Of course, jazz is still around. There are lots of people still playing jazz gigs, recording jazz albums, and innovating to keep the style relevant. It has been a long time since jazz was “popular,” but that certainly doesn’t mean it is dead or even that it isn’t still developing.
Who is out there?
In Ted Gioia’s book How To Listen To Jazz he gives us a really useful list of current jazz musicians. He calls this list The Elite 150 of Early- and Mid-Career Jazz Masters; this is, according to him, the 150 most important currently-working jazz musicians in the world. Some of these folks are pretty far into their careers (some have been performing for 30+ years) while others are quite new. Take a look at the list. It’s on pp. 225–230 in How To Listen To Jazz.
Jazz Lineage
Much of jazz’s “magic” comes from the fact that it is a mixture of written and oral traditions. The master-apprentice relationship goes pretty deep into how jazz has developed and operated over the last century. King Oliver mentored Louis Armstrong. Charlie Parker mentored Miles Davis. Miles Davis mentored several people.
The same is likely true for members of this “Elite 150.” Chances are, if we look closely at their training and experience, we will find similar relationships. And, it is quite likely that we can trace their lineage back to masters of the past.
Here is an example:
One of my first bass teachers was a man named Marshall Hawkins.
Marshall Hawkins was briefly a member of Miles Davis’s band
Thus, I can trace my jazz “lineage” back to Miles Davis with only a couple of steps.
Or, we could represent it this way:
Miles Davis → Marshall Hawkins → Taylor Smith
Now, I was incredibly lucky to have Marshall as a teacher. It was purely luck, honestly. But, it’s still kind of cool that I can “claim” this lineage.
The Assignment
I would like you to do a small research project about someone on Gioia’s “Elite 150” list (pp. 225–230 of How To Listen To Jazz). First, please write a paragraph or two describing who the person is, what instrument(s) they play, some information about their “output” (how many albums have they recorded, etc.), and a brief description of their music in general (can you place inside or adjacent to any of the styles we have already talked about). Then, I would like you to see what information you can find about this person’s “lineage.” Who were their teachers? Their teachers’ teachers? How many steps backward do you need to take to get to someone we might have talked about in this class?
So, your assignment will look like this:
Pick someone from the “Elite 150” list
Write a few paragraphs explaining who this person is, includingWhat instrument(s) they play
Where they are located (geographically)
Info about their “output” (how many albums, etc.)
An attempt to “place” their music inside or adjacent to one of the styles we have already discussed
A section that describes the person’s “lineage.” This could beA “family tree” diagram
A list, organized chronologically, tracing the person back to someone super prominent (someone we’ve already mentioned in this class)Take a look at the “Prominent Players” list in each Module for some of the people you might be able to include in your “lineage.”
You can turn this in as an attachment or just as something you’ve copy/pasted into Canvas.
The point of all of this is to get you see who is out there making this kind of music and to see how they are connected to all of the people we have already discussed.
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