Jazz inspired classical music

[davidraphael]

Many people are not aware that classical music was inspired by jazz in the early 20th century and there were many composers that worked with the newly developing form.
Gershwin's a notable example, but there's also Stravinsky, Ravel, Copland, Shotakovich and others.

Gershwin's 'Rhapsody in Blue' is known by most people as a classical music piece, but it was actually originally written for and commissioned by Paul Whiteman's jazz/dance band.

Here's the original 1924 recording. You can hear just how much more jazzy it is.
[video=youtube;NIr_WPcVDt8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIr_WPcVDt8[/video]

Other jazz notables collaborated with classical composers, such as Woody Herman with Stravinsky on the 'Ebony Concerto' (later also recorded by Benny Goodman)
[video=youtube;1AmJ7QsW6aI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AmJ7QsW6aI[/video]

Stravinsky's 'Ragtime':
[video=youtube;QDvcGhoGvZk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDvcGhoGvZk[/video]

Here's one most will know: Shostakovich's 'Tahiti Trot' (Tea for Two)
[video=youtube;4N169hy0Is0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N169hy0Is0[/video]

Benny Goodman was also involved with the commissioning of Copland's 'Clarinet Concerto':
[video=youtube;i1za5qebqqo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1za5qebqqo[/video]

 

[Dr Kilroy]

All great examples! I'll list another few:

Ravel's Piano Concerto in G major:

[video=youtube_share;bq1ueeJucA8]http://youtu.be/bq1ueeJucA8[/video]

Ravel's Piano Concerto for the Left Hand:

[video=youtube;ctc1esCl-lw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctc1esCl-lw[/video]

Ravel's Violin Sonata no. 2 - II:

[video=youtube;nJBsb5bm0W0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJBsb5bm0W0&feature=relmfu[/video]

There are many more examples by Gershwin - Concerto in F:

[video=youtube_share;yhxpIUl0PqI]http://youtu.be/yhxpIUl0PqI?t=1m12s[/video]

Lullaby:

[video=youtube;k6ZQVUesZE0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6ZQVUesZE0[/video]

Also the Second Rhapsody!

[video=youtube;FeKk3-JLZhM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeKk3-JLZhM[/video]


You should also check out Nikolai Kapustin - he is not inspired by this swinging, Gershwinesque jazz, but still jazzy!

[video=youtube;fzVp1avwO4o]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzVp1avwO4o[/video]

[video=youtube;fTxKcxSlLBA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTxKcxSlLBA&feature=related[/video]

[video=youtube;9yNI3k6RUZw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yNI3k6RUZw[/video]

I hope you will enjoy!

Best regards, Dr

 

[vitanola]

Then there are Hindemuth's "Nusch-Nuschi Taenze"

Of course we also have Gershwin's , "Cuban Overture" .

Kurt Weill's "Kleine Dreigroschen Music" (well, in fact the whole of the "Dreigroschen Oper"), his "Mahagonny Songspeil" and the "Aufsteig und Abfall der Stadt Mahagonny", "Der Jasager" and "Die Seiben Todsundigen des Kleinburgers"

Then we have the fine music of the talented William Grant Still, a talented Oberlin Conservatory graduate who cut his commercial teeth in Noble Sissle's "Shuffle Along" pit orchestra, working with older musicians of the Jim Europe generation, and then arranged popular music for The Paul Whiteman and Willard Robison orchestras. Still's excellent "From the Black Belt" (1926), his First ("Afro-Amrican") Symphony, and his Ballet "Miss Sally's Party".

Osbert Sitwell's ever fascinating "Facade", or rather "Facades", since the thing appeared to mutate over the years.

 

[Dr Kilroy]

What about Hindemith's Ragtime (wohltemperiert)?

[video=youtube;k5gry-w-47c]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5gry-w-47c[/video]

Also Milhaud's La creation du monde:

[video=youtube;h3GPtgY9hSQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3GPtgY9hSQ[/video]

Milhaud was, curiously, the teacher of famous jazz pianist Dave Brubeck.

