Creating the Jazz Solo

Louis Armstrong and Barbershop Harmony

Vic Hobson

• Publisher: University Press of Mississippi
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN:
  9781496819789
• eBook ISBN:
  9781496819796
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Jazz Music

Throughout his life, Louis Armstrong tried to explain how singing with a barbershop quartet on the streets of New Orleans was foundational to his musicianship. Until now, there has been no in-depth inquiry into what he meant when he said, "I figure singing and playing is the same, " or, "Singing was more into my blood than the trumpet." Creating the Jazz Solo: Louis Armstrong and Barbershop Harmony shows that Armstrong understood exactly the relationship between what he sang and what he played, and that he meant these comments to be taken literally: he was singing through his horn.To describe the relationship between what Armstrong sang and played, author Vic Hobson discusses elements of music theory with a style accessible even to readers with little or no musical background. Jazz is a music that is often performed by people with limited formal musical education. Armstrong did not analyze what he played in theoretical terms. Instead, he thought about it in terms of the voices in a barbershop quartet.Understanding how Armstrong, and other pioneer jazz musicians of his generation, learned to play jazz and how he used his background of singing in a quartet to develop the jazz solo has fundamental implications for the teaching of jazz history and performance today. This assertive book provides an approachable foundation for current musicians to unlock the magic and understand jazz the Louis Armstrong way.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Preface
• Chapter 1: “Singing Was More into My Blood, Than the Trumpet”
• Chapter 2: “Singing Was My Life”
• Chapter 3: “Always Had Music All Around Me”
• Chapter 4: Church Is Where “I Acquired My Singing Tactics”
• Chapter 5: “When I Was at School, I Played All Classical Music”
• Chapter 6: “My Brazilian Beauty”
• Chapter 7: “Me and Music Got Married in the Home”
• Chapter 8: “I Was Singing Selling Coal”
• Chapter 9: Did Bunk Teach Louis?
• Chapter 10: “Going to the Conservatory”
• Chapter 11: “Dippermouth Blues”
• Chapter 12: Fletcher Henderson: “That Big Fish Horn Voice of His”
• Chapter 13: “The Pride of Race”: When Louis Sang with Erskine Tate
• Chapter 14: Lil’s Hot Shots
• Chapter 15: The Hot Five and Seven
• Chapter 16: “I Figure Singing and Playing Is the Same”
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index