Tone Colour

• The distinctive sound of jazz is easy to recognise, but hard to describe.

• Jazz features a small combo of three to eight players, or a big band of ten to fifteen players

• The rhythm section usually consists of piano, plucked double bass, and percussion.

• A banjo or guitar may be added to the rhythm section to maintain the beat, add rhythmic interest and provide supporting harmonies

• The main solo instruments include cornet, trumpet, saxophone, piano, clarinet, vibraphone and trombone.

Improvisation

• Jazz typically contains improvised and composed sections.

• Improvisation lies at the heart of jazz, and adds freshness and spontaneity.

• Improvisation may be based on a melody or a harmonic pattern.

• Improvisations based on a harmonic pattern feature a series of chords that repeat over and over while the improviser creates melodies above it.

• Improvisations usually include solos by various members of the ensemble.

• There may be sections of collective improvisation where several musicians improvise melodies simultaneously.

Rhythm, Melody and Harmony

• Syncopation and rhythmic swing are distinctive features of jazz

• Jazz usually has a steady, strong beat, with four beats to the bar.

• Accents often come on weak beats or between beats.

• Jazz melodies often use a major scale in which the third, fifth and seventh notes are lowered.

• Jazz melodies are flexible in pitch and rhythm

• Jazz harmonies use chord progressions like those of the traditional tonal system, but the vocabulary has become increasingly complex, sophisticated and chromatic.

• Jazz harmonies may use chords of three to six notes

Texture

• Jazz textures may be monophonic, homophonic, polyphonic or heterophonic.