Help with Jazz Essay

[OLP1]

Im in a jazz course and I need to write an essay arguing something to do with jazz, such as racism in jazz history(except not that one as it will be overdone). I can argue anything except in cant be any sort of biography style essay. Any suggestions?

Thanks

[I Love Fat women]

Dissonance/consonance, freedom of improvisation, use of instrumentation (eg. electric guitars/keyboards etc, versus more traditional instruments)...

Just some concepts...

[Tillmon]

Argue that "Bitches Brew" is a rock album (or ISN'T a rock album, if that's what you think).

... seriously, that would be my topic if I had to write that essay.

[jazzfromhell]

Argue that "Bitches Brew" is a rock album (or ISN'T a rock album, if that's what you think).

... seriously, that would be my topic if I had to write that essay.


That sounds like a good idea to me, you could also just expand and do the same thing for fusion itself. You could also argue over whether Avant-Garde/Free Jazz counts as jazz.

[I Love Fat women]

I think it would be more interesting to argue wether big band/dixieland is jazz or not.

[jazzfromhell]

Uh, why? Like it or not, big band and dixieland (especially dixieland) started jazz, and they've got first claims to the title. Many would argue that Louis Armstrong is the greatest jazz musician of all time, and most who really know their stuff through and through would say he's the most influential musician in any blues-based form of music (which is just about everything; jazz, rock, rap, blues, funk, punk, I hesitate to say electronic, because I don't know nearly enough about it to say who's influenced it most).

[We_Love_Lime]

I did one of my essays in 7th grade on how Jazz and Blues influenced modern music.. It's probably not advanced for you though...

[I Love Fat women]

Uh, why? Like it or not, big band and dixieland (especially dixieland) started jazz, and they've got first claims to the title. Many would argue that Louis Armstrong is the greatest jazz musician of all time, and most who really know their stuff through and through would say he's the most influential musician in any blues-based form of music (which is just about everything; jazz, rock, rap, blues, funk, punk, I hesitate to say electronic, because I don't know nearly enough about it to say who's influenced it most).

But then again, dixieland and big band is the jazz forms which most lack the only common denominator for all jazz, which is improvisation.

[Zappa]

But then again, dixieland and big band is the jazz forms which most lack the only common denominator for all jazz, which is improvisation.

Huh? Dixieland had a "collective improvisation" feel to it that wasn't matched in its looseness until the Free jazz movement of the late 50s. Big Band was less improv oriented, but it certainly wasn't without it. Sure, there were RIFFS and arrangements, but the solo was a HUGE part of what made big band what it was.

Also, I'm not sure we can agree that improv is the only common denominator for all jazz.

[I Love Fat women]

So, what is the most common denominator for all jazz then? 'Cause I can't think of any other...

[OLP1]

I think im gonna write an essay on the fringe areas of jazz such as avant garde/free jazz and how although they are different still pertain to the jazz genre, what would be some other artists or albums or even Jazz genres that would be considered on the fringe of jazz?

[Kayetan]

A pretty easy topic would just be about how bebop completely changed jazz. That's what I wrote one of my papers on last year, even though I didn't even completely agree with what I was writing. It got me a good grade though. There's tons and tons of stuff about the bebop revolution, parker, Gillespie, etc.

[Joseph India]

So, what is the most common denominator for all jazz then? 'Cause I can't think of any other...
Rhythm?
----------------
This is actually a good question pertaining to your idea -fringe areas of jazz-
I recommend you read some sections in the Oxford Companion to Jazz, especially the section on Avant Garde. I'm reading it right now, and I think it would really help you with your topic. Here are some artists that are probably obvious but Ill put them down anyways
Ornette Coleman
Albert Ayler
Cecil Taylor
later John Coltrane - Ascension, Om, Kulu Se MAma, Meditations, Interstellar Space, anything with Pharoah Sanders
If you want to go really far, check out Masayuki Takayanagi's later work. It is the most insane thing ever, I cannot listen to it.
But your essay should also look at the earlier people who may have been considered "not jazz"
The book I mentioned should help with that

[jazzfromhell]

Well, just about every form of jazz from bebop onward has been considered "not jazz" by the previous generation, so that might be a bit general. I believe that the only common denominator in jazz is a strong focus on improvisation. You couldn't say it's rhthym, because the more extreme forms of free jazz have no rhthym, or they don't have it in the traditional sense.

[(*The Noonward Race*)]

Well just agree on a definition of jazz for the essay's sake and argue it.

You're not gonna satisfy everyone and maybe not anyone.

[some jive turkey]

write an arguement for or against the whole miles davis in the rock and roll hall of fame thing. You're bound to get a decent grade just because it's a current topic that is of interest right now.

[Joseph India]

http://web.cba.neu.edu/~mzack/articles/jazzorg/jazzorg.htm
this could help if you're still working

[pipe]

try something like "jazz improvisation and how it reflects comtemporary society". whatcha think?