Global Music and Jazz Assignment

Global Music and Jazz

This assignment is a research and writing assignment that asks you to find a Jazz artist who is combining an International music style with Jazz music to create/explore a new Jazz sound.

As you have discovered in your text readings and other assignments in this course, Jazz music developed in America from the combining of different musical influences, which came about as a result of the numerous International cultures that played a part in the development of the country. As the music grew, Jazz continued to incorporate musical elements from other styles of music, including world music influences. Examples include Dizzy Gillespie, who collaborated with Cuban congero Chano Pozo to explore new sounds in Jazz. In the 1960’s the Brazilian music style of Bossa Nova influenced artists like Stan Getz, and became a popular new sound in Jazz. The combining of International music styles and Jazz in this way is continuing today, creating interesting new Jazz sounds. Many international musical influences can be heard in modern Jazz music.

Assignment:

Research and find an artist or group that is combining an international music with jazz to create a new Jazz sound. Limit your research to music from the 21st Century (since the year 2000.) Pick a culture or country whose music you would be interested in learning about and see if you can find an artist or group who is combining that music with Jazz music to create a new Jazz sound. BE SURE YOU FIND AN ARTIST OR GROUP THAT IS COMBINING AN INTERNATIONAL MUSIC AND JAZZ, TO CREATE A NEW JAZZ SOUND. There are a number of examples of non-jazz artists using international music in their folk music, rock music, hip hop etc.., so be sure your choice of artist/group is a JAZZ artist. The artist can be an American that is using International music as an influence or it can be an artist who is from another country that is an accomplished Jazz artist who is exploring combining music from his/her culture with Jazz. Be SURE the artist is a Jazz artist and the music you write about is a combination of Jazz and an International music style.

Example: an online search for “Traditional Japanese music and Jazz” produced a large number of entries, and some were useful in suggesting some artists that are combining the 2 styles of music to create a new Jazz based music.

When conducting online searches, use quotation marks around the important key words in the search…”Japanese Folk Music” and “Jazz” for instance.

The USF Library has created a Course Guide for this class with useful information on how to conduct online searches and what materials are available in the USF Library that could be useful to this assignment.

http://guides.lib.usf.edu/SurveyJazz (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Once you find an artist you are interested in, listen to the musical examples and read about the artist and their concepts for combining Jazz and the International music they specialize in.

Requirements:

  1. Write a 1000-1500 word paper which describes the artist/group and their music. The paper should be well written, following general rules and formatting for a Research Paper (see suggested format below). Citations should be in MLA or APA format. You can get help and information about writing a Research Paper from the USF Writing Center.
  2. Use your research to write a description of the artist/groups concepts and ideas for combining the international music with Jazz. It is important that find descriptions of the concepts and ideas from the artist and/or reputable experts reviewing the project. You need to do significant research to be able to write about the ways the artist or group is combining the international music elements with Jazz elements to create the new music.
  3. Include your own description of what you hear in the music. Describe the ways the music moves you.
  4. Include a description of the artist/groups, what they are known for and other relevant projects/recordings they have produced. Include a selected discography.
  5. Include information about the recordings you write about:
    1. Date released
    2. Record label
    3. Musicians on the recording
    4. How readers can find this music (purchase, listen, etc)