A Crash Course in the History of Jazz (and some other African-American Music)

Here are some videos I intend to use during my lecture this Tuesday. I’m putting them here so you can refer to them later on:

“Traditional” African Music & Dance:

“Traditional” European Music & Dance:

European Musical Instruments as “Limiting Technology”:

Two Lineages of Fusion:

Trans-Racial Crossover:

Depression Era to 1950s — Smaller Ensembles, More Improvisation and Virtuosity:

Davis wanted Jimi Hendrix to play with him in these days, but contracts and other obligations prevented it. He did help with arrangements on Hendrix’s album Electric Ladyland, though.

Standards:

See also Dinah Washington’s treatment of the same song.Vocal Jazz and Its Offspring:

And after a process we will discuss, we arrive at Michael Jackson taking over the pop music world (for a while) back in the 1980s. And the most interesting non-official Thriller video on Youtube, as little present for you:

I’m going to leave it up to you guys to trace the patterns, connections, and influences into hip-hop and more recent pop music, since I’m sure some of you know a lot more about that than I do.

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