Contemporary Trends: A Maturing Art Form

The Neoclassicists

The neoclassical school of jazz appeared at the beginning of the 1990s. The name implies its defining pursuit: "new" expressions of "classical" jazz. Jazz as an art form is on the minds of today's players and teachers although it certainly was not on the minds of the first jazz players. Today's musicians carry the weight and responsibility of this new historical understanding. The ownership of jazz clearly belongs to the African American crosscurrent that runs through each era of the music's evolution. At the same time jazz belongs within a Western European historical context. The neoclassicists argue that this historical context grants validity to jazz as an art form. Musical lines as unique as country, rock, even blues, have not yet gained art status, but jazz has.

Once the music of the dance hall, the street, and the church, jazz now finds itself on concert stages, in universities, and in historical accounts. The mainstream has weathered two dominant attempts at redirection:

1.   an overly strong interest in composition at the expense of improvisation
2.   excessive importation from competing musical styles such as classical and rock

Through these challenges, contemporary mainstream jazz maintained its allegiance to bop.

New players face a different set of expectations than the original bop players. Rather than lead jazz in a new direction, away from the sound of a previous era, these new players support a revival of an earlier jazz era. These "Young Lions" found it necessary to earn recognition within the pride of existing mature lions (who still had a strong hold on the rein of straight-ahead jazz). Young lions differed from the original straight-ahead players in that they were products of formal training from schools such as Berklee. Their knowledge of jazz was both theoretical and historical.

Trumpeter Wynton Marsalis is one of the dominant voices of neoclassicism. The Marsalis jazz perceptive tends to be fairly exclusive. Excluded are those styles not properly respectful of the jazz originators as defined by the neoclassical tradition. Marsalis brings the bop to hard bop period full circle. Controversy surrounds Marsalis. He speaks out for the acceptance of jazz as America 's "classical music." In his quest to legitimize jazz, he also blasts those jazz styles that do not fit his mainstream definition.

The Trumpet Legacy

Young lion Terence Blanchard is an accomplished trumpet player who has crossed over into film writing. His repertoire reflects his interest in the traditions laid down by earlier jazz figures such as Billie Holiday. Nicholas Payton finds his stylistic inspiration in Louis Armstrong and is devoted to his music. Jon Faddis is known for his agile high range and fast playing style of complex bop melodic lines. Wallace Roney displays an introspective style and melodic approach like that of Miles Davis.

The Saxophone Legacy

Modern jazz saxophonists develop individual voices yet exhibit the influence of artists who came before them. Joe Lovano is influenced by the playing style of Coleman Hawkins. Joshua Redman is influenced by the music and style of John Coltrane and James Carter traces influence back to Sonny Rollins as well as to Coltrane. Soprano saxophone player Jane Ira Bloom challenges the gender expectations for saxophonists. Her works are often adventurous hybrids of jazz and other media.

The Piano Legacy

Piano players established themselves as important contributors to jazz early in its evolution. Ahmad Jamal connects the bop mainstream players with the more contemporary pianists. His dominant format was the trio and he used colorful harmonics. Herbie Hancock not only participated in the mainstream but also has been one of its leading champions. He struck a balance between the center of the jazz mainstream and the commercial music world. He brought his commercial music interest into the center of mainstream jazz by adapting rock and rhythm and blues material into the straight-ahead jazz format.

Keith Jarrett is at his best in a solo setting. He uses a free, improvisational platform for his technical speed, dynamics, and strong emotional statements. He draws a historical connection to the solo work of Art Tatum and in 1969 played with Miles Davis. Jarrett established himself as a master of large-scale improvisations. Brad Mehldau is probably the most direct extension of Bill Evans’s introspective style and harmonic constructions. He prefers the format of the piano trio, where his subtle style is best displayed.

