Dynamic jazz. Foreign jazz

Nowadays, good jazz music has won sincere fans all over the world. For example, the names of such performers as Louis Armstrong or Frank Sinatra are known even to those who are far from this genre. Despite differences in culture and mentality, age and type of activity, people from different countries love to listen to jazz compositions online. Moreover, our compatriots strive to download foreign jazz for free and even learn songs in a foreign language. All this confirms the strength, quality and semantic content of the compositions.

Historical reference

Coming to Koktebel for jazz in the last days of summer has already become a good tradition. Over its sixteen-year history, the festival has changed its name and format, but in the last five years it has clearly strengthened its status and name.

Koktebel Jazz Party is not just a respectable jazz platform and an international forum, which attracts hundreds of musicians and guests to play and communicate in an informal setting of a seaside town, but also a great educational and entertainment event.

Festival guests receive a positive mood upon arrival: in addition to the usual Crimean sun these days, they are greeted by the new international airport of Simferopol - bright, spacious, stuffed with information boards, stands and cafes. “It looks like I flew to Greece by mistake,” the dark-skinned trumpeter said with cheerful bewilderment, getting into a minibus with a bright festival emblem. Young guys and girls in festival T-shirts move around the airport, receiving and giving commands into walkie-talkies and smartphones, forming groups to depart for Koktebel. The machine of the 16th Koktebel Festival is started and running at all speeds.

Two hours along the road, which in a couple of years gradually turns from a broken asphalt “direction” into a highway, and now you are already in Koktebel among the familiar Crimean realities. Cafes blaring music of varying levels and quality. Dreadlocked, hippy partygoers playing guitars, bongos, and digiridoos. Vacationers dragging inflatable rings from the beach. Barkers offering everything from accommodation by the sea to exclusive walks along the sea.

In the bar of the “headquarters” hotel, where the organizers and musicians are located, liters of hot coffee are pouring in the morning. At one of the tables, with dark glasses pulled down on his head, one of the art directors of the Koktebel Jazz Party, Mikhail Ikonnikov, is tapping on the keys of his laptop, simultaneously managing to make the final adjustments to the program and greet all the new arrivals. And more and more of them come every year. Skepticism about the relative viability of the festival, which five years ago replaced informal motley eclecticism with a strict jazz format, has dried up. Now here it is easy to cross paths with the jazz audience, with those with whom you sometimes find yourself at neighboring tables in the Moscow clubs of Alexei Kozlov and Esse. The velvet season is approaching, so why not combine it with the velvet sounds of jazz?

The festival lineup was not disclosed until the last moment, there are good reasons for this, but for some it is already a familiar surprise. The Western press was a little worried, but they too easily calmed down. “Starting from 2016, we do not announce the names of Western participants in advance. I understand how journalists writing about music don’t like this, but believe me, this creates a lot of problems for us too. For example, Sergey (Golovnya) and I often visit various radio stations on the eve of the next festival. And instead of describing in all colors who we are bringing this time, we are forced to get off with general words. First of all, this is taking care of the public who comes and comes to the Koktebel Jazz Party. Without announcing the participants, we guarantee our viewers with almost 100% certainty that stars of the first magnitude will come to Koktebel,” explains Mikhail.

Experienced participants trust the organizers, knowing that it won’t be boring.

The first day was opened by the New Orleans Rebirth Brass Band, in a certain way taking up the initiative of the Koktebel Jazz Party-2017, which began with a performance by New Orleans drummer Joe Lusty. Dixielands seem to be a priority for the head of the Rossiya Segodnya agency, Dmitry Kiselev, as written on the back of the bright blue polo of the festival’s “founding father.” Returning from distant American travels, last year he invited Lusty, and now his fellow countrymen, to the festival. One can argue about the relevance of the “Dixieland” trend in jazz, but the catchy opening from Rebirth Brass Band is thought out absolutely accurately. What is a holiday without copper pipes and drums? And “dark-skinned” jazz is an obvious and true beginning, setting us up for positivity since the “Utesov” times.

“I think that the performance of New Orleans musicians in Koktebel will henceforth become another good tradition of our festival,” adds Ikonnikov.

The jazz internationality was picked up by the Indian band Rajeev Raja Combine. There is jazz in India, and of course, it is unlike anything else - original, unexpected, equally focused on both folk tradition and a purely Euro-American component. That is why “fusion” - a designation that characterizes an almost maximally free approach to the genre - in the case of Indians, who periodically take the listener to psychedelic heights, is most appropriate here.

