Glossary of Terms

AABA form - One of the most common song forms in jazz. Usually 32 measures long, divided into four 8-measure sections. The opening section (A) repeats, followed by a contrasting bridge (B), before returing to the final A section. 

Acoustic - Instruments or music with no electrical amplification.

Arpeggio - The notes of a chord played in succession (rather than all at once), either ascending or descending.

Ballad - A slow, sentimental song, usually including lyrics about love. Many jazz ballads use AABA form.

Bebop - A style of jazz that began in the 1940s, characterized by fast tempos, instrumental virtuosity, advanced harmonies, and complex syncopation. This style also featured a unique, non-conformist fashion sense and style of speech. Important bebop musicians include Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Thelonious Monk.

Big Band - A large jazz ensemble consisting of 12-25 musicians grouped in sections of trumpets, trombones, saxophones, and rhythm section (usually piano, bass, guitar, and drum set). This type of ensemble was extremely popular during the Swing Era. Important big band leaders include Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Benny Goodman.

Blue Note (musical term) - A note in a melody that is altered for expressive purposes, usually lowered to sound sorrowful.

Blue Note (record label) - A jazz record label strongly associated with the Hard Bop Era.

Blues Form - One of the most common forms in jazz. Usually 12 measures long, divided into three 4-measure sections. The intitial 4-measure "statement" is usually followed by a "repetition" and  concludes with a "commentary."

Bossa Nova - A genre of music combining Brazilian dance rhythms and American jazz harmonies, popular in the United States during the 1950s and 60s. Important Bossa Nova musicians include Antonio Carlos Jobim and Stan Getz.

Break - An exciting moment during a jazz performance when the rhythm section stops playing for a short period of time (usually 2-4 measures), leaving the soloist to perform alone. This often occurs immediately prior to the soloist's first chorus.

Bridge - The "B section" in AABA form.

Cadenza - In jazz, this refers to an improvisation without accompaniment, often in a free rhythmic style.

Call and Response - Two distinct musical phrases played by different musicians or groups of musicians. The second phrase is heard as a commentary or response to the first.

Chord - Three or more notes played simultaneously. Different combinations of notes create different chord qualities (see Major Chord and Minor Chord). Sequences of chords create harmony.

Chorus - Once through the form of a tune. Ex. If a jazz improviser "takes two choruses" that means he/she improvises over the form twice through.

Combo - A small jazz ensemble consisting of 3-9 musicians, including a rhythm section and often a front line of 1-4 brass and/or woodwinds.

Comping - Accompaniment to an improvised solo, often played by the pianist or guitarist. This accompaniment may include chords or countermelodies and is intended to complement the soloist. Comping styles vary quite a bit between various styles of jazz.

Cool Jazz - A style of jazz that began in the early 1950s, characterized by a subdued musical approach including restrained, "polite" improvisation and passive rhythm section playing. Important Cool Jazz musicians include Dave Brubeck, Chet Baker, and Gerry Mulligan.

Counterpoint - Two or more melodies occuring simultaneously.

Cross-Rhythm - One rhythmic grouping placed against another. The conflict between groupings creates syncopation.

Double-Time - The improvising soloist (or the soloist and the rhythm section) performs at a speed double the previous tempo, while the underlying pace of the chord progression remains the same.

Early Jazz (AKA Dixieland) - This earliest style of jazz included collective improvisation in the front line and often included unusual rhythm section instruments such as banjo and tuba. Important Early Jazz musicians include Jelly Roll Morton and Louis Armstrong.

Electronic Instruments - Instruments that produce their sound using electronics. These instruments, including the Fender Rhodes keyboard, Electric Bass, and EWI (Electronic Wind Instrument) became more popular in jazz during the Fusion Era.

Even 8th - Music that subdivides the beat evenly (as opposed to swing), creating even 8th notes. Most latin and rock music uses even 8th subdivision, and many jazz tunes use this approach as well.

Fill - A musical passage intended to fill otherwise empty space in a song. This might occur during a break or in between phrases of a melody. A fill may be melodic or rhythmic (ex. drum fill).

Form - The overall structure of a piece of music.

Free Jazz - A style of jazz developed in the 1960s that altered and abandoned musical conventions such as tempo, harmony and form. Free jazz often includes collective improvisation in all instruments. Important Free Jazz musicians include Ornette Coleman and Cecil Taylor.

Front Line - One or more instrumentalists, usually playing trumpet, saxophone and/or trombone that perform the melody of a song and take solos. The name comes from the fact that this group of horn players usually stands at the front of the stage.

Fusion - A style of jazz that became popular in the 1970s that combined elements of jazz and rock (and other popular genres), using electric instruments, electric effects, and rhythmic rock grooves. Important fusion musicians include Joe Zawinul, John McLaughlin, and Herbie Hancock.

Gig - Slang for a professional music performance.

Groove - The sense of rhythmic propulsion or swing generated by musical interaction of the band's rhythm section.

Hard Bop - A style of jazz that began in the mid 1950s as a "bluesy" off-shoot of Bebop and also incorperated elements of  Gospel and R&B genres. Important Hard Bop musicians include Art Blakey, Sonny Rollins, and Cannonball Adderley.

