1. Our textbook author, Mark Gridley discusses the social setting in which jazz emerged in the early 20th century (starting with “The Need for Live Music . . .”). Summarize the ideas presented in those paragraphs.
2. Our textbook lists contributions to jazz from both European and African musical traditions. Name three from each continent.
3. What are the four ways that listeners pay attention to a jazz performance?
Understanding the function or role of a specific instrument, or the function or role that a group of instruments has within a Jazz Ensemble (band) is important to know. An important group of instruments in a Jazz Ensemble is known as the Rhythm Section – these are the instruments responsible for providing the tempo, the chords (harmony and tonality), and the “feel” of the music from song to song.
4. Name the instruments in the Front Line of a typical New Orleans Jazz Combo. What is the function of each instrument – what do they each do to contribute to the collective improvisation that results?
5. Name the instruments used in the Rhythm Section of a typical New Orleans Jazz Combo (1917-1928).
6. Louis Armstrong was an amazing musician! List specific characteristics of Louis Armstrong’s musicianship that make him so important in music history.
7. What are the differences between a cornet and a trumpet?
8. Why are the drums not present in many of the oldest recordings of Jazz music? What did the drummer play instead?
9. New Orleans, LA is the birthplace of Jazz Music. Yet, no Jazz was ever recorded there until decades after the art form began–why is this so, and where did these early Jazz musicians from New Orleans travel to get recorded?
10. The broad racial mix of people of New Orleans, LA at the turn of the 20th century (European-American, African-American, and Creoles) contributed greatly to the emergence of Jazz. With diversity at its core, why did the first Jazz recording ever made and released in the United States as a “Jazz Record” feature The Original Dixieland Jazz Band–a group of all white
