THE ARCHIVE P.VI : JAZZ: AMERICAN CLASSICAL MUSIC

“It is an honor to be here.”

Sonia Sanchez





"By 1808 the Atlantic slave trade had brought almost half a million Africans to the United States. The slaves largely came from West Africa and brought strong tribal musical traditions with them.[16] Lavish festivals featuring African dances to drums were organized on Sundays at Place Congo, or Congo Square, in New Orleans until 1843, as were similar gatherings in New England and New York. African music was largely functional, for work or ritual, and included work songs and field hollers. The African tradition made use of a single-line melody and call-and-response pattern, but without the European concept of harmony. Rhythms reflected African speech patterns, and the African use of pentatonic scales led to blue notes in blues and jazz."


"The origin of the word jazz is one of the most sought-after word origins in modern American English.[citation needed] The word's intrinsic interest—the American Dialect Society named it the Word of the Twentieth Century—has resulted in considerable research, and its history is well-documented. The word began as West Coast slang around 1912, the meaning of which varied but did not refer to music or sex. It came to refer to the music in Chicago around 1915. The music was played in New Orleans prior to that time but was not referred to by that name." -


Wikipedia



One of the greatest genre's of music in the african diaspora, Jazz, in its many forms. Late jazz historian, and a friend of my mine and teacher Harrison Riddley Jr. who tuaght at temple university,once spoke and said "jazz should be rated as traditional as classical music that have its origins in europe, due its legacy and longevity" :



-The list of american jazz greats is seemingly endless. Harrison once stated that the institutionalized slavery of africans is one of the worst; but here post 21st century from then the greatest genre's of music and artists issued out from the african diaspora, from soul, bebop, jazz, and ultimately hip-hop. We close this brief archive spot tonight with a throwback of one of the greatest..and one of my favorites; a late 60's performance of "Favorite things" by the late philly native John Coltrane.




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