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Harmony and tonality

If asked to discuss these elements remember that:

• as the jazz style developed, harmonies become more complex
• jazz music uses a lot of minor and major 7th chords and chord extensions
• dissonance is a useful feature of jazz

Metre and rhythm

Standard time signature and rhythm features include:

• early jazz music tended to be in 4/4 but as the style became more complex other time signatures were used, such as Dave Brubeck and the song Take Five, which is in 5/4
• complex rhythms including triplets and dotted rhythms

Tempo and structure

As the blues developed and evolved into jazz, many of the musicians wanted to push the rules. Here are the general findings in jazz music:

• jazz styles such as swing and bebop are very fast in tempo
• free jazz - a style developed in the 1950s and 60s - involved players in the same ensemble to play at different tempos
• break sections are often used to link short solo passages to the chorus

Groups and instruments

There were different band line ups for each type of jazz genre. Here are some of the most common line ups.

• Jazz band:
  • trumpet
  • trombone
  • clarinet
  • rhythm section - bass guitar, drum kit and keyboard or guitar
• Swing band:
  • saxophones
  • trumpets
  • trombones
  • rhythm section
• jazz trio:
  • piano
  • bass
  • drums
• vocalists often used scat singing to improvise and imitate instrumental sounds

Texture

Bear the following points in mind. The points are:

• stab chords are short staccato chords that usually last for one beat and are played by brass instruments
• early jazz music had a homophonic texture with solo instruments or voice and accompanying parts but as the style become more complex the texture became polyphonic