Jazz Theory & Harmony
This harmonic progression, built on descending fifths, underpins many jazz standards and turnarounds.
What is the circle of fifths progression?
What a musician improvises during a piece while the band accompanies them
What is a solo?
Playing that focuses on spontaneous creation of music, not reading notes
What is improvisation?
This instrument was actually more popular than the saxophone in early jazz.
What is the clarinet?
A jazz drummer playing very light snare notes between main beats is using this articulation technique.
What are ghost notes?
The section of a jazz band that's made up of bass and drums and sometimes guitar and piano
What is the rhythm section?
In a jazz standard, this section contrasts the A material harmonically and melodically.
What is the bridge?
This is the term used when musicians play the rhythms a little more relaxed. The rhythms aren't exact when playing this style
What is swing?
The typical jazz structure where the main theme is played, followed by improvised solos, then the theme returns?
Head–solo–head form.
This type of jazz singing is known for its use of nonsence words and syllables
What is scat singing?
Emphasis on beats 2 and 4 in jazz is known by this term.
What is a backbeat?
The Great Migration helped spread jazz north from New Orleans to this city, which became a major jazz hub in the 1920s.
What is Chicago?
A short harmonic progression at the end of a chorus that leads back to the start.
What is a turnaround?
This is the term musicians use when they play the notes on the page exactly as written
What is straight?
This cultural shift in the 1940s transformed jazz from dance music into a listener-focused art form.
What is the rise of bebop?
This New York neighborhood became the center of jazz, moving up from New Orleans in the late 1920s.
What is Harlem?
Replacing a chord with another, like tritone substitution to add harmonic interest
What is harmonic substitution?
A solo that avoids the tonic center and emphasizes constant modulation reflects this melodic concept.
What is tonal ambiguity?
This musician was known for playing fast, complicated bebop music. It was estimated that he practiced his saxophone up to 14 hours a day to perfect his technique.
Who is Charlie Parker?
In 1917, this group became the first to make a jazz recording.
What is the Original Dixieland Jazz Band?