Rock and pop songs inspired by Jazz

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jazz

is considered an alternative or niche style of music, but historically, from about 1900 to 1960,

jazz

was what would be considered popular music, It was the pop music of the time, however, starting in the 1950s, the Jazz Age began to decline as this new

rock

and roll music became the dominant music and eventually evolved into what we know today. as pop and

rock

music, but even though jazz left the mainstream a while ago, that hasn't stopped it from continuing. having a profound influence on some of the most important artists of the last 60 years, so today we will look at a wide range of

songs

that have been influenced by jazz and this video is made in collaboration with the fantastic educator of jazz singers. and pianist amy nolte amy just uploaded a companion video to this one showcasing even more examples of jazz-

inspired

songs

, so once you're done, head over and check out her video too, a band you might not have expected to have been influenced. by jazz is pink floyd floyd's keyboardist richard wright was primarily a jazz player and his love of jazz often found its way into floyd's music, particularly with his chord progressions and arrangements, for example, as he explains Wright in this clip to complete the breathe chord progression from The Dark Side of the Moon borrowed a chord he had learned from Mars Davis' iconic Blue Guy.

I basically come from jazz and I love it. That's my favorite. It is my inspiration. There's a certain chord that's totally due to a chord I had. I heard actually on the Miles Davis album when we're doing Breath, we get to G and how you get to E again, well, again, you normally go, but I remember this chord and I remember working on it at home listening to the record and I just thought that The chord Wright is referring to here is this d7 sharp 9 from All Blues by Mars Davis and as explained on the right in the clip, you can see exactly this d7 sharp nine chord here at the end of the B section of Brief that acts to guide us back to The Minor for the return to section a, another iconic act that was

inspired

by jazz music is the Beatles, although the Beatles' main influence was the rock and roll artists of the 1950s, such as the little Richard Elvis and Buddy Holly.

Paul and John were also interested in the early songs of the Jazz Age, such as the classics of the American songbook written by people like George Gershwin, Cole Porter or Irving Berlin, as Paul explains in this interview, the Beatles often infused elements of these Jazz Age songs, such as their chord progressions or structures, in the more typical straight-ahead rock and roll music style, which is actually what often gives Beatles songs their more sophisticated edge. Well, when I was a kid, my dad had a jazz band when he was in his twenties, but he used to play the piano at home.

I grew up listening to these songs and I love the chords and the structure, so I think when John and I wrote this other stuff it was always in the background, it was always informing what we were doing and, in fact, if you try to analyze the Beatles' music , you see. It doesn't just go into a straight rock and roll, some of the mids, um, from me to you, and whatever you want, it's pretty straightforward, but then it goes, I've got my arms outstretched and a little minor chord comes up, like McCartney explained in That clip from the a section of from me to u is a pretty typical rock and roll tune built around the four major chords of the key of C major, but then when the b section comes around, the song ventures outside of the key towards the realms of F major. all thanks to what is basically jazz music's favorite chord progression, 2 5 1. g minor 7 is not in the key of c major, this was moved from g minor 7 to c7 and then f major is the song that it actually briefly changes the key to the key of f major and these are chords 2 5 and 1 of f major.

This is a very common technique in jazz era songs. change to a new key for the if section using a 2-5-1 progression and then go back using another 2. -5-1 progression in time for the return to section a, in fact, from me to using section b It is virtually identical to the jazz standard Saturn Doll written by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn as is Me to You Satin Doll's A. The section explores the key of C major, but then when the B section comes around, we get this same progression 2 5 1 in the key of F major, temporarily moving away from the key of C major and into the key of F major, this makes the music feel as if it has ventured into a new realm, giving the b section its own distinctive character , now given the chord progression from me to you is less decorated and complex than Saturn, but both achieve the same effect by the same means by modulating to a new key and then vice versa using 251 progressions beyond the simple chord progressions .

The Beatles were also interested in emulating the distinct jazz song structures of the 1930s and 1940s. The songs often began with an extended intro section known confusingly as the verse, but although referred to as a Verse, these sections were quite different from our modern idea of ​​a verse section today, an intro section will often be very similar to the song it introduces, it will often be a two or four bar loop based on the main body of the song, however, these sections are jazzy. The reverse sections were often quite different from the songs they presented, often at a much freer and slower tempo and using a chord progression or melody that would not appear in the main body of the song, for example with the classic by Cole Porter, I Get A Kick.

