Proto Jazz

Since the first jazz recordings didn't take place until 1917, its hard to find the music that existed before that, yet I have often wondered what the old brass bands sounded like before they became jazz.
The other day I stumbled across this CD, Baby Dodds "Talking and Drum Solos". The first eight cuts are cool enough and feature Dodds demonstrating great jazz drum styles from the 20s and earlier that don't even exist anymore, but even more surprising, starting on track 9 you can hear a brass band playing in a much older style that was probably what was happening somewhere approaching the turn of the century, (1890s or so). This brass band was recorded in the 1950s, but their music is much older than that. Sometimes in the old US south, you can find culture that exists outside of time.

Listen to these amazing tracks and you can hear the roots of jazz, and you can also hear how African this music was, its not much different from some African field recordings I have.

http://www.allmusic.com/album/talking-and-drum-solos-mw0000320149

Edited by js - 26 Nov 2012 at 2:02am

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js Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Visit Members Homepage Add to Buddy List Forum Admin Group Site admin Joined: 22 Dec 2010 Location: Memphis Online Status: Offline Posts: 8936	Post Options Post Reply Quote js Report Post Quote Reply Topic: Proto Jazz Posted: 25 Nov 2012 at 8:32pm
	Since the first jazz recordings didn't take place until 1917, its hard to find the music that existed before that, yet I have often wondered what the old brass bands sounded like before they became jazz. The other day I stumbled across this CD, Baby Dodds "Talking and Drum Solos". The first eight cuts are cool enough and feature Dodds demonstrating great jazz drum styles from the 20s and earlier that don't even exist anymore, but even more surprising, starting on track 9 you can hear a brass band playing in a much older style that was probably what was happening somewhere approaching the turn of the century, (1890s or so). This brass band was recorded in the 1950s, but their music is much older than that. Sometimes in the old US south, you can find culture that exists outside of time. Listen to these amazing tracks and you can hear the roots of jazz, and you can also hear how African this music was, its not much different from some African field recordings I have. http://www.allmusic.com/album/talking-and-drum-solos-mw0000320149 Edited by js - 26 Nov 2012 at 2:02am

Kazuhiro Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Visit Members Homepage Add to Buddy List Forum Admin Group Joined: 15 Jan 2011 Location: Tokyo, Japan Online Status: Offline Posts: 3803	Post Options Post Reply Quote Kazuhiro Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 25 Nov 2012 at 8:57pm
	I was interested about these matters, too. I thought that it had the relationship that was close to African music if I considered it as the history of the jazz. I do not know whether RnB and Ragtime should call it proto jazz before the jazz. However, I think that the album has ancestors of the jazz surely. Talk in particular about drum solo. Music called "Rudiments" has been already recorded in an album. This is one of the basic exercises to play a drum. I have listened to the teacher of my drum before. There was the military unit of the marching drum to raise the morale of the armed forces and was at the top. Even as for the situation dangerous. I did not understand the real intention, but thought that probably there were jazz and a relationship.

Atavachron Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List JMA Collaborator Jazz Reviewer Joined: 26 Jan 2011 Online Status: Offline Posts: 158	Post Options Post Reply Quote Atavachron Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 25 Nov 2012 at 9:01pm
	Fascinating, John, one does hear what would've been the beginnings of the jazz 'ground', the root patterns played as bass parts and consequently the other syncopations that emerged. Neat stuff.

js Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Visit Members Homepage Add to Buddy List Forum Admin Group Site admin Joined: 22 Dec 2010 Location: Memphis Online Status: Offline Posts: 8936	Post Options Post Reply Quote js Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 25 Nov 2012 at 9:08pm
	Yeah, I had no idea there were recordings like this out there, this was quite a nice surprise. It answers a lot of questions I had, you can clearly hear the Africa to jazz connection, this is the missing link.

Sean Trane Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Forum Senior Member Joined: 19 Apr 2011 Location: Brussels Online Status: Offline Posts: 712	Post Options Post Reply Quote Sean Trane Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 26 Nov 2012 at 3:20am
	of limited interest, past the initial and very important archeological discovery, but very instructive nevertheless... Thanks for posting this Edited by Sean Trane - 26 Nov 2012 at 3:21am
	my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicted musicians to crazy ones....