The Amazing Jazz Singers and Jazz Music
November 24th, 2007Each singer has his or her own style they were born with. Some of them may not be the best singers that Simon Cowell would compliment. However, there are many Jazz legends and people like them who have their own unique style. The je ne sias quoi x factor of a voice that is unusual, yet pleasing to the ears. The Jazz singers who have this quality have been heard in many clubs, and recordings in the past.
The Virtuoso can croon a ballad and articulate it in a unique way. The virtuoso Jazz singer can also be strong and sassy and scat in great complexity with ease. There is no doubt that the virtuoso Jazz singer is the total embodiment of what Jazz is all about. The last type of vocalist has an ethereal appeal that seems to come out of another place with uniqueness in sound, and suitable to the world of Jazz.
On Art Blakey
Art was considered to be among jazz music’s finest musicians such as Fats Navarro, Miles Davis and Dexter Gordon. In 1947 when Eckstine’s band broke up, Art started the Seventeen Messengers. He would go on to have several other groups with this same name. He then went to Africa to learn all about Islamic people for over a year. By the 1950’s he performed with Clifford Brown, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker and Horace Silver.
Art never thought of his music as similar to African style, although he did use some of their techniques such as using his elbow on the tom-tom to alter pitch. His trademark, the forced closing of the hi-hat on each second and fourth beat was created in 1950-1951, which many jazz musicians copied.
On Diana Krall
Diana Krall is an accomplished singer, and jazz pianist. Diana was born in British Columbia Canada in 1964. She learned to play piano when she was just four-years-old. Everyone is her family are musicians. When she was in high school she played in a jazz group, and at just fifteen played in many restaurants in Nanaimo. She won a scholarship from Vancouver International Jazz Festival at 17 years old to go to Berklee College of Music. She stayed for one and a half years.
In 2000, Diana went on a tour with Tony Bennett and was nominated for more Grammy awards. The Look of Love album went platinum, the following year. It went to number one on the Canadian charts, and on the Billboard 200, top ten. In 2001 Diana toured the world. The Paris Olympia concert was recorded, and Diana Krall-Live in Paris was released and went to the top of Billboard jazz charts, number 5 in Canada and the top 20 of Billboard 200. On the recording was a cover of Billy Joel’s “Just The Way You Are” and “A Case Of You” by Joni Mitchell.
Dizzy Gillespie and jazz music
Dizzy was a part of Duke Ellington’s, Woody Herman and many other bands. It was with Billy Eckstine’s band where his unique playing fit better than anywhere else. He met again with Charlie Parker. Together they played famous clubs such as Monroe’s Uptown House, and Minton’s Playhouse. This is where jazz music progressed again and bebop was created. In the beginning a lot of people didn’t like bebop. They were used to the old jazz music, and thought the new sound of bebop was a threat and were afraid of it. Dizzy’s style had an effect on trumpeters and the younger musicians that he was able to mentor. Examples of bebop music are “Groovin’ High”, “Salt Peanuts” and “A Night In Tunisia”. Musicians that he taught bebop to were Miles Davis and Max Roach.
During the 1940’s Dizzy was composing Afro-Cuban music. Afro-Cuban music is a combination of Latin and African music, pop and salsa. The work that is the most well known are “Tin Tin Deo” and “Manteca”. Dizzy was responsible for finding musician Arturo Sandoval while he was on a tour in Cuba researching music.
