classical music meets jazz: a brief survey | listen // read about the music
photo: composer igor stravinsky conducting woody herman’s orchestra as they rehearse stravinsky’s ebony concerto
as the 20th century began, composers sought the new sounds of modernity – and jazz was one of those new sounds. soon, european composers and jazz musicians began to influence one another. focusing particularly on three important composers of the early 20th century – claude debussy, maurice ravel, and igor stravinsky – this playlist & paper examines the ways in which these composers were influenced by jazz (and pre-jazz music styles, e.g. ragtime) as well as how their works, in turn, influenced jazz musicians.
debussy and his jazz influences:
children’s corner, l. 113: 6. golliwog’s cakewalk, performed by arturo benedetti michelangeli
preludes, book 1, no. 12: minstrels, performed by larissa dedova
sing sing sing (piano solo, live 1938), performed by jess stacy
in a mist, composed and performed by bix beiderbecke
candlelights, composed by bix beiderbecke and performed by dick hyman
ruby, my dear, composed and performed by thelonious monk – 2 measure introduction uses overlapping whole-tone scales; Debussy made extensive use of whole-tone scales.
ravel’s jazz-influenced pieces:
five o’clock foxtrot (adapted from the opera l’enfant et les sortileges), orchestral arrangement by christopher palmer & performed by the philharmonia orchestra
sonata for violin and piano in g: 2. blues, performed by david oistrakh & frida bauer
bolero, performed by the chicago symphony orchestra
stravinsky and his jazz influences:
ragtime for eleven instruments, conducted by igor stravinsky
preludium for jazz band, conducted by igor stravinsky
ebony concerto, performed by woody herman’s orchestra
trying to stop my crying, arranged by frank teschemacher & performed by wingy manone and his club royale orchestra – at the very end of this tune, teschemacher quotes from “the russian dance” from stravinsky’s ballet petrouchka
salt peanuts (live at salle pleyel, paris, may 1949), performed by charlie parker – at around 1:35, parker quotes from the introduction of stravinsky’s ballet the rite of spring
