A0:16Repeat A0:33Saxophone chorus introduces the second melody, referred to as B0:50Trumpet chorus plays A1:07Saxophone chorus plays A1:23Repeat A1:40Trumpet solo plays B(saxophone chorus plays a flourish at the end)1:58Trumpet chorus plays A2:15Trombone solo with trumpet chorus plays A2:31Repeat A2:48Piano solo plays B3:05Trombone with trumpet chorus plays A

#### LONESOME NIGHTS

## Story 4

Three saxophone players in a jazz orchestra

One of Benny Carter's most famous works is Aspects, a jazz calendar with musical pieces representing each of the twelve months of the year. Carter arranged each piece to capture in music the mood and character of each month.

Activity: Listen to excerpts from two months of Aspects - September Song and June is Bustin Out. September is blue and nostalgic, June bursts with energy and life. Listen to each excerpt and decide which month it is. List the audio excerpt numbers one and two, and write your answer next to each number.

#### JUNE IS BUSTIN OUT

#### SEPTEMBER SONG

## Story 5

Musicians seated in a room

Benny Carter wrote music for both film and television. He also directed television and film orchestras in recordings of his music. His first TV job was creating the background music for a crime show called M Squad.

Activity: Listen to this section of Carter's underscoring for an episode of M Squad, and write the action and dialogue that you imagine might be happening on the television screen.

#### THE MUGGER

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