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Jazz History Jazz history Roots of jazz The ancestor of jazz was gospel song : in the beginning of the 17th century, black slaves expressed their africans origins by signing these spiritual songs. Later, they added fortune instruments to represents their feelings with a better precision in a well-known style : the blues. This kind of music is characterised by the presence of two "blue notes" : the third and the seventh notes of the major scale are lowered a half-tone, that gives a "bluesy" impression. The Dixie In the twenties, a new style appeared coming from the blues and the rag : the dixie or New-Orleans jazz. This style is associated with bands from this city and also called "hot jazz". They were composed basically of clarinet, cornet, trombone, double-bass, piano, guitar or banjo and drums. First of all, they play this frenetic music in great parades organized on the main street by the jazzmen of the place. Some of the greatest dixie players were W.C. Handy (cornet), Louis Armstrong (trumpet and voice), King Oliver (trumpet), Sydney Bechet (soprano sax and clarinet) and Bessie Smith (voice). The Swing Some years later, concerts had adhered to a structured program, each concert attempted to educate the audience with a bit of musical history, but also included a brief jam session. These sessions were common in the thirties and the forties. This was the big band, or swing, era. A big band is a large orchestra composed of a rhythmic section - drums, double bass, artchtop guitar and piano - and a huge melodic section - alto, tenor and barytone saxophones, clarinets, trombones and trumpets - often playing improvised solos.
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