Musicology Commons^™

Urban Counterpoint (1992–2003): The Piano Music Of Ed Bland, Joseph Vaz

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation analyzes the piano music of Ed Bland, a politically and philosophically vocal composer active in the second half of the twentieth century, whose music draws on both the European and American twentieth-century avant-garde, and on African American vernacular music genres from ragtime to hip-hop. A review of the historical and personal context for these pieces, and a detailed examination of the compositional processes used in this music, work together to demonstrate how Bland thought about the relationship between different musical genres and languages.

Through this combination of theory of musical genre, historical and biographical study, and detailed analysis …

Stolen Moments: Jazz And The Opportunity To Capture Hip Hop Fans, Fahiym Abdul-Wasi

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis explores the intricate relationship between jazz and hip-hop, examining how these two influential genres intersect culturally and musically. Jazz, with its rich history and expressive improvisation, laid the groundwork for hip-hop, a genre that emerged as a powerful voice for Black Americans and other disenfranchised communities. The thesis highlights the impact of sampling, a fundamental technique in hip-hop that allows artists to repurpose jazz recordings and thereby preserve their legacy while infusing contemporary narratives. By analyzing key albums and the contributions of notable artists, this study underscores the potential for reintroducing jazz to new audiences through hip-hop. As …

Audiotactile Music Theory And Jazz Education: Historical And Pedagogical Perspectives, Stéphane Audard

The IASJ Journal of Applied Jazz Research

The Audiotactile Music Theory offers new perspectives for considering the issues associated with the institutionalization of jazz education and the gradual transition from informal transmission situations to formalized curricula. The aim of this article is to show how certain central the concepts of the ‘Audiotactile Music Theory’ can be used in a dual historical and pedagogical perspective, to overcome certain dichotomies that structure discourses on jazz teaching at different times: written/oral, formal/informal and art/popular music. The Audiotactile Music Theory also allows us to question the place of jazz in music teaching institutions today, and our own pedagogical practice.

The Shape(S) Of Jazz To Come. Jazz Studies, Interpretation, Theory And Education Research Project, Ricardo Pinheiro

The IASJ Journal of Applied Jazz Research

Jazz Studies: interpretation, theory and education is a research project developed at Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa, Polytechnic University of Lisbon, that involved the collaboration between the Jazz and Composition Departments. The focus of the project coordinated by Ricardo Pinheiro (with the collaboration of Carlos Caires and Carlos Marecos) was to rethink artistic research outputs in the field of jazz studies, questioning the hegemony of the current musicological paradigm (Cook, 2014; Pinheiro and Caires 2019; Pinheiro, Caires and Neto 2024), and to explore the broad academic, scientific and artistic scope that this field can provide.

Kenny Clarke: The First Modern Drummer In Jazz: Annotated Bibliography, University Of Denver

Musicology and Ethnomusicology: Student Scholarship

Kenny Clarke, born in 1914, is considered a pioneer of an improvised style of Afro-American music known today as Jazz. Clarke grew up in an era before that word. The soundtrack of his youth consisted of military bands, Dixieland, and blues music. The role of the percussionist in these settings were fixed and rigid. They were there to keep the time. Whether it be with a snare drum, bass drum, or small set of cymbals, the drummer’s role in an ensemble was not a dynamic role in any sense. Through the medium of an exciting new style of music later …

History Of Jazz, Charles "Trey" Wright

KSU Distinguished Course Repository

This course is an in-depth study of jazz styles, historical periods, and innovative artists in the jazz idiom.

Exploring Jam Sessions In New York, Ricardo Pinheiro

The IASJ Journal of Applied Jazz Research

This paper addresses the relationship between jazz jam sessions in Manhattan, and the concepts of Scene, Ritual and Race. These issues emerged during research that, from an ethnomusicological perspective, focused on the role of jam sessions in Manhattan as a privileged context for the following:

i) learning performative styles of jazz,

ii) developing the creative process,

iii) constructing professional networks,

iv) establishing of the status of musicians.

Studying and analysing the jam sessions at five jazz performance venues in New York, I demonstrate the vital importance of participating in jam sessions by examining their relationship with this performative occasion (Pinheiro …

Improvisation, Consciousness And Cosmos: An Integral View Of Jazz Research, Ed Sarath

The IASJ Journal of Applied Jazz Research

Ed Sarath on improvisation, consciousness and cosmos, as well on integral theory.