Saxophonist Rick Margitsa, who played and recorded with Miles Davis himself, is identified in the festival program as a representative of the “post-bop” direction, and this was probably the first set of the Koktebel Jazz Party–2018, for the perception of which it would be worth studying the original sources. With Margitsa, double bassist Silvan Romano and drummer Karl Januska appeared on stage, supported by trumpeter Andrey Lobanov and pianist Alexey Podymkin. Can “post-bop” sound on the evening beach if its main place of residence is the stage of small night jazz clubs? Maybe he feels very comfortable here.

And finally, Incognito is the main surprise of the first day and one of the main surprises of the entire event as a whole. One of the founders of acid jazz, whose single Parisienne Girl 38 years ago marked the beginning of acid jazz - one of the most unusual musical mixtures to the delight of young audiences and to the horror of the “classical” audience.

No one else was able to play on the same stage during Incognito’s brilliant set that evening. Still, the festival regulations do not allow this, but every evening, or rather night, on the second floor of the Karadag cafe provided such an opportunity.

In the crowded hall, decorated with portraits of jazz giants, musicians of all jazz genres gathered in impromptu jam sessions, led by another art director of the Koktebel Jazz Party, Sergei Golovnya. Everything went so naturally that the only question that was asked to Sergei in the morning was: “Seryozha, that was very cool, but do you ever sleep!?”

Spectators of the second and third festival days also could not complain about the lack of stylistic diversity. The Chinese jazz line-up of the Sedar Band, perhaps like the Indian one, should have seemed hard-to-reach exotic to many, but in fact it turned out to be an absolutely lounge band, playing a very harmonious, quiet soundtrack for the sun setting over Koktebel.

Brilliant jazz vocalists Vanessa Rubin and Deborah Brown appeared, naturally, in different lineups, but each of their sets once again confirmed the triumph of gender equality in jazz music. One cannot fail to note the performance of Deborah Brown as part of the Sergei Golovnya Big Band with a student of Louis Armstrong himself, trumpeter Eddie Henderson. Armenian pianist Vahagn Hayrapetyan brought out his lineup in classic black and white costumes and presented a program that, albeit as close as possible to what is called “classical jazz,” but certainly not devoid of a clear national style.

By the way, for Vanessa Rubin’s performance, the organizers had to solve a difficult task - to provide keyboard player Renato Cicco with a rare vintage Hammond organ in these parts, and the instrument was carefully brought across the Crimean Bridge and installed on the exact appointed day.

The pianists at this festival generally caused a lot of pleasant trouble for the organizers. To conduct a “battle” of pianists (Yakov Okun - Vahagn Hayrapetyan) playing pianos with open lids, moving instruments around the stage took almost more time than setting up complex Internet technologies for holding an online session “Koktebel-Yerevan” in the past year.

Koktebel Jazz Party - festival of traditional jazz. Respectable and even a little prim, favored by last year's visit of the Russian President, not to mention the visits of local government officials, he is nevertheless inclined to change. Each subsequent “jazz on the beach” is different from the previous ones, clearly working on mistakes and delighting with unexpected surprises.

“Overall, the festival was a success. For the third year in a row, we have no problems with refusals at the last moment and the need to urgently look for a replacement. More and more spectators are coming. Jazz lovers from Moscow and other cities began to come to the Koktebel Jazz Party. We tried a number of new products. This two pianos and a gala performance that concludes the festival. In my opinion, both are successful and will certainly remain in the program of future festivals. We are now already working on the program for next year. I will not reveal secrets, I will only say that we are thinking that after two years bring back the blues to it,” shared Mikhail Ikonnikov.

Its monumentality combines jazz improvisation and serious government support in an unusual and completely harmonious way. Leaders of avant-garde jazz and representatives of some experimental trends in the genre are unlikely to perform here. The unspoken task of the Koktebel Jazz Party is to entertain and teach. And if the performance of the international cast of one of the best Russian pianists Yakov Okun, during which he not only played jazz music, but also spoke clearly about it, is taken as a standard, then perhaps this task as a whole is absolutely feasible.

A few days ago, my friends and I tried to remember as many people as possible who, in our opinion, changed the course of history. Well, if we expand this topic, we can identify 10 key aspects in different areas of human activity that have influenced the life, worldview, or simply the taste of all humanity. Today I would like to highlight10 jazz standards, which, in my opinion, are the basispopular jazz music. Jazz standards- These are jazz melodies or themes that were once written by someone and are so memorable that all jazz musicians and almost all people know them. Quite good musicians, as Wikipedia writes, for example, knows a couple of hundred of them, which, by the way, I very much doubt.

