WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF JAZZ IMPROVISATION

The series of articles below is part of the syllabus for Jazz Improvisation courses MUS 331,332 and 530 at the University of Wisconsin Madison. Instructor: Prof. Joan Wildman

CLASS PERFORMANCES!!

There are other animated solos from earlier semesters , as well.

CLASS READINGS

• Article 1. Aspects of jazz rhythm and accent

• Article 2. Jazz melody

• Article 3. Jazz harmony

  Several resource sites are also used for the class:

  • Resurrecting Fats Article by Stephen Budiansky, originally published in the Atlantic Monthly, which discusses the compositional artistry of Fats Waller
  • Jazzpromo A variety of jazz goodies, from streaming interviews of Charlie Parker to Mp3 cuts
  • 52nd St. Jazz Record reviews from a wide variety of styles and players
  • Reviews from Jazz Review magazine good info
  • Any Swing Goes Interesting article on the history of swing music as well as related information and links
  • Golden Age of Jazz Great photos and DownBeat articles from the mid-forties by the expert photographer/journalist, William Gottlieb
  • A Jazz Improvisation Primer by Marc Sabatella, an excellent improvisation overview
  • Jazz Primer For Rock People basic--and very good

  Other Music Places you might like to visit include:

  JAZZ/BLUES

  • WNUR Jazz Server From Northwestern U. Includes a brief history of the music, discographies and bios
  • Jazz Violin info on festivals, players, etc.
  • European Free Improvisation Refreshing page which contains unique info
  • French jazz Contains timely information about French jazz as well as good international links
  • Jazz In Spain Includes sound examples
  • Jazz in the UK Lots of varied info and links
  • Knitting Factory Former UW student, Michael Dorf's very successful enterprise in NYC. Includes club calendar plus new CD releases, etc.
  • Dolphy One of our former UW School of Music students, Joe Hellerstein has compiled an excellent Eric Dolphy page which includes transcriptions, a discography, recorded excerpts and even some of Joe's own masterful trumpet playing on some of Dolphy's compositions

    POP/COMMERCIAL

    • Blues World Comprehensive blues info
    • The Music Kiosk All you ever wanted to know about many genres of contemporary pop music. Includes recorded examples

    EDUCATION

    • American Universities Not comprehensive but helpful
    • Bibliography on Synthesizers, MIDI, Computer and Electronic Music Carefully selected materials
    • Music Mind Machine Computational modeling of music cognition. Includes sound examples, animations, etc.

    WORLD MUSIC

    • Roots World Great music examples from around the world
    • World Rhythm Training Includes West Africa, Bali, and India and a training manual with MIDI examples
    • New Directions In Chinese Music Well done!
    • Latin Music Online Good links. Concert Calendars, too!
    • Mizik's Pages An extraordinary variety of world music, from north Africa to Cuba. Also international radio broadcasts plus the usual links to commercial record labels, etc. Very worthwhile
    • Mbira Homepage Info and sounds from Zimbabwe
    • Richard Robinson's Tunebook Notated folk tunes from many European countries
    • Peruvian Sounds

    Miscellaneous Information

    • Musician's Injuries Stretching exercises, posture, etc.
    • Mp3 homepage Not too much jazz yet, but getting better
    • Jazz Festivals in North America Not only times and dates but also reviews

    Local and Regional

    • University of Wisconsin, Madison go Badgers!
    • Daily Cardinal one of the UW's daily newspapers
    • ISTHMUS newspaper Madison gigs, other information of local interest
    • U.of Minnesota jazz and info about the twin cities
    • University of Chicago Jazz Archive Info about Chicago jazz

    Send Comments to:

    jwildman@facstaff.wisc.edu

    Thanks to PC COMPUTING magazine for including The World of Improvisation as one of the 101 Best Web Sites! Thanks also to Magellan for our 3-star Magellan status!