Why is dixieland called collective improvisation

After some years of struggle, he was invited to play at a festival in Paris in , where he met with an ecstatic reaction. Upon moving permanently to France, he found massive acclaim, becoming something of a national hero.

This has been the subject of much discussion: it is worth noting that a group of white New Orleans natives were given the opportunity to document their music before a number of African American players who were of much greater musical historical importance.

Still, the Original Dixieland Jazz Band are certainly a significant outfit in the development of early jazz, and their records proved wildly popular. Cornetist Bix Beiderbecke was another hugely influential stylist of the s, with an approach that makes for an interesting comparison with that of Louis Armstrong. Louis, in contrast, was capable of heading up into the stratosphere. The Iowa native was largely self-taught and used a non-standard fingering technique.

Bix Beiderbecke made some of his greatest recordings with the C melody saxophonist Frankie Trumbauer. Never exactly the modest type, Jelly Roll Morton famously claimed to have been the inventor of jazz. His talent was first discovered by the New Orleans cornetist Buddy Bolden, a legendary figure who is considered to be the first improvising jazz musician, but who sadly never recorded.

After Kid Ory became one of the top bandleaders in the city himself, his outfit included legendary players like Louis Armstrong and clarinetists Johnny Dodds and Jimmie Noone. The school of trombone playing pioneered by Kid Ory saw the instrument take a supporting role, playing in a rhythmic, punchy fashion below the other frontline instruments. Teagarden developed a more legato, soloistic way of playing, which put the trombone on more of an even footing with the trumpet.

Teagarden sings and plays on this soulful Verve album, which was recorded just three years before his death. Still, King Oliver was a great trumpet player and an important stylist in his own right, although he is not as well documented on records as he should be. His bands were innovative in their use of collective improvisation and he was able to achieve an extraordinary range of sounds by using different cornet mutes.

I still think that if it had not been for Joe Oliver, Jazz would not be what it is today. He was a creator in his own right. Most early jazz recordings were made on brittle hard plastic shellac records called 78s ; the number 78 refered to the number of revolutions per miniute RPM that the record would make when played on a record player of the day. The collective improvisation of Dixieland jazz represented, in part, African Americans' newfound freedom. Although hardly experiencing civil rights, African Americans were no longer slaves and celebrated their newfound freedom through jazz improvisation, playing whatever they wanted; they were not "restricted" to notes written on a page, but instead could play whatever they "heard" in their hearts and minds the music was not read, it was played "by ear".

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