Historic jazz style

From the choices provided below, select a jazz musician for your paper of 600 to 800 words. You will be writing about the historic jazz style represented by this musician, as well as his or her individual performance style. An abundance of choices will allow you to write with genuine enthusiasm about one of your favorites. (Please note that we have excluded Miles Davis and John Coltrane from the list–they are simply too popular to include on the list.)

For the musician:
?discuss the general characteristics of the historic jazz style;
?describe the individual stylistic characteristics for which the performer is known;
?select one piece that features a notable performance and provide your observations from listening to the piece;
?provide a conclusion that offers insight into the artistry and significance of the piece and performer you have selected.

This assignment is an extension of the work you have been doing on the discussion boards. Topics questions can serve to guide your own investigation of the piece you have selected.

The one caveat is to make sure that you select a recording that is not assigned listening–be it recordings on the discussion boards or on the Unit listening lists. As far as that goes, there is one remaining discussion board, which will not be posted until Monday, November 12, and there are recordings on the Unit 5 Listening List that will be presented in Lessons 13 and 14. These recordings–from Discussion Boards #10 and the Unit 5 Listening List–are also off limits:

Discussion Board #10 recordings:

Miles Davis, ?Bitches Brew? (Miles Davis), New York, August 19, 1969
Miles Davis, ?Sivad? (Miles Davis), Live at The Cellar Door, Washington, DC, December 19, 1970
Weather Report, ?Birdland? (Joe Zawinul), Hollywood, 1976
Weather Report, ?This is This? (Josef Zawinul), Los Angeles, CA, 1986
Chick Corea, ?Steps ? What Was? (Chick Corea), New York, March 1968
Chick Corea, ?Now He Sings, Now He Sobs? (Chick Corea), New York, March 14, 19 and 27, 1968
Return to Forever, ?Spain? (Chick Corea), London, October 1972
Herbie Hancock, ?Sly? (Herbie Hancock), San Francisco, CA, Fall, 1973
Keith Jarrett, ?Landscape For Future Earth? (Keith Jarrett), Oslo, Norway, November, 1971
Keith Jarrett, ?All The Things You Are? (J. Kern/O. Hammerstein), New York, January 1983

Unit 5 Listening List:

The Wynton Marsalis Quartet, ?Knozz-Moe-King? (Wynton Marsalis), Washington, D.C., December 19 and 20, 1986
Wynton Marsalis, ?Caravan? (D. Ellington/J. Tizol/Mills), New York, May 29-30 and September 24-25, 1986
Michael Brecker, ?Slings and Arrows? (Michael Brecker), New York, 1996
Sonny Clark Memorial Quartet, ?Cool Struttin?? (Sonny Clark), 1986
Tito Puente, ?Royal ?T?? (Tito Puente), San Francisco, January 18-19, 1993
Medeski Martin & Wood, ?Hey-Hee-Hi-Ho? (MMW), New York, December 15-22, 1997
Roy Hargrove Quintet, ?Mental Phrasing? (Roy Hargrove), New York, January 16 and 17, 1994
Brad Mehldau, ?Monk?s Dream? (Thelonious Monk), Live at Village Vanguard, New York, July 29-August 3, 1997

Historic jazz recordings have become very easy to purchase online as mp3 downloads. If you don’t already have the recording you have selected, an mp3 purchase is a very reasonable and affordable way to obtain the recording.