Chapter 1: Jazz and West African Music

- Important figures in jazz:

Name Genre Instruments Comments

pianist, organist, composer, stand-up very important founding
Fats Waller jazz
comedian and singer figure in jazz
singer, trumpeter, composer, band leader, invented improvisation in
Louis Armstrong jazz
arranger and vocalist jazz

Errol Garner jazz pianist, singer and composer

blues and
Mahalia Jackson singer
gospel
found the blue note by
singer, saxophonist, clarinetist, bandleader, playing a certain barbaric
Rudy Vallee jazz
actor, and entertainer note in quality on his
saxophone
She is the empress of the
Bessie Smith blues singer/vocalist blues. She heavily
influenced jazz singers

Elder Beck gospel musician and evangelist

Charlie ‘Big’
jazz trombonist
Green

Wynonie Harris blues singer (blues shouter)

Dizzy Gillespie jazz singer, trumpeter, composer and bandleader father of modern jazz

Charlie Parker jazz saxophonist and composer father of modern jazz

blues and
Blind Sonny Terry musician, harmonica player
folk
singer, songwriter, pianist, drummer, and
James Brown funk
guitarist
blues and
Joe Williams singer
jazz

Count Basie jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer

Tommy Ridgley blues singer/vocalist

Willie Mae "Big blues and

singer, songwriter and harmonica player
Mama" Thornton r&b
Guy Lombardo jazz violinist

Albert Nicholas jazz clarinetist

known as the "King of

Benny Goodman jazz, swing clarinetist and bandleader
Swing"