Best regards, Dr

 

[Mahagonny Bill]

Vitanola mentioned Kurt Weil, but how about some links?

"Aufsteig und Abfall der Stadt Mahagonny" opening:
[video=youtube;eOk7oKGhKh4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOk7oKGhKh4[/video]

Symphony N° 2 - Mov. 03
[video=youtube;q5fK-MHr6ZA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5fK-MHr6ZA[/video]

Pirate Jenny from Threepenny Opera
[video=youtube;aFP3x4bKpZE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFP3x4bKpZE[/video]

 

[bulldog1935]

Gershwin IS jazz.

I guess it all depends on what you call Classical, which to me, ended with Mozart (well, Haydn, but he didn't do anything after Mozart)

 

[Dr Kilroy]

Jazz requires improvisation. Sure, Gershwin wrote a lot of jazz pieces, but the ones we listed are not improvised, but fully written out - so classical, only using jazz rhythms and harmonies.

Of course, if we do not call classical only the pieces from the classical era, when Haydn and Mozart composed.

Best regards, Dr

 

[bulldog1935]

so it also depends upon your definition of jazz

I think you'd be hard-pressed to say that Joplin is not jazz...
and big band music, and torch singers, and bebop - a lot of music that is written out and published.

 

[davidraphael]

Big Band - whether it's Duke, Gil Evans with Miles, or Carla Bley's later big band revival - uses arrangements, but the soloists improvise. Jazz ain't jazz unless there is improvisation.
And bebop is about as improvised as you can get.

I wouldn't have said that Scott Joplin was jazz, per se, but ragtime was certainly a predecessor of jazz and a big influence on it. The term jass/jazz didn't even appear until a couple of years before Joplin's death. Many don't associate Joplin directly with jazz - just the genres of 'ragtime, marches and waltzes'.

Torch singers are also not strictly jazz, as such. While many jazz singers did sing torch songs (Ella, Billie et al), 'torch songs' are too wide a genre to be exclusively jazz because they can be any kind of blues, jazz, or soul song - a torch song is a sentimental love song sung in any genre. Even Edith Piaf sang torch songs but I don't think anyone would consider her jazz.

Gershwin isn't jazz. He belongs to - or was perhaps adopted by - the jazz age, but that's something different. Gershwin was largely influenced by his teacher, Ravel, and you only have to hear Ravel's works to hear a) Gershwin b) a sound that would be later incorporated into and a recognised facet of jazz.

 

[dhermann1]

I just went to a concert here in New York of a chamber orchestra called New York Concierti Sinphonetta, at a church on the upper east side of Manhattan. They are only 28 pieces, but they opened with a wonderful rendition of Brahms' Piano Concerto in D minor, op. 15, which was dazzling. But then they played the world premiere of a dual concerto, written for the Anderson Twins. The Anderson twins are a couple of young guys who have hit the NY music scene like a ton of bricks in the last couple of years. I've heard them several times lately with their small swing combo. They're terrific. This piece, called "Reed Reflections", by a young jazz and classical composer named Kyle Althayde, consisted of three movements, featuring both brothers playing in succession, clarinet, flute, and alto and tenor sax. Just wonderful, wonderful. There were influences from Shostakovich, to Debussy to Art Tatum to Eric Dolphy. Soooo enjoyable. I'm still on cloud nine.

 

[skyvue]

Dana Suesse, who was a contemporary of Gershwin, wrote a number of jazz-inflected orchestral pieces, in addition to many great popular songs. I highly recommend her work.

 

[dhermann1]

I just posted this in the Classical Music thread, but it's so great that it deserves to be posted in several places. The great young jazz players, Will and Pete Anderson, the New York Concierti Sinfonietta, and the world premiere of a jazz double concerto by a young composer named Kyle Athayde. Fabulous.

[video=youtube;ULVgjMtm4y0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULVgjMtm4y0[/video]