Posts Tagged ‘Jazz Music’
Jazz guitar player Mel Bay was born on February 25, 1913 in the small Ozark Mountain town of Bunker, Missouri. He bought a Sears guitar at the age of 13 and several weeks later played his first “gig.” He recalled playing right up until his fingers were raw! Mel took up the tenor banjo shortly thereafter and continued to master both instruments. Throughout his teen years Mel played with a wild assortment of bands and characters in rural Missouri. Perhaps no “gig” was as unusual as the job he landed with, in Mel’s own words, “a snake oil salesman.” This flamboyant peddler would pull his ostentatious Pierce Arrow automobile, complete with steer horns installed on the grill, into the center of a small, rural town. Mel would sit on the car and play up a storm on the tenor banjo. Soon after a crowd gathered, the peddler took over and started extolling the miracles of his “wonder elixer.”
In 1933 Mel Bay moved to St. Louis and commenced his professional career. He performed with a lot of local and traveling bands. Additionally, he landed staff guitar employment on various radio stations. Mel fronted his own trio (piano, bass, guitar) and played steadily for 25 years! He was equally adept on most fretted instruments and played mandolin, uke, Hawaiian guitar, tenor and plectrum banjo professionally.
There are many people in the world who will tell you that for soul tingling music you should listen to the songs of R&B performers. This style of music is catchy and has the ability of soothing you at the same time that it energizes your soul. You will find this popular form of music is the shortened form of rhythm and blues. It originated during the 1940s from a number of popular African American musical styles. The roots of R&B can be traced to gospel music, traditional pop music, Jazz music, and the blues music genre. In this final style you will find that jump and electric blues music more than the others had a huge influence on the development of the R&B music scene.
With the passage of time you can see how R&B has changed. During the early days the term rhythm and blues was used as the name given to all blues records. Then in the 1950s you could find that R&B included musical styles which incorporated rock and roll, soul music, electric blues and gospel music as well. As the 1970s rolled around the term R&B became the blanket name for all styles and forms of soul and funk music. In the 1980s with the emergence of a new style of R&B, the title of contemporary R&B was born.
Many people think that jazz is the music of the elite and well-established people. But, if you look into the roots of jazz, you will see the opposite. Jazz is an art of expression in the form of music. Jazz music is the fundamental music in human life.
Jazz tradition evolved from the lifestyle of black community in America who has been oppressed. Initially, the tradition began from the influence of tribal drums and gospel music, blues and field hollers (the shouts of cultivators). Its birth process has demonstrated that jazz was closely related to the life defense and expression of human life.
The interesting thing from jazz music was that the origin of the word “jazz” was derived from a vulgar term used for sexual acts. Most of rhythms in jazz were ever associated with the brothels and the women with an unfortunate reputation.
Then, in the journey of jazz, it eventually became an art form of jazz music, both in the specific composition and improvisation, which reflected the spontaneous melodies. Jazz musicians usually expressed their feelings that were uneasily explained because this music should be felt within the heart.