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Ragtime was a very influential part of the
development of jazz. Ragtime became very popular in the late 1800’s. Ragtime’s
distinct style set it apart from the other genres. Syncopation is what defines
this art form. This is when the loud accents fall in between the beats.
Anything that is syncopated is basically ragtime. One of the most important
ragtime composers was Scott Joplin. Like all great artists, Joplin did not
restrict himself to this favored art form. Both before the advent of ragtime
and after, Joplin composed marches and waltzes, including the syncopated
waltzes. There's more to ragtime than syncopation, while some very good ragtime
is not of the classic form. But the lines are often blurred. Ragtime's
influence on other musical genres dictates that part of the character of
ragtime surface in those genres. The classical composers Charles Ives, Igor
Stravinsky, and Darius Milhaud were all intrigued by the opportunities that
ragtime offered to express new musical ideas. Joplin himself wrote ragtime
operas. As performers began to rag both melody and accompaniment, ragtime began
its transformation into jazz. As classic ragtime was meant to be played as
written, these artists also moved toward greater improvisation. Jelly Roll
Morton recognized the coherence of ragtime but gave it more freedom, especially
in the bass line. This resulted in what is known as ``stomp'' piano. Charles
“Cow-Cow” Davenport, who pioneered the Boogie-Woogie style, was trained in
ragtime but recorded many blues pieces. James P. Johnson was instrumental in
moving ragtime toward jazz and blues, creating Stride Piano. Other developments
led to the ``trumpet-piano'' style of Earl Hines and Teddy Weatherford and to
the swing style of Duke Ellington. Some Historians consider ragtime to be the
very first jazz style. Although it cannot actually be classified as jazz,
ragtime is definitely a very influential part of jazz. In Louisiana at this
time there was music everywhere. Ragtime bands and marching bands were joining
together. Mexican bands were also and influence especially in the way the
trumpets and horns were played. All this merging of different band sounds was
important in the creation of jazz. Eventually the instruments used in marching
bands crossed over into jazz instruments. The drums and clarinet filled in for
the marching band instruments. New Orleans was such a melting pot for music and
culture but it was also a party town. This party scene was also a part of how
jazz was molded. The demand for fresh new music was high, which caused
musicians to alter and elongate their styles. All the new creations and
variations on the music in the end fused into jazz.
2. The blues first emerged as a distinct type of music in the late-1800s.
Spirituals, work songs, seculars, field hollers and arhoolies all had some form
of influence on the blues. Early blues were a curious mixture of African
cross-rhythms and vocal techniques, Anglo-American melodies and thematic
material from fables and folktales, and tales of personal experience on plantations
and prison farms. After the war, blacks were still slaves to King Cotton, and
many found themselves struggling to support themselves working on plantations
well into the mid-twentieth century, or struggling to support themselves as
sharecroppers or tenant farmers. The blues developed into a distinct form of
folk music as a direct result of this. The emergence of the blues coincided
with the worsening of the social and economic conditions for blacks in the
South. The “country blues,” usually considered an earlier form of the genre,
was actually recorded in the mid-1920s. There are several regional styles of
country blues, including delta blues from the Mississippi Delta, Texas blues,
and Piedmont blues from the Southeast. Country blues was usually recorded by a
single male singer, self-accompanied on the guitar or piano, with perhaps an
accompanying harmonica or simple percussion. Charley Patton, Blind Lemon
Jefferson, Blind Boy Fuller, and Robert Johnson were country blues musicians.
Beginning in the 1930s, blues musicians fell under the influence of urban
culture, including popular music and jazz. Combos incorporating piano, guitar,
and percussion developed, although the country, “downhome” origins of the
musicians were still evident in the music. Major musicians of the 1930s
included Tampa Red, Big Bill Broonzy, Little Brother Mongomery, Leon Carr and
Scrapper Blackwell, Lonnie Johnson, and Memphis Minnie. After World War II, the
use of electrified instruments became inevitable. During the 1940s, some blues
bands even incorporated saxophones, although the preference was for amplified
harmonicas, especially in Chicago, a predominant center of blues recording in
the 1950s. Blues from this period is often called “urban blues,” “electric
blues,” or simply “Chicago blues.” Important urban blues musicians included
Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Elmore James, Howlin’ Wolf, T-Bone Walker, and B.
B. King.
Rural blues was an early form of blues. It consisted of more simplistic
instruments and tunes. Where as urban blues used different instruments and
sounds and was a little classier than the chants from down on the plantation.
Rural blues began as just solo singing as where urban blues was a singer
accompanied by a band. Blues has changed over the years, whether its rural or
urban anyone knows the blues when they hear it.