- Musical characteristics:
o African musical characteristics:
1. Pentatonic scale: the pentatonic scale is a suite of 5 notes. It is the core scale in Africa
and is used by the blues which are at the heart and core of jazz.
2. Diatonic Scale: African music also employs the diatonic scale; a scale based on 7 notes
(do re mi fa sol la si), it is the white notes on the piano keyboard.
3. Polyrhythmic:
• The music is polyrhythmic meaning two or more separate rhythms are being
played at the same time, sometimes five or six.
• A common foundation in African music is a combination of 3/4, 6/8, and 4/4
time-signatures. Singing, clapping and stamping also add further rhythmic
complexities.
• For example: In Dahomey (African tribe), during a tribal ceremony, the musicians
play different instruments such as rattles, gongs, and other percussion instruments
while the tribesmen are clapping, singing and stamping creating different rhythm
characteristics.
4. Drum choir:
• The drum choir is a set of three drums that each have a different shape and size,
producing different sounds and pitches.
• They are the main instrument used in a tribal ritual. Since the Gods speak through
the drums, the dancers face them and the tribe forms a circle around them.
• Example: Dahomey (African tribe)
5. Oral tradition (no notation): In traditional African music, musical knowledge is
transmitted orally, not through written notation like in European classical music.
6. Improvisation / Memory-Based Performance: African songs, rhythms, and
performance techniques are played by ear and from memory. They don't play fixed
composition but often improvise, varying each performance. This is a key feature that
was inherited by jazz where musicians build on a base idea and create spontaneously in
the moment.
7. Irregular Bar Structure: African music does not follow typical European bar structure.
In fact, their rhythms seem to change right in the middle.
8. Jazz music swings:
• It is apparent that this quality of jazz didn’t stem from Europe. The basis of jazz is
a military march rhythm but the jazzman puts more complicated rhythms on top
of it. He blows a variety of accents between and around, above and below, the
march beat. This is much more complex than syncopation, which is stressing the
weak beats.
• Example: Louis Armstrong trumpet in hand stands in front of the microphone and
stamps out a steady rhythm. As he sings and plays the trumpet, he stresses accents
around and between the taps of his foot.
• Example 2: Erroll Garner is famous for “fooling around with the beat”. His left
hand plays a steady 4/4 march rhythm while his right hand is playing the melody
in changing tempos.
9. Metronome sense:
• A “metronome” is a device that helps musicians maintain a steady tempo (speed)
while playing or practicing. It produces a regular click or other sound at a set
interval, allowing musicians to stay on beat and avoid speeding up or slowing
down.
• A “metronome sense” is a highly developed sense of rhythm. It is a feeling that is
acquired and not innate. If your metronome sense is highly developed, you can
distinguish a core rhythm when all you hear multiple accents being superimposed
upon it.
• A jazzman saying that another has “no beat” is equivalent to him impugning his
metronome sense.
• Its importance in jazz can be seen when hearing a classically trained musician
play jazz. For example: when Jose Iturbi a classical pianist tried to recreate the
‘boogie-woogie’, his attempt was laughable, it had no feeling. Jazz music cannot
be conveyed through written data but by ear firstly.
10. The blue note and blue scale; blue tonality:
• It aesthetically and melodically stems from East Africa (Ethiopia, Urethra...). A
theory that explains its origin is the influence of Arabic music by way of the
Muslim penetration of west Africa. It is rhythmically different. When adding a
few blue notes, the entire harmony becomes blue, resulting in blue tonality. Blue
tonality occurs in almost all American-Negro music, vocal and instrumental, and
especially in Jazz.
• The original African blue note is one of the 5 notes of the pentatonic scale. It
gives that bittersweet feeling. This note doesn’t exist in the European scale
(diatonic: 7notes or chromatic: 12notes). Afro-American musicians found ways to
perform that note in unorthodox ways using their instruments. It is important to
note that the blue note and the African original blue notes are slightly different.
One way to recreate the blue original African note is by ‘detuning’ the instrument
(a piano), or ‘bending the string’ of a guitar, or playing ‘half values’ in a trumpet.
11. Another quality that gives jazz much of its appeal are swoops, glides, slurs, smears and
glisses. They are technical sounds effects that are used to perform the blue note and to
 sing in falsetto (a high register). The singer or instrumentalist takes certain notes and
caresses them lovingly or fiercely.
12. The call-and-response pattern or antiphony:
• It is a conversation between two singers or instrument players. It is mostly an
improvisation. The 2nd player hears the 1st person’s solo and likes something in it,
so they take elements from it and reinterpret them into their own solo making the
1st person’s play a call and their solo a response.
• Historically, this method started with the pagan culture: the chief with the
tribesmen. It was later used in Afro-American churches between the reverend and
the congregation. The preacher’s call (variable timing, varies in length) is
combined with the congregation’s response (fixed and has one regular timing).
Sometimes they would overlap and create accidental harmony (accidental
harmony happens for example in Beirut when different mosques start calls of
players at the same time using specific different melodies). This technique was
used by the church to attract young people.
• In jazz however the call and the response do not have regular timings. The
response is purely interpretive of the call, an improvisation.
• This pattern occurs in jazz such as in Bessie Smith’s recording of ‘Empty Bed
Blues’ when Charlie Big Green was answering her with interpretive cries and
growls on his trombone.
• Another example is the ‘chase’ choruses of Bix and Tram or with the blues
shouter Wynonie Harris and his tenor saxophonist.
• In the 1950s, modern jazz emerged such as Bebop. They incorporated a modified
version of the call-and-response; the “fours”. Bands used this pattern; each player
plays 4 bars (1234 1234 1234 1234 => 16 beats) and a continuity is established,
each soloist takes elements from his predecessor, and reinterprets them in his own
solo. Example: the trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and the saxophonist Charlie Parker
in a Carnegie Hall concert.
13. Falsetto break:
• In general, falsetto means false.
• Falsetto singing is a form of singing where the person sings outside his natural
speaking voice in very high pitches (very emotional) (found in opera singing).
• A falsetto break is a very short improvisation too short to be called a solo that can
be done vocally (vocalize or scatting) or instrumentally by emulating the human
voice. Falsetto Break is derived from the music of West Africa and survives in the
South today. It can be yells and hiccups like a cowboy’s “yippee” also more
“bluesy.” The falsetto break had been built into instrumental jazz at an early date.
It can be considered as an extension of his voice.
14. Song of allusion:
• Another characteristic of jazz is the kind of words used in the song. This
originates from the African characteristic “song of allusion”.
• It is an improvisation of a funny text and a melody that picks on a person’s looks,
characteristics, etc.
• In West Africa, the people at whom they are directed actually pay the singers to
stop singing and go away.
 • Many jazz tunes incorporate it such as ‘You Aint Nothing but A Hound Dog’ by
Willy Mae ‘Big Mama’ Thornston
15. Ring-shout or Circle dance:
• The ring-shout is a sacred dance ritual rooted in West African traditions that
survived in the Deep South of the United States.
• The dancers form a circle in the center of the floor, one in back of another. Then
they begin to shuffle in a counter- clockwise direction around and around, arms
out and shoulders hunched. A fantastic rhythm is built up by the rest of the group
standing back to the walls, who clap their hands and stomp on the floor. Wave
after wave of song is led by the shouting preacher, whose varying cry is answered
by the regular response of the congregation. Suddenly, sisters and brothers scream
and spin, possessed by religious hysteria
• It survived more or less by accident. The Protestant religion discourages dancing
and the playing of instruments. But dancing is defined as crossing the feet, and in
this religious ceremony of West Africa the dancers never cross their feet anyway.
• In spite of the seeming chaos, everything is under control. Whenever a sister
becomes possessed, the people around her take care that she doesn't hurt herself.
The same thing occurs in Africa and the West Indies.
• Many jazzmen, even among the ultramodern, are familiar with all or part of it
because they lived with or near one of the Sanctified Churches during childhood.
16. Harmony: harmony occurs when two or more different notes are played simultaneously
and sound right/nice, producing a pleasing effect. Harmony is found in European and
African music but nowhere else.
17. The improvised drum solo:
• It occurs in all jazz periods from Baby Dodds to Max Roach. It also occurs in
West Africa. While the drum is European, the general idea originated in Africa
and traveled the world.
• For example: the drumming of Gene Krupa
o Western-European musical characteristics:
18. Diatonic Scale: European music employs the diatonic scale in their tunes; a scale based
on 7 notes (do re mi fa sol la si), it is the white notes on the piano keyboard.
19. Chromatic Scale:
20. Polyphony: multiple independent melodies being played/sung simultaneously, is a
characteristic of European folk harmonizing
21. Harmony: harmony occurs when two or more different notes are played simultaneously
and sound right/nice, producing a pleasing effect. Harmony is found in European and
African music but nowhere else.
22. Modulation from key to key: within the same performance, the artist sings the same
melody in different pitches/keys, starting from a different note.
o Creole/Caribbean/West-Indian musical characteristics:
23. Signifying song: The signifying song stems out of the Song of Allusion: it is when a
singer picks on a person and destroys his reputation by raising his voice until the insulted
one pays him to stop. It based on improvisation. The same kind of song, an archaic and
rhythmic type of calypso, pops up in Trinidad as a devastating political weapon.
o American musical characteristics:
24. The ‘field-holler’ is an Afro-American style that was developed on American soil by
enslaved Africans to accompany their task work, to communicate usefully or vent
feelings. It predates the blues and shows deep African roots, emotionally expressive,
often using falsetto yells, bending of pitch, and free rhythm.
25. The work song is a piece of song connected to a form of work. To sing and to task. One
would the call in a bluey rhythm and the other would respond.
26. Gospel music, negro-spiritual music is a genre found in Afro-American churches. It
grew out of the blend between African spiritual tradition and Protestant Christianity in
America.
27. Modified Call-and-Response pattern or “lining out”: This pattern is also found in
New-England churches but in a modified way; ‘lining out’. In lining out, the church in
such ‘white’ churches would NOT sing the call but simply speaks the words. The
congregation in turn sings the same words back. It is a form of teaching. Unlike African
or Afro-American musical traditions, the “call” is not sung, but spoken, making it more
restrained.
 Chapter 2: From Africa to the New World
- The slave trade’s stages and routes determined which African regions slaves came from and which New
World colonies they were sent to.