Most likely, many people know the collections I have collected. jazz compositions, but each standard has its own history, which not everyone knows.

So number one:

1. Autumnleaves

Originally, in 1945, it was a French song" Les Feuilles mortes" (literally "Dead Leaves") with music Joseph Kosma and the poet's poems Jacques Prevert). Yves Montand (with Irene Joachim) introduced "Les Feuilles mortes" in 1946 in the film Les Portes-de-la-Nuit. In 1947 American composer Johnny Mercer wrote the English lyrics of this song, and Joe Stafford was one of the first to perform a new version of the composition. Autumn Leaves has become a jazz and pop standard in both languages, as well as in an instrumental version.

The video below features an improvisational version of this theme by one of the best jazz improvisers and composers (and one of my favorites) of our time Keith Jarrett. Notice how he funny howls and dances during his solo. His playing has a special charm and is immediately distinguishable and identifiable by ear thanks to the microphone support of his peculiar “moo”.

2. Let it snow!Let it snow!Let it snow!

The song is also known as "Let It Snow". Authorship belongs to the lyricist Sammy Cahn and the composer Julie Styne in 1945. Interestingly, it was written in July 1945 in Hollywood during one of the hottest days of the summer.

What’s even more interesting is that, I think, almost everyone on our blue ball plowing the Universe knows it, even those who have lived in the desert all their lives. Personally, I always sing this song when it snows or rains ( Let it rain! You can still Let it fog!)

3. I've got you under my skin

Not everyone knows this composition, which has been covered by all jazz vocalists, if not on stage, then certainly in the shower. Copyright belongs to Cole Porter and it was written in 1936. In the presented video (as well as in the previous one) it is performed by my favorite musician Jamie CullamCulllum). After this song there will be a small bonus - another song performed by Jamie - High and Dry (Radiohead). This is one of my favorite songs.

4. Fly me to the moon

And this theme is one of those to which it is most convenient to swing, even for me, a person far from swinging. Wrote a masterpiece Bart Howard in 1954.

5. Take five

If a musician wants to test his musical flair on a non-standard rhythm, Takefive - this is the best jazz composition to experiment with. The 5-quarter time signature clearly shows that the song deserves attention. By the way, there are a lot of songs that begin as a famous standard, but I came up with it “the first time” Paul Desmond, and was first presented by the quartet of the great Dave Brubeck Quartet in album "Time Out" in 1959

6. The entertainer

Well, everyone knows that. The composition was written by the founder of the ragtime style. Scott Joplin more than 110 years ago (in 1902). Is a ragtime classic. This jazz composition regained its international fame during « Ragtime Revival" in the 1970s, when it was used as the theme song for the film " "The Sting", which won an Oscar.

7. Singingintherain

"Singing in the Rain" - song with verses Arthur Freed and music Nacio Herb Brown, written in 1929, gained fame after the film of the same name. After watching the video I always start to rejoice!

8. Summertime

When people talk about jazz, then they often mean exactly “ Summertime" Work written George Gershwin in 1935 for the opera "Porgy and Bess". Authors of the text: DuBose Heyward and Ira Gershwin(brother of George). Saying what is the basis for writing an aria Gershwin took a Ukrainian lullaby "Oh go sleep around the corner", which he heard in New York performed by the Ukrainian National Choir under the direction of Alexandra Koshitsa. We're bringing the heat there too!

9. Feelinggood

"Feeling Good" (also known as " Feelin' Good") is a song written by English singer-songwriters Anthony Newley And Leslie Bricusse in 1965. Since then, the composition has been recorded by many artists, including the outstanding Nina Simone.

10. HelloDolly

Well, where would we be without Armstrong! But what’s interesting is that the author of the music and lyrics of the famous song is not Armstrong- the man who set foot on Mars first, - and Jerry Herman (Jerry Herman). The song was very popular in 1964, when it was played on the radio as often as it is played today Lady Gaga. But it is our beloved one Louis Armstrong made it what we know it today.

Soon I will prepare 25 of the best jazz compositions, including jazz standards in the original and their modern adaptations.

Jazz is a musical movement that originated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the United States. Its emergence is the result of the interweaving of two cultures: African and European. This movement will combine spirituals (church chants) of American blacks, African folk rhythms and European harmonious melody. Its characteristic features are: flexible rhythm, which is based on the principle of syncopation, the use of percussion instruments, improvisation, and an expressive manner of performance, characterized by sound and dynamic tension, sometimes reaching the point of ecstasy. Jazz was originally a combination of ragtime and blues elements. In fact, it grew out of these two directions. The peculiarity of the jazz style is, first of all, the individual and unique play of the jazz virtuoso, and improvisation gives this movement constant relevance.

