Jazz your Lifes

Research: Jazz and the Brain

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 15:28:55 +0000

Jazz Improvisation Transports the Human Brain to a Different Realtiy
New research by John Hopkins University and National Institute of Health scientists found that the brains of improvising jazz musicians operate in a fundamentally different way than those of musicians playing a memorized, composed melody. .
The study was under the direction of Charles Limb, a hearing specialist at Johns Hopkins Hospital and teacher at the University, lecturer on the neuroscience of music and music perception at Peabody Conservatory of Music, is also a jazz saxophonist.
Jazz and the Brain Research Methods
Designing effective equipment for watching the brain at work is difficult. Limb and Allen Braun, who co-authored the paper published in the journal PLoS One, used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to look into their subject brains. The device emits a strong magnetic field, which creates images based on the movement of blood through the brain. Interpreting the images is based on the idea that blood flows in larger amounts to active areas of the brain.
A Jazz Instrument that would Work inside a Scanner
The researchers created a keyboard with no magnetic parts that could be linked to a computer outside the scanner. It plays like a piano, but when someone presses a key, it actually sends a signal to a computer, which then sends a sound sample from a real piano into a set of headphones worn by the musician in the scanner.
The musicians had to play inside the machine, where conditions are noisy and very tight. Laying on their backs during the scans, the musicians had to elevate their knees and place the keyboard on their thighs.
Jazz versus Memorized Melodies
While playing a musical scale or memorized memory, the part of the brain called the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex was active, an area that is typically linked to self-monitoring activities and motor control.
When the subjects improvised, this part of the brain slowed down markedly, which was accompanied by a dramatic increase in activity in an area called the medial prefrontal cortex. This part of the brain is instrumental to self-initiated thoughts and creative behavior. The researchers had expected an increase in activity in the area associated with creativity but were surprised at the inactivity of the self-monitoring area.
Jazz and Creativity in the Brain
Jazz improvisation has shown that the part of the brain that governs self-censoring and inhibition shuts down and the part linked to creative behavior becomes rambunctiously active. Even though the physical motions are the same, even though the rhythms may be the same, even though it is still music, the musical apparently thinks in a different way.
The research may spawn more studies about the nature of creativity and open the door for examining other artist in the midst of creation.

Live at Carnegie Hall

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 15:26:35 +0000

Clint Eastwood and Jazz Go Hand in Hand
Jazz – that true American form of music that can be sultry, soulful, swingy, or smooth. Clint Eastwood – director and star of films like Dirty Harry and The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly. Add the two together and you get Eastwood After Hours.
Jazz Concert for Clint Eastwood
Eastwood After Hours is a jazz concert recorded live at Carnegie Hall, celebrating the actor and his contribution to the jazz music industry. This is a disk both jazz and Eastwood fans will enjoy listening to as well as watching.
There are over twenty-five songs performed by some of the top jazz musicians in the country and the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band. Most of the songs are from Eastwood’s movies, including Play Misty for Me, Honkytonk Man, Unforgiven, The Bridges of Madison County, White Hunter, Black Heart, Bird, and more. Because of his love of the music, Eastwood purposely includes a lot of jazz in his films. How about the training, I guess he practice it on his apartment, how about you? you could start it with kharkov apartments for rent.

Using Jazz in Eastwood Movies
During much of the concert images from the films as well as pictures of musicians past and present are shown on the screen. Between songs Mr. Eastwood explains a little about his love of jazz and recounts stories like the time he heard Roberta Flack singing “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.” He instantly knew he wanted that song in the movie Play Misty for Me, so he contacted the record company and made a deal.

Mr. Eastwood also reminisces about the bands and musicians of the 1940’s and how much jazz has influenced his life. Beside the concert, an additional feature on the DVD is called “Eastwood After Dark” which explains some of what went into putting the concert together, and includes interviews with some of the musicians and Mr. Eastwood. His son Kyle plays one selection in the concert (with the Kyle Eastwood Quartet) and tells how his parents exposed him to jazz at a very young age.
Eastwood’s Love of Jazz
Clint Eastwood does come onstage at the end of the concert to play a piano selection and tell the audience, “I love jazz!” Jazz was born in America, and Eastwood says the “coming generation has to learn to appreciate this great American art form.”
There is a lot of music packed into the 1 Hour 46 minute disk. The concert was recorded October 1996. Jazz is one form of music, like classical, country, and rock. There are those that like it and those that don’t. Eastwood once asked in a film, “Do you feel lucky?” Music fans of jazz will feel very lucky to have this DVD. There is also a CD of the music from the concert.

Jazz….