Big Band Legacy

The successful bands of the Swing Era featured carefully composed arrangements that held many talented players together. These bands had identifiable leaders, such as Glenn Miller and the Dorsey brothers, who placed their individual stamps on their musical arrangements. Nostalgia for the Big Band style has kept it alive today. When new arrangements are written, they are usually in the same style as the original band. Critics and historians refer to these groups as "ghost bands" because of the absence of their leaders and new personnel. Some bands, like those of Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Woody Herman, that performed in the 1920s, 1930s, or 1940s continued to perform successfully into the 1970s and 1980s.

Modern Bands

Big bands of today are not all from an earlier era. Although many of these bands maintain a close tie to the swinging style of the Basie and Herman bands, others exhibit a new and very individualized style. Don Ellis, an excellent trumpet player and drummer, is influenced by music from India. His music uses Eastern rhythms, meters, and advanced rhythmic techniques. Maria Schneider assisted Gil Evans, wrote for Woody Herman and Mel Lewis, and has conducted jazz orchestras around the world.

The Vocal Legacy

Betty Carter was a vocalist with the Lionel Hampton band. Carter is an excellent scat singer (with her rapid execution of nonsense syllables interspersed with the actual lyrics). She almost sounds like an instrumentalist playing rapid sixteenth-note patterns. She agrees that great jazz singers are linked to the instrumental approach to performing influenced by Charlie Parker and Sonny Rollins.

Sheila Jordan's singing roots can be traced back to early bebop days. She sang with prominent white jazz musicians like Lennie Tristano and George Russell. Cassandra Wilson is influenced by Betty Carter. She develops a wide range of musical material from blues to rock. Wilson gains recognition by imaginatively reworking the standard jazz repertoire. She showed that she could reclaim songs by placing her unique stamp on them with her maturing interpretative skills.

Bobby McFerrin is a singer of unusual talent. His ability to scat sing involves more than improvised syllables with jazz inflections. He also makes percussive sounds as accompaniment to his improvisations. For example, he will complement his vocal performance with percussive sounds created by striking his chest while he sings.

Al Jarreau first began singing in his father’s church. His mother was the church pianist, and his whole family sang. Although born in 1940, he didn’t begin his singing career until the late 1960s in the San Francisco Bay Area.

New to the jazz vocal scene is multi-instrumentalist and singer Esperanza Spalding. While growing up she played violin, oboe, and clarinet, but she ultimately settled on the bass. Her singing was originally only secondary to her playing.

Jazz/Pop Distinctions

The line between jazz and pop remains difficult to discern. This fact complicates the task of defining a jazz singer.

Frank Sinatra's association with jazz began as a big band singer in the 1940s. He redefined the jazz singer by reversing the very feature most associated with jazz: syncopation. He sang above the meter with an elongated sense of phrasing that was free from the more traditional jazz syncopation that defined standard song phrases. Sinatra was the first popular vocalist to use the jazz standard repertory. His legacy creates a responsibility to the standard jazz repertory for future jazz singers. This repertory helps us draw the line between jazz and popular singers.

New Orleans pianist, vocalist, and composer Harry Connick, Jr. has been compared to Frank Sinatra. His singing style is more reflective of earlier singers. As he matured, his interest moved from contemporary rock and jazz to the classic piano players of jazz and the styles associated with them. He performs in the same swing big band format like that of Sinatra. However, Connick writes most of the arrangements and often joins the other musicians on the piano.

Singer and pianist Diana Krall is a crossover artist from the jazz world to popular music. Unlike Wilson, her jazz status is acclaimed more outside than within the jazz community. She is appreciated by the broader popular market while remaining a defining presence in the evolution of jazz singers.

Vocal Jazz Groups

Vocal group Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross started in the 1950s. They interpreted old jazz recordings by setting lyrics to just about everything on them; not only the tunes but also the improvised solos. This technique is called vocalese. Manhattan Transfer followed closely the tradition of Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross. Manhattan Transfer uses many excellent jazz instrumentalists on their recordings.

New York Voices is often compared to Manhattan Transfer. The six male vocalists of Take 6 gained national prominence around 1988. They sing sophisticated vocal arrangements a cappella (without instrumental accompaniment) and show a blend of traditional gospel, soul, pop, and jazz.