From Words To Grammar And Grammar To Speech: A Practical Analysis Of Charlie Parker, University Of Denver

Musicology and Ethnomusicology: Student Scholarship

Today, there exists a respectable body of work analyzing the music and life of Charlie Parker. Parker left behind around 900 recordings, a prolific body of work. There remains a great deal of solos to be transcribed and studied although there is much research examining hundreds of Parker solo transcriptions and proffering pedagogy to be used by the student of jazz improvisation in order to learn how to improvise within the musical language of Charlie Parker. Scholars have not paid a great deal of attention to how to synthesize the various research and pedagogies into a methodical guide for the …

Més Enllà Dels Tòpics D’Espanya. Tete Montoliu En Context, Antoni Pizà

Publications and Research

Benjamin Fraser, professor de la Universitat d’Arizona, publica Beyond Sketches of Spain, una biografia del jazzman Tete Montoliu, la identitat del qual s’explora a través d’una sèrie de prismes culturals com la ciutat, la catalanitat i la discapacitat.

Homage To Eleanora: A Musical Journey Through The Billie Holiday Songbook, Keith A. Dames

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Billie Holiday was a singer, songwriter, vocalist, bandleader and composer in the fields of music, black culture and more specifically the genre of jazz. The primary focus of this study is Billie Holiday’s discography, music, and compositions as treated in relation to the black culture of production. This study will explore a secondary content analysis of Billie Holiday’s music, musicianship, musicality and compositional skills within the American jazz mainstream, broader jazz audience and world at large. This project will take an analytical look at the structure and form of the compositions of Billie Holiday. Billie Holiday is credited with composing …

Intro To Jazz, Jon De Lucia

Open Educational Resources

OER Based Syllabus for MUS 145 Intro to Jazz course at City College. Covers the history and development of jazz along with basic music fundamental vocabulary.

Monitored Freedom: Swing Rhythm In The Jazz Arrangements Of Roland Dyens, Milton Mermikides

Soundboard Scholar

This paper provides an analysis of jazz swing in the work of classical guitarist and composer Roland Dyens. Drawing on Dyens’s published and recorded arrangements of jazz standards, I study both his notation and his performance of swing, starting with a preliminary study of his collection Night and Day and proceeding to a detailed analysis of Nuages—his notated arrangement and four recorded performances. To provide context for Dyens’s stylistic referents, I analyze Django Reinhardt’s 1940 ensemble performance of Nuages. Throughout the discussion, I utilize digital audio analysis and models of microtiming to reveal Dyens’s sophisticated understanding and execution …

Matisse's Jazz Is Really Talking About Jazz Music Or Not: Focusing On The Hidden Meaning Of The Images In Matisse's Jazz Art Book And The Relationship Between Jazz Music And Abstract Art: An Annotated Bibliography, University Of Denver

Musicology and Ethnomusicology: Student Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Jazz Publishing In The 21st Century: Applications For A Centralized Marketplace: An Annotated Bibliography, Justin Rogers

Musicology and Ethnomusicology: Student Scholarship

No abstract provided.

I Got Rhythm: How Rhythm Changes Became Among The Most Used Progressions In Jazz, And Opens The Door For Limitless Creativity: Annotated Bibliography, Jacob Brooks

Musicology and Ethnomusicology: Student Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Assignment #4 Annotated Bibliography: Canonization Of Jazz: A Look At Its Purpose, Intent, And The People That Shape It, Sebastian Alvarez

Musicology and Ethnomusicology: Student Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Myers-Briggs Of Quoting: A Typology Of Musical Borrowing In Jazz Improvisation, University Of Denver

Musicology and Ethnomusicology: Student Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Coltrane Plays The Blues: Multi-Level Coherence And Stylistic Tendencies, Lukas Gabric

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

As a principal musical figure of the twentieth century, John Coltrane created a legacy that still resonates with listeners. Similarly, the blues may be regarded as one of the most iconic genres of the twentieth century. This dissertation examines Coltrane’s shifting stylistic tendencies to the blues and explores structural relationships with reductive voice leading analysis. As a variation form, the blues poses issues of continuity since every chorus may be regarded as self-sufficient and internally closed. Voice leading analysis provides a powerful explanation for the fact that Coltrane’s blues solos may be perceived as structurally unified. I also develop a …

Genre And Stylistic Features Of The Structure And Dynamics Of The Development Of Modern Uzbek Pop Music, Nodira Amanova

Eurasian music science journal

The study is devoted to genre-style structure and dynamics of development of modern Uzbek pop music. The process of identifying the structure was carried out by mathematical analysis of 1893 rotated music compositions according to the "playlists" of FM radio stations and "Internet charts" for the period from 1991 to 2018. There are three stages of modern pop music of Uzbekistan, which reflect the dynamics of genres and styles of Uzbek pop music and allow to predict their future development. The first (adaptation, 1991-1998) period was studied by the material of playlists, rotated 362 compositions for 1997-1998. It is key …

Industry Profile: Denny Stilwell, Mack Avenue Music Group President, Axel Tanner

Backstage Pass

No abstract provided.

