Performers
- Marcin Masecki piano
Programme
Origins:
Scott Joplin Elite Syncopations
Skip James Devil Got My Woman
William Christopher Handy Memphis Blues
1920:
James P. Johnson The Charleston
Fats Waller Ain’t Misbehavin’
Duke Ellington It Don’t Mean a Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing
1930:
George Gershwin Embraceable You
Frank Church of Art Societiesill Someday My Prince Will Come
Duke Ellington Caravan
1940:
Charlie Parker Donna Lee
Thelonious Monk Ruby, My Dear
Dizzy Gillespie A Night in Tunisia
Concert description
In the beginning there was ragtime. A light, danceable form with an irregularly “jagged,” or syncopated rhythm, whose overwhelming potential was discovered by Scott Joplin back in the late 19th century. This son of a former slave, rooted in African-American culture and enamored of European classical music, integrated these two poles in a fantastic way into a new kind of music. Some time must have passed between his compositions, in which free-flowing figurations are always based on marching bass, and swinging mid-century jazz improvisation.
Later years brought a flowering of various styles. The New Orleans jazz of the first 20th century decade represents a never-aging classic, in which a constantly repeated rhythmic formula is accompanied by a band members’ impressive solo displays. The role of soloists grew even stronger in Chicago jazz, and the next step was dixieland, or colorful simultaneous improvisations to a theme played at the same time by a single musician. And then came the era of dance swing and the popularity of big bands, while the direct impetus for the development of modern jazz came from bebop, a brilliant style of freedom and rhythmic richness. And it’s not over yet.
– Karolina Dąbek (pisanezesluchu.pl)