Jazz

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Mainstream Developments

Meanwhile, the mainstream of jazz, despite incorporating many of Coltrane’s melodic ideas and even some modal jazz pieces, continued to build improvisations largely on the chord progressions of popular songs. Brazilian songs, especially those in the bossa nova style, were added to the jazz repertoire in the early 1960s. Their Latin rhythms and fresh chord progressions appealed to jazz musicians of several generations, notably Stan Getz and flutist Herbie Mann. Even after the bossa nova style declined, the sambas that gave rise to it remained staples of the jazz repertoire, and many groups augmented their regular drum set with Caribbean percussion.

The trio formed by pianist Bill Evans treated popular songs with depth; the musicians were constantly interacting instead of simply taking turns for solos. This interactive approach was carried even further by the rhythm section of Davis’s quintet of 1963 and beyond, which included drummer Tony Williams, bassist Ron Carter, pianist Herbie Hancock, and later the highly original tenor saxophonist Wayne Shorter.

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Fusion Jazz

Jazz underwent an economic crisis in the late 1960s. Younger audiences favored soul music and rock, while older aficionados turned away from the abstractness and emotional rawness of much modern jazz. Jazz musicians realized that to regain an audience they had to draw ideas from popular music, and this movement was dubbed fusion jazz. Some of these ideas came from rock, but most were drawn from the dance rhythms and chord progressions of soul musicians such as James Brown. Some groups also added elements of music from other cultures. The initial examples of this new genre met with varying success, but in 1969 Davis recorded Bitches Brew, a highly successful album that combined soul rhythms and electronically amplified instruments with uncompromising, highly dissonant jazz. Not surprisingly, alumni of Davis’s groups created some of the most musically successful fusion recordings of the 1970s: Hancock; Shorter and Austrian-born pianist Joe Zawinul, coleaders of the ensemble Weather Report; English electric guitarist John McLaughlin; and the brilliant pianist Chick Corea and his group Return to Forever. Rock musicians, in turn, began featuring jazz phrasings and solos over a rock-based rhythm. These groups included Chase; Chicago; and Blood, Sweat & Tears.

During this same period another alumnus of one of Davis’s groups, the iconoclastic pianist Keith Jarrett, succeeded commercially while eschewing electronic instruments and popular styles. His performances of popular standards and original songs with a quartet, as well as his improvisations alone at the keyboard, made him a major contemporary pianist of jazz.

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The 1980s and 1990s

By the mid-1980s jazz artists were once again performing to sizable audiences in a variety of styles, and there was renewed interest in acoustic, non-fusion jazz. One of the key artists during this rejuvenation was trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, who has also received acclaim for his classical music—in 1982 he became the first person ever to win Grammy Awards in both jazz and classical categories in the same year. Marsalis is a gifted artist who considers jazz as practically a birthright: His father is one of the leading jazz pianists in New Orleans, and a number of Wynton’s siblings are also jazz musicians, including his brother Branford Marsalis. Wynton’s trumpet style has changed dramatically over the years; today, he pays tribute to past masters such as Louis Armstrong and Ellington’s trumpeter, Cootie Williams. His work is always technically outstanding and often melodically brilliant.

In addition to his work as an artist, Marsalis has played a significant role as an advocate and promoter of jazz. In 1987 he cofounded and became artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, an extensive education and performance program. Marsalis was an important consultant and contributor to the 20-hour television series Jazz by acclaimed documentary filmmaker Ken Burns.

On the heels of Marsalis, more and more young jazz musicians have emerged and received recording deals and exposure. Among them is the exciting saxophonist Joshua Redman, who gave up plans to attend law school at Yale University when his jazz career took off in 1991. His recordings include Freedom in the Groove (1996) and Beyond (2000). Some others who achieved prominence in the 1990s were saxophonist Mark Turner, trumpeters Roy Hargrove and Nicholas Payton (both associated with Marsalis) and Dave Douglas (associated with a more experimental approach), and pianist Brad Mehldau. And despite concerns that older artists are being ignored, some have achieved renewed fame, including saxophonist Joe Lovano and pianist Bill Charlap.

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Current Trends

In recent years jazz has become a legitimate worldwide international phenomenon, with most top U.S. artists regularly touring Europe and Japan. Most developed countries have a jazz scene to some degree, and in some—such as Japan, Italy, and Denmark—jazz is flourishing. It has been estimated that the Japanese buy as many jazz recordings as Americans do, even though Japan has less than half the population of the United States. European and Japanese jazz musicians such as Italian pianist Franco D’Andrea, Italian clarinetist Mauro Negri, and British saxophonist John Surman are also being recognized among the best jazz musicians in the world.

Jazz is also more open to women than ever before. In the early days of the music, it was a kind of 'boys club.” In the 1930s and 1940s all-women groups were formed as one way to combat these limits. In the 1960s women were sometimes included in bands, but this would provoke comment. Female jazz performers began to gain more acceptance in the genre beginning in the 1970s. Some of these female artists include pianists Renee Rosnes and Geri Allen, composer and bandleader Maria Schneider, saxophonist and composer Jane Ira Bloom, and the big band Diva led by drummer Sherrie Maricle.

While jazz recordings have consistently remained at about 3 percent of all music sales, an indication that the number of devoted fans remains small, jazz is now considered attractive and fashionable by a much greater number of casual listeners. Jazz music and musicians are now used in popular culture settings such as television commercials, while major jazz concert and lecture programs at Lincoln Center, the Smithsonian Institution, and elsewhere have helped raise the status of the music. Academic programs for the study of jazz history and performance continue to proliferate, and more and more jazz musicians boast music degrees. With all its variety and despite its various factions, jazz remains a rich and vital presence in the world of music.