- Africans customs musical and otherwise survived in the New World for two main reasons:
o While it was once wrongly believed that slaves were from all over Africa and were inferior
people. Research shows otherwise. In fact, the strongest and smartest Africans were the ones
enslaved. Many were kings, priests, judges and specialists, meaning they brought strong musical
and ritual knowledge. Since they were cultural leaders, they persevered rich African traditions
including music
o Second of all, these customs were continually renewed by the arrival of more Africans. Although
the slave trade was banned by the United States in 1808, contraband slaves directly from Africa
were smuggled into the country as late as Civil War days. At the same time, people from the
West Indies with strong African traditions were immigrating to this country as, indeed, they still
do to this day.
o Since Africa had no literature, customs and rituals were always memorized and handed down by
word of mouth and example. African music was preserved invisibly, as a state of mind, rather
than something written—hard to erase and can not be policed.

- Certain patterns evolved with the slave trade. Different European powers colonized different parts of the
New World and got slaves from specific African regions. This created long-lasting cultural-musical
patterns
o Brazilian planters => Senegalese slaves
o Spanish planters => Yoruban slaves
o English planters => Ashantis slaves
o French planters => Dahomean slaves
• This created long-lasting cultural-musical patterns: the predominant African music in
Cuban (originally Spanish) was Yoruban, Jamaica (originally British) was Ashanti, Haiti
(originally French) was Dahomean

- England, a partial exception, tended to sell slaves to anyone who would buy since their plantations were
small and few. Spain in turn tended to buy from anyone who would sell since their plantations were
massive and numerous.

- Dahomeans were vodun (voodoo) worshipers. Their presence in French New Orleans helps explain why
it became the “hoodoo capital” and the birthplace of jazz.
- Once in the New World, African slaves adapted to their new surroundings. It was common in West
Africa to adopt the gods and ways of conquerors, so they blended their culture with European traditions.
Different colonies had different religions, music, and attitudes, shaping how African culture was
retained or changed.

