The Jazz Singer, the first film to include synchronized

MARABI

South African jazz

Sideman on the Frontlines: Gwigwi Mrwebi and South African Jazz History

Schuller differentiates between thewestern and African understandings of polyrhythmic playing by stating that westernmusicians generally see polyrhythm as two or more rhythmic patterns played simultaneouslybut always resolving or meeting at the start and ending of phrases, bar lines and other centralpoints in the music. In contrast, “African music” reveals a far more intricate, extended,“polymetrically organized” understanding of polyrhythms, in which the individual rhythmicphrases hardly ever, and sometimes never coincide vertically (Schuller 1968, 11). These twointerpretations of polyrhythm are apparent in much U.S.-American jazz and can be seen toshift closer to the African approach in the later styles of jazz through the rhythmiccontributions of musicians such as John Coltrane, Tony Williams and Miles Davis. KeithWaters states that polyrhythm and polymeter, which he terms “metrical conflict”, were a keyfeature of music performed and recorded by the Miles Davis Quintet from 1965 to 1968(Waters 2011, 68).In terms of the use of polyrhythm in Western music from the pre-jazz era, Schuller citesCharles Ives as the only European composer who experimented with polymetric andpolyrhythmic structures, stating as an example Ives’s Fourth Symphony. Gridley deviatesfrom Schuller by suggesting that polyrhythms were used in European folk and concert musicin America for a long time before the jazz era came about but were not as prominent as inAfrican music (Gridley 1999, 45). He acknowledges the African ancestry of polyrhythms asoriginating from combinations of rhythms which can be heard in ragtime music. He definespolyrhythms as “the sounding of some rhythms that have a basis of two pulses while

Polyrhythms and Polymeter

TheoryofAfricanMusic

Theory of African MusicVOLUME II

bebop‚ swing‚ funky groove‚ calypso‚ bluesy‚ heavyrhythm and blues‚ and spiritual

CATEGORlf S OF JAZZ CUMPOSIT ION

Rhythmic Phrasing

Exoticisation of South African Jazz and Township Culture

Reworking the South African Jazz Sound

Traits of South African Jazz in Masekela’s Style

South African and U.S.-American Rhythm Sections

Rhythmic Influence of Latin Music on South African Jazz Styles

Analysis of Selected South African JazzRecordings

South African Jazz Sound

Jazz in South Africa: Roots and Styles

Quartal Harmony and sus ChordsQuartal chords can have a variety of uses. Sometimes they imply quartal harmonyand other times they are merely used to create interesting voicings of tertian chords; bothare staples of modern jazz keyboard harmony. There are many Preludes with isolatedchords voiced in fourths or with a right-hand figuration using fourths, and even thesequick references, along with Kapustin’s other devices, create a modern jazz context forhis musical ideas. Most of the examples discussed below feature more extensive use ofquartal techniques, and most use tertian harmony with quartal chord voicings

Hearing the Given and the Made in South African Maskanda Music

Latin Jazz

Heads

Author's Note

INFLUENCES FROM FOLK MUSIC, JAZZ, AL'ID ROCK

But everything changes when degrees I and IV are treated as sev-enths, which is a quality only associated with the fifth degree in tonal harmony.This makes any hypothesis of assimilation impossible.The link between the function and the quality of a chord, which is organic in atonal situation, does not exist in blues. Indeed, let us look at the first degree withfour sounds: C-E-G-B b. All four notes belong to the scale as it has been defined.But this is neither true with the fourth degree (F-A-C-E b), as A does not belongto the scale, nor the fifth (G-B-D-F), which involves a B natural and a D that donot appear in the scale. This lack of organic link between the scale of referenceand how chords are built is a fundamental difference between blues and worksusing the tonal system.