After jazz itself was formed, a continuous process of its development and modification began, which led to the emergence of various directions. Currently there are about thirty of them.

New Orleans (traditional) jazz.

This style usually means exactly the jazz that was performed between 1900 and 1917. It can be said that its emergence coincided with the opening of Storyville (New Orleans' red light district), which gained its popularity due to bars and similar establishments where musicians playing syncopated music could always find work. The previously widespread street orchestras began to be replaced by the so-called “Storyville ensembles,” whose playing was increasingly acquiring individuality compared to their predecessors. These ensembles later became the founders of classical New Orleans jazz. Vivid examples of performers of this style are: Jelly Roll Morton (“His Red Hot Peppers”), Buddy Bolden (“Funky Butt”), Kid Ory. It was they who carried out the transition of African folk music into the first jazz forms.

Chicago Jazz.

In 1917, the next important stage in the development of jazz music began, marked by the appearance of immigrants from New Orleans in Chicago. New jazz orchestras are being formed, the playing of which introduces new elements into early traditional jazz. This is how an independent style of the Chicago school of performance appears, which is divided into two directions: hot jazz of black musicians and Dixieland of whites. The main features of this style: individual solo parts, changes in hot inspiration (the original free ecstatic performance became more nervous, full of tension), synthetics (the music included not only traditional elements, but also ragtime, as well as famous American hits) and changes in instrumental playing (the role of instruments and performing techniques has changed). Fundamental figures of this movement (“What Wonderful World”, “Moon Rivers”) and (“Someday Sweetheart”, “Ded Man Blues”).

Swing is an orchestral style of jazz of the 1920s and 30s that grew directly from the Chicago school and was performed by big bands (The Original Dixieland Jazz Band). It is characterized by the predominance of Western music. Separate sections of saxophones, trumpets and trombones appeared in the orchestras; The banjo is replaced by a guitar, tuba and sassophone - double bass. The music moves away from collective improvisation; the musicians play strictly adhering to pre-written scores. A characteristic technique was the interaction of the rhythm section with melodic instruments. Representatives of this direction: , (“Creole Love Call”, “The Mooche”), Fletcher Henderson (“When Buddha Smiles”), Benny Goodman And His Orchestra, .

Bebop is a modern jazz movement that began in the 40s and was an experimental, anti-commercial movement. Unlike swing, it is a more intellectual style that places a lot of emphasis on complex improvisation and places more emphasis on harmony than melody. Music of this style is also characterized by a very fast tempo. The brightest representatives are: Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Max Roach, Charlie Parker (“Night In Tunisia”, “Manteca”) and Bud Powell.

Mainstream. Includes three movements: Stride (northeastern jazz), Kansas City style and West Coast jazz. Hot stride reigned supreme in Chicago, led by such masters as Louis Armstrong, Andy Condon, and Jimmy Mac Partland. Kansas City is characterized by lyrical plays in the blues style. West Coast jazz developed in Los Angeles under the leadership of , and subsequently resulted in cool jazz.

Cool jazz (cool jazz) emerged in Los Angeles in the 50s as a counterpoint to the dynamic and impulsive swing and bebop. Lester Young is considered to be the founder of this style. It was he who introduced a style of sound production unusual for jazz. This style is characterized by the use of symphonic instruments and emotional restraint. Such masters as Miles Davis (“Blue In Green”), Gerry Mulligan (“Walking Shoes”), Dave Brubeck (“Pick Up Sticks”), Paul Desmond left their mark in this vein.

Avante-Garde began to develop in the 60s. This avant-garde style is based on a break from the original traditional elements and is characterized by the use of new techniques and means of expression. For the musicians of this movement, self-expression, which they carried out through music, came first. Performers of this movement include: Sun Ra (“Kosmos in Blue”, “Moon Dance”), Alice Coltrane (“Ptah The El Daoud”), Archie Shepp.

Progressive jazz arose in parallel with bebop in the 40s, but it was distinguished by its staccato saxophone technique, a complex interweaving of polytonality with rhythmic pulsation and elements of symphonic jazz. The founder of this trend can be called Stan Kenton. Prominent representatives: Gil Evans and Boyd Rayburn.

Hard bop is a type of jazz that has its roots in bebop. Detroit, New York, Philadelphia - this style was born in these cities. In its aggressiveness, it is very reminiscent of bebop, but blues elements still predominate in it. Featured performers include Zachary Breaux (“Uptown Groove”), Art Blakey and The Jass Messengers.

