Wayne ShorterWayne Shorter (August 25, 1933 – March 2, 2023) was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and bandleader, widely regarded as one of the most important and influential figures in the history of jazz. Over a career spanning more than six decades, he received 12 Grammy Awards and the Polar Music Prize, and was acclaimed worldwide for his originality, compositional depth, and transformative approach to musical improvisation.
Free jazzFree jazz (also known as free form jazz) is a style of avant-garde jazz or an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes. Musicians during this period believed that the bebop and modal jazz that had been played before them was too limiting, and became preoccupied with creating something new.
Modal jazzModal jazz is jazz that makes use of musical modes, often modulating among them to accompany the chords instead of relying on one tonal center used across the piece. Though exerting influence to the present, modal jazz was most popular in the 1950s and 1960s, as evidenced by the success of Miles Davis's 1958 composition "Milestones" and 1959 album Kind of Blue, and John Coltrane's quartet from 1960 to 1965.Avant-garde jazzAvant-garde jazz (also known as avant-jazz, experimental jazz, or "new thing") is a style of music and improvisation that combines avant-garde art music and composition with jazz. It originated in the early 1950s and developed through the late 1960s. One of the earliest developments within avant-garde jazz was that of free jazz, and the two terms were originally synonymous.
Miles DavisMiles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926 – September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, composer, and painter. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. In a career spanning nearly five decades, Davis was at the forefront of several major stylistic developments in jazz, including bebop, cool jazz, hard bop, third stream, modal jazz, avant-garde jazz, and jazz fusion.
Jazz fusionJazz fusion (also known as jazz rock, jazz-rock fusion, or simply fusion) is a popular musicgenre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric guitars and basses, amplifiers, and keyboard instruments (including electric pianos and organs) that were popular in rock began to be used by jazz musicians, particularly those who had grown up listening to rock and roll.
Swing musicSwing music is a style of jazz that developed in the United States during the late 1920s and early 1930s. It became nationally popular from the mid-1930s. Swing represents the most famous era of jazz as a genre of entertainment, before the emergence of modern jazz. Swing bands usually featured soloists who would improvise on the melody over the arrangement.
Herbie HancockHerbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer. He started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. Hancock soon joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the post-bop sound. In the 1970s, he experimented with jazz fusion, funk, and electro styles using a wide array of synthesizers and electronics.
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and MusiciansThe New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians is an encyclopaedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, it is one of the largest reference works on the history and theory of music. Earlier editions were published under the titles A Dictionary of Music and Musicians, and Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians; the work has gone through several editions since the 19th century and is widely used.JazzJazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, hymns, marches, vaudeville song, and dance music. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major form of musical expression in both traditional and popular music.
BebopBebop or bop is a style of jazz developed in the early to mid-1940s in the United States. It is characterized by a fast tempo, complex chord progressions—with rapid chord changes, changes of key, angular melodies and substitute chords—along with virtuosic improvisation based on a combination of harmonic structure, scales, and occasional references to the melody.
Barry KernfeldBarry Dean Kernfeld (born August 11, 1950) is an American musicologist and jazz saxophonist who has researched and published extensively about the history of jazz and the biographies of its musicians. EducationIn 1968, Kernfeld enrolled at University of California, Berkeley; then, from April 1970 to September 1972, he focused on being a professional saxophonist.*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.