- How did the religion (both churches) of white Western-European enslavers affect (positively and
negatively) the formation of the new forthcoming Afro-American identities of their slaves?
o Latin-Catholic churches: Catholics were more lenient and positively affected Africans of keeping
their deities for many reasons:
• Firstly, they have an old connection with the Africans since they both reside on the
Mediterranean and are thus familiar with African culture. They traded with them prior to
slavery.
• Secondly, they had very large slave colonies which made it more difficult to control.
• Music: in the first place, Latin colonies had more rhythmically rich music. In particular,
Spanish music held African musical elements due to the Moorish (Muslim African tribe)
conquest of Spain in the Middle Ages. Spanish music employed elements of
improvisation and complex rhythms (for example the flamenco or fado of Portugal). In
addition to that, numerous church festivals were held in Latin colonies which gave the
slaves many opportunities to hear it.
• Planters’ attitudes: Catholic planters controlled slaves’ labor lives but mostly ignored
their private beliefs or customs, as long as they worked. They were very cruel regarding
work, but were permissive in the slaves’ personal lives, had a cultural “laissey-faire” as
long as it didn’t interfere with production. They would impose the hard works during the
day, and once slaves finish their tasks, they were free to do whatever they want in their
spare time.
• Religion: A major reason why African religion survived in Latin colonies was
syncretism, the blending of different religions. The church had pictures of the
saints-inexpensive and plentiful chromolithographs- which suggested pointed parallels.
As such, Catholicism allowed Africans to associate saints with their own gods and helped
fuse the religions easily.
o British-Protestant Churches: With a British owner, however, a slave was likely to change his
ways more quickly, discarding his own traditions and adopting the new.
• The British did not have large colonies and each slave owner possessed fewer slaves.
Thus, a slave could come to know his master way more easily.
• Slaves often worked in homes, closely observing white life and sometimes feeling
ashamed of their own “savage” customs (self-censorship). As a result, they were more
likely to abandon or hide their traditions.
• Music: On the other hand, the protestant hymns were quite dull and monotonous
(“droned out… like the braying of asses”). The slaves heard little to no music with
rhythmical complexities in the African sense with the exception of the “Scotch snap”
(elementary bit of syncopation that later made its way into jazz). The closest type of
 music that could have appealed to slaves was the military march rhythm because it could
they could layer their own rhythms on top.
• Planters’ attitudes: British owners cared what a slave did in his own spare time and
whether or not he was a Christian. This posed as an issues since Christianity is inherently
about freedom and peace, and many argued that a slave should be a free Christian once
converted. But in 1967 the state of Virginia solved this problem by declaring that baptism
does not alter a person’s state as to his freedom or bondage. Thereafter, slaves were
permitted to convert to Christianism and stay enslaved. This problem never bothered the
Catholics as they had already assumed due to “code noir” that slaves would remain
enslaved whether or not they converted.
• Religion: The Protestant religion had no hierarchy of saints and forbade any such
pictures, so Africans couldn’t relate their religion to the British’s. Additionally, the
Baptist and Methodist denominations forbade dancing or drumming as a matter of
religious principle. African music and ritual had to go underground or vanish.
• Africans were not born with rhythm, they learned it from culture. Only the rhythms that
were allowed to survive did so. Still, much of African culture persisted unconsciously, in
motions, gestures, habits. A child might absorb African rhythm just by watching his
mother sweep or pound food. This can be seen by Lydia Parrish’s pictures in “Slave
Songs of the Georgia Sea Islands”. She shows two parallel photographs. The first, 3
native women in Africa pounding corn in a pestle while the second shows 3 American
negro women in Georgia pounding rice. Both groups appear to be singing rhythmically as
they pound. In the Georgia picture a child appears to be standing close by, fully
absorbing the entire performance.
- These cultural patterns (music, religion, environment) shaped the survival of African music in the New
World. African musical traits survived more in Latin-Catholic colonies. In British-Protestant colonies,
they often went underground. It is important to note that jazz did not necessarily evolve only where
African music survived openly, but underground survival in British colonies may have played a role,
too.

- What is syncretism? Define it and make an elaborate and extensive parallelism (covering all aspects)
between both religions involving this phenomenon.
o Syncretism is defined as “the ease with which West African and the Catholic religions fused”.
African Slaves, being Dahomeans, found a sort of parallelism with the Catholic Saints and thus
managed to celebrate both saints intertwined by playing sacred drum rhythms. (mention table)
Tribe God Parallel Catholic Saint
Dahomean Damballa, snake god St. Patrick, pictured driving the snakes out
of Ireland
Dahomean Legba, god of crossroads St. Anthony, since both are pictured as
tattered old men
Yoruban Shango, god of thunder whose John the Baptist, portrayed with a
symbol is the ram shepherd’s crook
Yoruban Ogun, god of war St. Michael, pictured with a sword