History

Jazz originated in New Orleans at the turn of the twentieth century, manifesting first as rag time and Dixieland orchestras. Up until the late 40s and early 50s, jazz was most prominently performed by large orchestral swing groups, headed by greats such as Count Basie and Duke Ellington. In the 50’s, jazz permanently changed and was influenced by the rising bebop movement, championed by Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk (Williams 170). Perhaps the greatest bebop innovation was the small group size and inclusion of improvised solos into songs. Large orchestras shrank to groups of 5 to 10 musicians, opening the door to various new emerging styles, including hard bop, cool jazz, free jazz, and modal jazz. Each of these styles grew out of a new sense of freedom both in jazz and in the emerging civil rights movement (Nisenson 160).

John Coltrane 

John Coltrane was born on September 24, 1924 in North Carolina.  Coltrane first began playing the saxophone during his tour in the Navy band and hardly stopped until his death.  Coltrane’s impact on jazz is great and three of his contributions have had enduring effects.  One such effect is his creation of the “sheets of sound” technique.  This method involves picking three related chords, using similarities between the chords and incorporating them into an improvised solo; this gives the solo more tonal differences and a diverse sound.  John Coltrane modified the solo by beginning the practice of repeating segments of chords so that the solo is longer and the artist can incorporate more ideas into the improvisation.  Finally, Coltrane began the practice of incorporating African polyrhythm into his solo to add another creative dimension in addition to diverting his jazz, and eventually American jazz, away from European modal jazz to African rhythmic jazz (Carr and Fairweather 104-106).

Miles Davis

Miles Davis started playing trumpet for Charlie Parker during the late 40’s in New York and later fronted his own groups at the advice of composer and friend Gil Evans.  Davis’ first group, remaining together for only two weeks, was a nonet that produced one, under-achieving album.  This nonet, however, would serve to introduce the beginnings of the cool jazz movement (Williams 128). Cool jazz was a combination of bebop and swing, combining bebop’s structure and emphasis on improvisation with more mellow and relaxed harmonic structures. Davis further went on to have a strong influence in modal and free jazz, for which he created a new technique called “time no changes.” Under this method, the musicians would establish only a time signature, leaving everything else, from the chords to solos, up to improvisation (Williams 129). Davis would later change his style again, and take a leading role in the jazz fusion movement of the 70’s, a movement that added rock influences and electronic instruments to jazz.

The Miles Davis Great Sextet

In 1956, Davis assembled “The Miles Davis Great Sextet,” often crowned as “the most formidable working band in the history of jazz” (Giola 89). Including such greats as John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderly and Bill Evans, the group released nine albums, culminating in the 1959 masterpiece Kind of Blue. Not only is Kind of Blue the best selling jazz album of all time (selling 4 million copies [rockhall.com]), but it holds a special place in both music history and in the hearts of its listeners. Aside from its technical innovations, such as an extensive exploration of modes and single-take songs, Kind of Blue’s greatest strength is its spiritual brilliance. The melancholy of not only the musicians but of the times emanate from the emotional solos, under which one can trace a feeling of hope.

Jazz and Race

Jazz music and the concept of race were intertwined since jazz’s inception.  When jazz was first expressed in New Orleans, it was played by poor, lower-class African-Americans.  Many of the original swing bands, although led by white conductors or popular white artists, had a dominant African-American presence.  Although there were a fair amount of white artists, their contributions, except for Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond, were incomparable to the African-American artists’ impact.  John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman and Thelonious Monk, among others led jazz during their respective time and helped improve and modify the genre.  Despite the tangible black influence in jazz, blacks have not gotten their deserved recognition for their work and talent.  Only Ornette Coleman, out of the many talented black artists, received a Guggenheim Foundation Award for jazz (Kofsky 25).  Furthermore, African-American jazz was often produced and recorded by whites, recalling a certain sense of slavery and whites owning the products of African-American labor.  Also, as stated earlier, the popular ragtime swing bands were all fronted by whites; no African-American was deemed able enough to guide a band, regardless of their individual talent (27-28).  Jazz music, from its beginning has been colored by racial interactions and a distinct, prevailing prejudice.

by James Cautillo and Andrew Gabriel

Carr, Ian, and Digby Fairweather. Jazz: the Essential Companion. Array New York: Prentice Hall Press, 19881987.

Giola, Ted. “Everyone acts like Miles Davis.” The birth (and death) of the cool. Golden, Colo: Speck, 2009, Print

Kofsky, Frank. John Coltrane And the Jazz Revolution of the 1960s. Array New York: Pathfinder, 1998.

Nisenson, Eric. The Making of Kind of Blue: Miles Davis and His Masterpiece. New York: St. Martin’s, 2000. Print.

Williams, Martin T. Jazz Panorama: From the Pages of the Jazz Review. New York: Da Capo Press, 19791962