Brazilian Rhythms On The Drum Set: Stylizations Of Baiao, Frevo And Maracatu By Drummers Airto Moreira, Nene And Marcio Bahia., Lucas Gomes Maia Tome Pimentel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this research is to gather and analyze stylizations of Brazilian folk rhythms baião, frevo and maracatu in contemporary Brazilian jazz. For this end, I examined transcriptions from well-known contemporary drummers Airto Moreira, Nenê and Márcio Bahia. Firstly, I reviewed the path of the drum set in Brazil by examining the important contributions made by drummers Luciano Perrone and Edison Machado. After that, I presented musical characteristics of baião, maracatu and frevo in their original environment, followed by analysis of each rhythm’s stylizations to the drum set made by drummers Airto Moreira, Nenê and Márcio Bahia. I concluded …

Music Is The "Noise Of Remembering" Tracing The Origins, Influences, And Connectivities Of West African Music, Adam Friedman

Lawrence University Honors Projects

The popularity and universal reach of music genres such as Jazz and Hip Hop attest to the idea that these forms have been long established as a vital part of global musical culture. For people who are familiar with Afrocentric music, it is clear that styles such as Jazz and Hip Hop are rooted in, and inextricably linked with, African culture and history. What is more difficult to make sense of, however, is how and why transplanted African culture came to have such wide reaching impact in the new contexts in which it was taken up – because the stories …

Electronics And The Music Of Miles Davis, Darren E. Shekailo

Theses and Dissertations

Miles Davis produced a wealth of music relying on the use of electronic instruments and new technology. With their adoption, the famous trumpeter began his “electric” period. Examining the electric period of Davis’s career helps us trace the profound impact of electronic instruments and technological advances on his music.

Mood And Mode: The Impressionistic Commonalities Of Claude Debussy And John Coltrane, Simon B. Needle, Edward Eanes

The Kennesaw Journal of Undergraduate Research

There are marked parallels in scale use, the use of modality and harmonic construction and movement in the music of John Coltrane as compared to impressionist composers like Claude Debussy. The modal harmonic exploration employed in the works of Coltrane is often attributed to the Indian raga and other music, but it can also be likened to Impressionist works by Debussy. A fascination with exoticism and a search for new veins in music to draw from propelled both of these artists forward musically. While Debussy learned medieval modality from the Russians, Coltrane looked further East to the Arab world and …

A Song Through Time: Tiger Rag And The Twentieth Century, Thomas Grady Hartsock

Music

Tiger Rag is one of the first recorded jazz works.This project investigates the initial creation of the work and follows it through five different artists in the twentieth century to explain how this piece of music has grown in it's hundred years of life.

Was That A Song?, Donald J. Herzog

Articles

Jazz constantly spins off new possibilities, seizing on fusion with rock, new rhythms from Brazil and then "world music," astringent harmonies and atonal combinations from "new" music or twentieth-century "classical," and more. [...]jazz musicians have been relaxing constraints since the beginning. Piano players might keep "comping" or accompanying the soloists with well-chosen chords, but they might roam free or just stop playing.\n Again you can wonder how much of this was deliberately plotted out before the trio hit the stage, how much developed on the spot.

Louis Armstrong, Gene H. Anderson

Music Faculty Publications

Despite his lifelong claim of 4 July 1900 as his birthday, Armstrong was actually born on 4 August 1901 as recorded on a baptismal certificate discovered after his death. Although calling himself “Louis Daniel Armstrong” in his 1954 autobiography, he denied knowledge of his middle name or its origin. Nevertheless, evidence of “Daniel” being a family name is strong: Armstrong's paternal great-great-grandfather, a third generation slave brought from Tidewater Virginia for sale in New Orleans in 1818, was named Daniel Walker, as was his son, Armstrong's great-grandfather. The latter's wife, Catherine Walker, sponsored her great-grandson's baptism at the family's home …

The Wdr Big Band: A Brief History, Gabriela A. Richmond

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, Student Creative Work, and Performances

The years following World War II brought new broadcasting stations to a divided Germany, government regulated radio stations in the East and state regulated stations in the West. Radio broadcasts were a significant cultural source for the Germans in times of reconstruction. Broadcasting stations played much of the familiar Tanz- und Unterhaltungsmusik, reminiscent of earlier times of happiness and prosperity. However, with changes in a new generation’s musical tastes the demand for swing bands declined. Radio stations began to rework their in-house “dance bands” into “jazz bands.” The West Deutscher Rundfunk (WDR), and other broadcast stations, employed jazz musicians …

An Analysis Of The Career And Solo Style Of Jazz Trombonist Carl Fontana, John Wesley Parker

Dissertations

Carl Fontana’s ability and creativity as a jazz trombonist is held in high regard by his contemporaries, as well as by those who followed him. The significant aspects of his career were highlighted in a brief biography with historical and anecdotal information provided by jazz trombonists who new him and were influenced by him. Fontana’s solo style was analyzed and compared through transcriptions of three improvisations performed during contrasting points in his career: “Intermission Riff” from 1956, “Just Friends” from 1978, and “It Might As Well Be Spring” from 1985. His influence on the jazz trombone community was discussed through …