The gripping story of the beginnings of jazz and its creators,The Birth Of Jazz: Reviving the Music of the Bolden Era describes music in New Orleans before the birth of jazz and shows when and how the music changed. It explains what music the first jazz bands played and who their audiences were. It details how the author applied the results of his research to recreating the lost sounds of Elemental Jazz. It also contains performance guide for musicians wanting to play in the early jazz style.
They were dancin' to the new fangled swing music at the Economy Hall in New Orleans in 1903. It was a very rough place 'nobody took their hats off'. (Somebody said that was so they could get away quickly if trouble broke out.) They were dancin' to the orchestra of Buddy 'King' Bolden - the latest hot ticket band playing syncopation.
But what was the music like?
What dances were they doing?
How hot was the first jazz?
Was it like ragtime?
Buddy was born in 1877 and by the time he was twenty he was leading the
first band to play jazz and the hot blues. Since then his combination of
street songs and popular music has become a worldwide phenomenon.They say
his band made a wax cylinder recording before 1900 but it has never been
found.
InThe
Birth Of Jazz: Reviving the Music of the Bolden Era
you will find descriptions of his music and his times, and the story of
the author's bid to recreate this first jazz music
with contemporary instruments in the style of the times. You will read
of Coon Songs, of hot Quadrilles, of Vernacular Bawdy Songs, of Elemental
Jazz and of TheBuddy
Bolden Revival Orchestra.
What is in the Book?The List of Contents includes
the following chapter headings:1 New Orleans and the Birth of Jazz
2 The Social Dance Evening
3 The Creators of Jazz
4 The Repertoire Part 1-
Popular Songs and Rags
5 The Repertoire Part 2
Black Vernacular Songs
and Blues
6 How They Played
7 Reconstructing Elemental Jazz
8 Not Quite Ragtime
9 Historically Informed Performance
10 The Heritage of Elemental Jazz
11 Revivals in RetrospectAppendix 1 Jelly Roll Morton’s demonstration of La Praline Quadrille
Appendix 2 A Guide to the Performance of Early Jazz
BibliographyIndex