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 15:24:43 +0000

What Makes Jazz, Jazz? Defining the Jazz Genre of Music
Also known as, “America’s classical music” characteristics of jazz include the following:
• Strong beats or rhythms (often syncopated);
• Sad tones or blue notes;
• A swing element (playing of triplets);
• A call and response element (a musical phrase is echoed by different instruments or human voice);
• Frequent use of syncopation;
• Unique, individualized style of the musicians; and,
• Major emphasis upon spontaneous improvisation (using the harmonies of a composition then creating a spontaneous melody line).
History of Jazz
Where the actual name of jazz came from is anyone’s guess.
But first, work and misery produced the call and response element known to jazz from the plantation fields of southern American slavery. A leader during a work regime might call out a melodic line to be answered by the workers.
Additionally, the African-American spiritual was another root to the jazz genre. The drudgery of the plantation fields and all of the misery experienced by a people once considered less than human was captured in these musical pieces. Thus, these two elements began the foundation that jazz was built upon.
Ragtime
Then emerged ragtime (highly syncopated) and the blues, two more foundational blocks to modern jazz. Scott Joplin (1867-1917), pianist/composer, famous for his rags which comprised not only the African-American elements but some European enhancement from Irish gigs, German waltzes, and French quadrilles.
His rag, The Entertainer, adapted by Marvin Hamlisch, provided the foundation for the musical score to the movie, The Sting, 1973 (Starring Robert Redford and Paul Newman).
The Blues – Blue Scale
The blues scale converts a major scale, for instance in the key of C Major, CDEFGABC, the E would become Eb, the G would become Gb and the B would become Bb, thus the third, fifth and seventh tones are lowered by what is called a half-step or a half-tone. These lowered tones produce the “blue” sound characteristic of musical pieces known as the “Blues”. Blues music not only uses the blue notes, but is generally 12 bars long in a 4/4 count.
Additional foundational jazz style blocks include, Dixieland, Big Band (swing), Bebop and Free Jazz.
What is Syncopation?
Music has beats. When there are four beats in a measure (like four quarters to a whole), there are strong and weak beats. For the measure containing four beats, the first and the third beats are the strongest.
Then there are the half beats in between the whole beats. For instance, if counting the beats, one would count: one and two and three and four and. When the weaker beats (two and four) are emphasized, or, the note is played or held over on the “and” of the beat, there is syncopation.
What is Improvisation?
Musical compositions are written using harmonic progressions. Given the specific scale used, a chord is built from the root note. For instance, using C Major again, C is the first note. A chord can be built from that note which would include, CEG and B. Doing the same for each note of the C Major scale and then placing them in an harmonic progression, a new, spontaneous melody line can be created. This takes practice. The more practice, the easier it becomes.
Improvisation refreshes musical compositions that may be quite old. This technique keeps the piece new and vibrant as well as distinguishes the soloist who performs it.
Improvisation is not magical. The well practiced/trained jazz musician is hearing the chord progressions/musical phrasing and melody in his/her head. There’s a great deal of skill involved.
In America, where so many cultures converge, the tentacles of music exist, binding us all together.

California: Summer Jazz Series

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 15:21:48 +0000

Jazz is an American style of music. It began in America’s Deep South and has spread throughout the country. Jazz festivals and concerts are now part of American culture and pop culture. In the film High Society, the Newport (Rhode Island) Jazz festival was part of the story. The Newport Jazz Festival began in 1954. In the years since the Newport Jazz Festival began, Jazz has worked its way across the country from Newport, Rhode Island to Newport Beach, California.
The 2010 Newport Beach Summer Jazz Series
“With an ensemble of top musicians in the genre for the 2010 series, this year’s outstanding group of performers showcase a range of jazz sonance from traditional to contemporary and smooth jazz, to R&B and big band,” said Event Producer and Promoter Jim “Fitz” Fitzgerald of Wendy Jayne Productions, Inc. “Our vision this year – as the new event management company – is to enhance the popular series with expanded talent, increase outreach to the public, heighten community involvement and sponsorships, and give an overall polished identity to grow the series for years to come,” explained Fitzgerald in a press release to publicize the event.
Every Friday night from June 25 through October 1, 2010, a variety of jazz musicians will be at the Hyatt Regency Newport Beach to entertain audiences. There is a special show scheduled for July 4th as well.
The Summer Jazz Series will take place at the outdoor amphitheater at the Hyatt Regency Newport Beach
The Scheduled Talent for 2010
The scheduled entertainers include Max Weinberg Big Band (June 25), Sax Pack with Jeff Kashiwa, Steve Cole and Jackiem Joyner with Nick Colionne (July 4), Warren Hill (July 9), Norman Brown’s Summer Storm with Phil Perry, Jessy J * Brenda Russell (July 16), Mindi Abair with Keb Mo (July 23), Guitars and Saxes with Gerald Albright, Kirk Whalum, Jeff Golub and Peter White (July 30), Bobby Caldwell (August 6), Fourplay (August 13), Steve Tyrell (August 20), The Rippingtons (August 27), David Sanborn (Sept. 10), Euge Groove with Paul Brown and Marc Antoine (Sept. 24), and Peter White (Oct. 1). As of this writing, the musicians for the dates of September 3 and 17 had not been finalized.
The Hyatt Regency Newport Beach
The Hyatt Regency Newport Beach sponsors and hosts the annual event. The property is 26 acres with easy access to the shopping mecca of Fashion Island and other sites, including Balboa Island with its many activities and restaurants.
Dinner packages, reserved seats, sky boxes and overnight accommodations are available for the series