(Use this section with Listener Worksheet #1 and Listener Worksheet #2)

Big Band Swing Jazz:
Piano: William "Count" Basie and his band "Basie Boogie"
In the 1920s, 30s, and 40s, important artists like Duke Ellington and Count Basie led large groups of musicians called big bands.  They played the upbeat, popular music of the time and paved the way for many new types of jazz to be created.  In past newsletters, we have studied jazz and talked about how musicians take turns improvising (making up solos as they go along).  Here Count Basie plays piano along with his band, and several musicians take turns improvising solos.

Contemporary Jazz:
 Violin: Regina Carter (with the Ray Brown Trio) "Lady Be Good" Traditionally, the only stringed-instrument used in jazz bands is the string bass (usually plucked).  But, people have been playing jazz on the violin since the genre was invented. (Check out this video of Duke Ellington's orchestra which includes a violinist).  In this video, Regina Carter uses a pick up (the metal thing with chord attached) to project the sound of her violin through an amplifier, much like an electric guitar. 

Blues:
Electric Guitar (and Voice): B.B. King "Why I Sing the Blues"
Blues musicians typically sing about hard times in life.  The blues started out as a type of folk music usually played on an acoustic guitar.  Later, musicians like Muddy Waters and B.B. King started performing the blues on the electric guitar and adding back-up bands.  Although the blues is still performed today, this electric blues paved the way for rock and roll music and other modern genres.

Soul:
Voice: Aretha Franklin "Rock Steady"  In past newsletters, we have studied gospel music.  Gospel music is jazzy-sounding religious music originally sung in church but later in the concert hall. (Click here to hear the popular gospel group, the Davis Sisters).  Aretha Franklin began by singing gospel music in church and still sings gospel today, but she is mainly known for singing soul music.  Soul music comes from and sounds similar to gospel, but it is not religious.  Soul music also paved the way for many other styles such as disco, funk, modern R&B, and even rap and hip hop!