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TRADITIONAL JAZZ HISTORYDixieland is a popular name that refers to the earliest
styles of jazz originated in New Orleans during the late 1910s and Chicago during the 1920s. Dixieland or Traditional jazz is collectively improvised small group music where the players simultaneously improvise over a song’s structure. It is often considered to be the first true style of jazz. Dixieland music is a mixture of music that incorporates work songs, brass band marches, folk, blues, gospel, popular music and ragtime. Famous Dixieland tunes include: "Muskrat Ramble,” "Struttin' With Some Barbecue,” "Tiger Rag,”"Dippermouth Blues,” "Basin Street Blues,” "Just A Closer Walk With Thee,” and many others. "Bill Bailey" is the second most requested tune in Dixieland music, the first being "When the Saints Go Marching In.” New Orleans style bands are fronted by trumpet or cornet, clarinet and trombone. The rhythm section typically includes banjo, tuba and drums. The Chicago Style augments the front line with the addition of a saxophone. The Chicago style also differs from the New Orleans style by replacing the tuba with string bass, the banjo with guitar and adding piano. There is a distinct difference with how the New Orleans and Chicago style rhythm sections accompany the frontline players. In the New Orleans style the rhythm section plays in a flat-four style. That is, all four beats within a measure are played with equal emphasis. The Chicago style is played with a two beat feel where beats two and four receive more emphasis. The Chicago style is also performed more aggressively than that of New Orleans. Among the great innovators that contributed to the development of this music are Louis Armstrong, Joe “King” Oliver, Buddy Bolden, Jelly Roll Morton, Sidney Bechet, Kid Ory, Johnny Dodds, Baby Dodds, Bix Beiderbecke and Nick LaRocca to name a few. |