Smooth Voice Leading

BLUES HARMONY

In the 20th and 21st centuries, composers sometimes used the diatonic collection, but without making anyattempt to make a specific pitch sound like the the pitch center. Such examples are not tonal, nor are theymodal; instead, they are considered pandiatonic. Igor Stravinsky often wrote pandiatonic passages; manycan be heard throughout the opening of his ballet Petrushka

During the Baroque Era, the “Rule of the Octave” was a practical tool that enabledmusicians to gain harmonic flexibility at the keyboard.5 The rule prescribed how toharmonize a scale in the bass using stylistic tonal progressions. In jazz, a similar rule canalso be developed. Instead of placing the scale in the bass, the major scale is placed in thesoprano voice. The jazz rule of the octave explains how to harmonize a descending majorscale with idiomatic jazz progressions. By examining different harmonic outcomes, therelationship of melodies to chords and chords to melodies becomes clear. The jazz ruleof the octave also helps us to realize the harmonic potential of different melodic segmentsand examines their behavior in the context of underlying chord progressions. Figures21.3a–21.3d illustrate four distinct harmonizations of the descending major scale

Chapter 13 investigates two- and four-bar idiomatic jazz progressions. It also focuses onaural identification and keyboard realization of non-modulatory and modulatoryprogressions with various ii7–V7 or ii≤57–V7 interpolations, as well as miscellaneous four-bar phrases

Chapter 23 examines the 32-bar ABAC form and its two tonal variants: on-tonic and off-tonic. As an example of this formal design, “All Of You” is analyzed

Chapter 22 undertakes a study of song forms and its most common type: the 32-barAABA. Two tonal variants, on-tonic and off-tonic, are examined and, as an example ofthe on-tonic AABA formal design, “Have You Met Miss Jones?” is analyzed.

In modal jazz theory, there are 14 modes: seven diatonic and seven chromatic. Modes inmodal jazz typically function as independent scalar formations that are devoid of traditionaltonal relationships. For instance, a complete section of a tune might feature only a singlemodal scale (e.g. John Coltrane’s “Impressions” or McCoy Tyner’s “Passion Dance”).5In tonal jazz, however, modes exhibit similar functional behaviors comparable to thoseof four-, five-, or larger-part structures. In Chapter 8, diatonic and chromatic modes willbe combined and their tonal functional associations shown

Chapter 2 identifies the main characteristics of jazz rhythm

Chapter 27 makes forays into post-tonal music theory in an attempt to demonstrate howsome of its concepts—trichords, in particular—are implemented in jazz. Familiar topicsare presented anew with the emphasis on ear training and harmony

hapter 24 provides a list of standard tunes with extended and unusual formal designs.As an example of the extended form, “Dream Dancing” is analyzed

Jazz Theory: From Basic to Advanced Study

JAZZ COMPOSITION

What is Jazz?

ICKETY SPLIT: Modern Aspects of Composition and Orchestration in the Large Jazz Ensemble Compositions of Jim McNeely:An Analysis of EXTRA CREDIT, IN THE WEE SMALL HOURS OF THE MORNING, andABSOLUTION

Modal Jazz Improvisation & Harmony

Jazz Genres

What separates mbaqanga from previous styles is the straight beat. Previously urbanblack music was rhythmically swung in general

Apart from mbaqanga and marabi, other styles also developed due to the amalgamation oflocal styles and American jazz. One of these is Cape jazz, which Coplan (2013) describes asfollows:I use the term ‘Cape jazz’ knowingly, because the Mother City has its owncharacteristic style, strongly indebted to the American tradition starting with African-American minstrelsy, but mixed with old indigenous rhythms and melodies, mission

As Chapter One pointed out, ‘South African jazz’ derives from the amalgamation oftransnational (mainly American) jazz and indigenous South African musics. Although this stylehas many ‘dialects’, there is some conceptual consensus regarding elements that historicallycame to signify a South African jazz sound. These include marabi (with its distinctive I-IV-Vchord progression), mbaqanga (this was especially felt in the importance of the rhythmicaldrive and interest and repeating harmonic progressions, rather than the other formal attributes

Shepherd’s music also contain American jazz elements, including as bebop linesin his improvisations and his approach to harmonic progressions reminiscent of Keith Jarrett’s.His experiments with irregular meter connect with West African music practices. Theseattributes preclude a simple reading of the artists’ work ‘South African’ in a singular sense,and rather reminds us that the notion of a ‘South African’ jazz is in a continuing dialogue othermusic practices – whether this is with American jazz (which has historically powerfullyinformed South African jazz and continues to do so) or musics from other places or genres

Sonic signatures in South African jazz: A stylistic analysis of the trio music of Kyle Shepherd, Bokani Dyer and Nduduzo Makhathini