| Jazz is an American art form whose roots date back | | | | to keep everyone together by keeping a steady beat |
| to the mid-19th century slave songs and chants. The | | | | throughout the entirety of the song. |
| early 20th century saw the art form blossom as | | | | As jazz music developed throughout the 1940s and |
| instrumental music in the southern United States, mainly | | | | 1950s, jazz combo instrumentation began to become |
| along the Mississippi river and specifically New Orleans, | | | | more standardized. The jazz "quintet" and "sextet" |
| Louisiana. | | | | became very popular during this time. The quintet |
| Early instrumental jazz combos of New Orleans varied | | | | consisted of trumpet and alto (or tenor) sax as the |
| in instrumentation. More often than not, these early | | | | main melodic instruments while the rhythm section |
| jazz groups generally consisted of trumpet, clarinet, | | | | (piano, bass and drums) took care of rhythm and |
| trombone, tuba and drums. This instrumentation | | | | harmony. |
| became what is known as the "dixieland" combo, | | | | The sextet added a trombone to form what |
| making its way up the Mississippi river to Chicago | | | | essentially was a three horn front line, with rhythm |
| where the music became popularized by jazz greats | | | | section accompaniment. The extra melodic instrument |
| such as Louis Armstrong. | | | | of the sextet made it possible for the horns to add |
| Dixieland combos can be thought of as groups that | | | | more harmonic depth to the sound of the group. Each |
| play "polyphonic" improvisational music. Each instrument | | | | instrument had a role not only as a melodic voice, but |
| is independent of every other instrument, with each | | | | also as an integral component of the harmonic |
| player creating separate musical improvisations based | | | | structure as well. |
| on known melodies, or "tunes" of the day. | | | | Modern jazz combos consist of a variety of |
| The players of these early jazz combos each had a | | | | instrumentation - 4, 5 horn combos are common place. |
| separate role within the group. The trumpet player | | | | As the group grows in size however, the name |
| was depended upon to state the melody of the song, | | | | "combo" is replaced by "band" or "little big band". |
| while the clarinet would improvise complex lines above | | | | The jazz combo has provided a musical and creative |
| him. The trombonists role was to improvise or "fill in" | | | | outlet for countless musicians over the last 100 years. |
| the middle register with lines and notes that were | | | | The jazz combo continues to provide jazz musicians |
| essential to the chord changes of the song itself. The | | | | the opportunity to work together to make music not |
| tuba player (or bass player) generally laid down root | | | | only as a group but also to develop their own voice as |
| notes (and 5ths) of each chord on beats 1 and 3 of | | | | individual jazz improvisers. It is, and probably always will |
| each measure. The tuba served as the harmonic | | | | be, the perfect vehicle for learning the art of jazz |
| anchor for the group. Lastly, it was the drummers role | | | | improvisation. |