Harmon Mute - A particular type of metal mute placed inside the bell of a trumpet creating a thin, delicate, airy sound. Miles Davis often used this mute, most notably on All Blues from the album Kind of Blue.

Harmony - The progression or series of chords wihin a tune.

Head - Slang for pre-composed melody. The "head" usually occurs at the beginning and end of a jazz performance, with improvised solos in between.

Hot Bands - This term refers to Swing Era big bands with a more aggressive style of swing and a stronger emphasis on blues feeling. These include bands led by Count Basie and Duke Ellington.

Improvisation - The immediate creation of a melody. Improvisation is central to the jazz art form. Jazz musicians draw on previously learned "vocabulary" to create melodies "in the moment."

Inflection - Alterations to rhythm, pitch, or tone quality for expressive purposes. An example of rhythmic inflection is "laying back" and an example of melodic inflection in bending a pitch. A musician also might alter the tone quality of an instrument by "growling" or using a mute.

Jam - Slang for an unrehearsed jazz performance. In order to perform successfully, musicians draw upon common knowledge of jazz repertoire and established conventions of performance.

Laying Back - Playing slightly behind the beat for expressive purposes.

Lead - Refers to the instrument performing the melody or the highest part within a section of instruments (ex. lead trumpet).

Liner Notes - Writings on the sleeve of LPs or booklets of CDs.

Major Chord - A common type of chord comprised of three notes played simultaneously. A major chord is often described as sounding happy, clear, open, bright, or strong.

Melody - A series of single pitches. In jazz, melodies can be pre-composed or improvised.

Minor Chord - A common type of chord comprised of three notes played simultaneously. A minor chord is often described as sounding dark, introverted, haunting, tender, or sad.

Minton's Playhouse - Harlem jazz club famous for its role as the host of jam sessions during the 1940s that facilitated the development of a new style of jazz known as Bebop.

Motive - A short musical idea or fragment that becomes important to the character of a piece of music.

Motivic Development - When a motive becomes the building block for larger musical ideas through repetition, sequence, and/or alteration of the original musical fragment. Motivic development occurs in both pre-composed music and improvised music. It is a defining characteristic of the playful, eccentric music of pianist Thelonious Monk.

Mute - A device fitted to an instrument (usually inside the bell of a trumpet or trombone) to alter the volume and the quality of the sound. These devices take different shapes and are made from different materials.

Neoclassical Jazz - A style of jazz that emerged in the 1980s characterized by a return to jazz's acoustic roots and a renewed interest in early jazz styles. One of the pioneers of Neoclassical Jazz is trumpeter Wynton Marsalis.

Ride Cymbal - A commonly-used cymbal in most drum kits. In jazz, the ride cymbal is often played on every beat in conjunction with the walking bass.

Riff - A short, repeated musical phrase. In the Swing Era, many compositions (ex. One O'Clock Jump) were created by layering riffs with different sections of instruments (trombones, trumpets, saxes). Riffs can be pre-composed or improvised on the spot.

Rubato - When a performer freely speeds up or slows down for expressive purposes.

Rhythm Section - A group of instrumentalists within a band that provide the underlying rhythm and pulse of the accompaniment. This group usually includes some combination of piano, guitar, bass and drums.

Scat Singing - A style of jazz singing where wordless, non-sense syllable are applied to pre-composed or improvised jazz melodies, often imitating the style of other instruments.

Scoop - A type of inflection that involves beginning a note slightly below the target note and then sliding up to that note.

Sheets of Sound - A term coined to describe John Coltrane's unique style of improvisation, characterized by its rapid succession of high-speed arpeggios and scale patterns.

Sweet Bands - This term refers to Swing Era big bands that played a lighter, more polished style of swing music with less emphasis on blues vocabulary. Important bandleaders of this style included Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey and Jimmy Dorsey.

Swing - In jazz, swing refers to a type of groove in which notes that are typically given equal rhythmic value are instead performed with unequal durations, alternating long and short, creating a sense of lilt that often elicits a visceral response in the audience such as foot-tapping or head-nodding. If a band is said to be "swingin" this means the members of the group have achieved a level of synchronicity in their approach to the swing groove. This is a highly regarded skill among jazz musicians that often takes many years to master.

Swing Era - Jazz's most popular era, Swing music gained prominence in the 1930's and 40s. During this era big bands performed for crowds of dancers at clubs and ballrooms all across the country. Important Swing Era bandleaders include Count Basie, Benny Goodman, and Duke Ellington.

Syncopation - An intentional disturbance of the regular, established rhythmic flow by placing rhythmic accents where they wouldn't normally occur. 

Tailgate - This term refers to the trombone style associated with Early Jazz characterized by emotive trombone techniques such as growls, scoops, falls, and slides. Early Jazz bands often played on moving wagons, where the trombonist would stand at the back edge with his slide over the tailgate.

Vibrato - A regular pulsation of pitch for expressive purposes.

Walking Bass - A common style of jazz bass playing in which the player plays one tone on each beat, creating a steady pulse and often synching up directly with the drummer's ride cymbal. This style of playing is most associated with swing grooves.