Soul jazz. This term is commonly used to describe all black music. It draws on traditional blues and African-American folklore. This music is characterized by ostinato bass figures and rhythmically repeating samples, due to which it has gained wide popularity among various masses of the population. Hits in this direction include the compositions of Ramsey Lewis “The In Crowd” and Harris-McCain “Compared To What”.

Groove (aka funk) is an offshoot of soul, but is distinguished by its rhythmic focus. Basically, the music of this direction has a major coloration, and in structure it consists of clearly defined parts for each instrument. Solo performances fit harmoniously into the overall sound and are not too individualized. Performers of this style are Shirley Scott, Richard "Groove" Holmes, Gene Emmons, Leo Wright.

Free jazz got its start in the late 50s thanks to the efforts of such innovative masters as Ornette Coleman and Cecil Taylor. Its characteristic features are atonality and a violation of the chord sequence. This style is often called “free jazz”, and its derivatives include loft jazz, modern creative and free funk. Musicians of this style include: Joe Harriott, Bongwater, Henri Texier (“Varech”), AMM (“Sedimantari”).

Creative appeared due to the widespread avant-garde and experimentalism of jazz forms. Such music is difficult to characterize in certain terms, since it is too multifaceted and combines many elements of previous movements. The first followers of this style include Lenny Tristano (“Line Up”), Gunter Schuller, Anthony Braxton, Andrew Cirilla (“The Big Time Stuff”).

Fusion combined elements of almost all musical movements existing at that time. Its most active development began in the 70s. Fusion is a systematic instrumental style characterized by complex time signatures, rhythm, elongated compositions and the absence of vocals. This style is designed for a less broad masses than soul and is its complete opposite. At the head of this trend are Larry Corall and the band Eleventh, Tony Williams and Lifetime (“Bobby Truck Tricks”).

Acid jazz (groove jazz" or "club jazz") arose in Great Britain in the late 80s (heyday 1990 - 1995) and combined funk of the 70s, hip-hop and dance music of the 90s. The emergence of this style was dictated by the widespread use of jazz-funk samples. The founder is considered to be DJ Giles Peterson. Performers in this direction include Melvin Sparks (“Dig Dis”), RAD, Smoke City (“Flying Away”), Incognito and Brand New Heavies.

Post-bop began to develop in the 50s and 60s and is similar in structure to hard bop. It is distinguished by the presence of elements of soul, funk and groove. Often, when characterizing this direction, they draw a parallel with blues rock. Hank Moblin, Horace Silver, Art Blakey (“Like Someone In Love”) and Lee Morgan (“Yesterday”), Wayne Shorter worked in this style.

Smooth jazz is a modern jazz style that arose from the fusion movement, but differs from it in the intentional polishing of its sound. A special feature of this area is the widespread use of power tools. Famous performers: Michael Franks, Chris Botti, Dee Dee Bridgewater (“All Of Me”, “God Bless The Child”), Larry Carlton (“Dont Give It Up”).

Jazz-manush (gypsy jazz) is a jazz movement specializing in guitar performance. Combines the guitar technique of the gypsy tribes of the Manush group and swing. The founders of this direction are the Ferre brothers and. The most famous performers: Andreas Oberg, Barthalo, Angelo Debarre, Bireli Largen (“Stella By Starlight”, “Fiso Place”, “Autumn Leaves”).

Jazz is a special music whose fans cannot be confused with anyone else. Incendiary rhythms, sparkling turns, interesting lyrics and talented performers. Hundreds, thousands and even millions of people all over the world love to listen to this kind of music online. Our website will allow you to do this without registration. You can download your favorite songs for free and enjoy them at home, in the car and anywhere else.

The history of jazz music

The word “jazz” first appeared at the beginning of the last century in the USA. African Americans were at the origins of the style. Black people are so musical and sensitive to rhythm, it is not surprising that they became the “creators” of many musical styles and movements. Once upon a time, free concerts of such music were given by street singers. Today it has become a treasure of epochs.

Originally, the jazz song was one hundred percent African American. Over time, notes of the “white” population, which at that time focused on religious hymns, began to be traced in it. Modern musical instruments gradually replaced orchestras, and the opportunities for the development of jazz music became much greater. The musicians moved from marches and dances to instrumentals.

The main feature of jazz is freedom and constant improvisation. The rhythm is also unique. He is not subject to existing clichés. What the musician feels is correct. This is what he conveys to his audience.

Our collection includes high-quality jazz music. You can download your favorite mp3s without registration. It's simple, convenient and fast!