Outside of you, the main body of the song or what historically would have been called the chorus sounds like this, you amus me, an upbeat tempo with a catchy vocal hook and repeated sections, but the song begins with this verse played. at a much slower, more relaxed tempo with a distinctly different and non-repetitive chord progression, my story is too sad to tell, but pretty much everything, this convention of starting a song with a slow, drawn-out verse section, can seem a bit Strange at first until you understand it. Remember that most songs from the Jazz Age were written primarily for stage musicals.

The verse section would act as a way to set up a song. A way to transition from dialogue to music. He would establish the theme of the song before launching right into an upbeat number. My story. It's too sad to say now, in the 1960s these sections of the opening verses were starting to go out of style and even jazz singers often skipped the intro and launched straight into the main body of the song, but the Beatles They were still interested in a good verse section and Paul and John made several attempts to incorporate a reverse jazz section into their own songwriting.

We often tried to write songs with a verse, you know, the verses, most people would think of it as the intro, we said, let's try to do it. that and we get close to that here there and everywhere has a mini verse as mentioned by Paul here there and everywhere starts with this short single intro, this verse that acts to set up the song before we get into the main chorus, an even better example. of a Beatles song that begins with a reverse jazz section is Honey Pie from the White Album, just like in an American songbook tune, the song begins with this independent three-beat section that establishes the premise of the song and then at the end of the verse.

The pace quickens and we launch into the body of the music, you're driving me crazy, as Paul explains in this quote, Honey Pie is a total tribute to the English music hall style that in many ways was a precursor to jazz music, both john and had a great love for music hall, what Americans would call vaudeville. I really liked that old crooner style. The strange fruity voice they used. Honey Pie. It was me writing one of them. If you want to learn to play the piano. If you can start writing some jazz-inspired tunes of your own, then you can start right now with scoove.

Scoove is an interactive piano app that guides you through learning a wide range of songs using its easy-to-understand interface. Start your free trial today with the link in the description another band you may not have expected to be influenced by jazz is radiohead, particularly during the recording of kidae and amnesiac tom york, they were heavily inspired by free jazz musician charles mingus For example, the wailing horns of Kid A's national anthem are directly inspired by the trumpet arrangements on Charles Mingus's Complete Town Hall album, Tom York. They also say that the Pyramid Song began as an attempt to copy the mingus song the liberty pyramid song basically i'm totally obsessed with a charles minges song called liberty and i was just trying to duplicate it actually comparing the two tracks you can hear little evidence of the mingus influence on the liberty pyramid song pyramid, it seems that initially the two tracks had more in common, for example the pyramid song originally featured the distinctive handclaps that can be heard in freedom, but they were soon removed as in the Tom's words sounded really unpleasant, although it seems like these claps may have found their way into a later Radial Head track.

We Suck Young Blood. Another jazz artist who influenced Radiohead is Miles Davis. Davis' iconic experimental double album was, believe it or not, a major influence on Radiohead during the recording of Ok Computer. Now, if you compare these two albums back to back, you certainly won't hear any marked similarities to Foreign, but it seems that it was more the dark and uncomfortable atmosphere of bitch's brew that radiohead were trying to channel when they made a good computer, as the Tom York himself, you point to something you've fallen in love with and completely miss it, but you do something else with it, although that being said, there are some OK Computer moments where you can hear some evidence of that.

The influence of bitch beer, for example, Tom Milk, says that the use of the electric piano in Scalia's underground home was directly inspired by Richard's beer. Beer continued to inspire Radiohead after Oak Computer, for example Kinetic, which is the B-side to the song Pyramid, and is based on a miles sample. Nowadays jazz doesn't have a particularly big influence on modern pop music, but every now and then a song from the jazz era serves as inspiration for a new pop hit - for example, in 2016, the band Train took up the tune from the heart and soul of hoagie carmichael for the chorus of his song play that song today heart and soul is mostly remembered as a common piano duet for beginners, but it began life in 1938 as a popular jazz tune i fell in love of you heart and soul and As you can imagine, Hoagy Carmichael and lyricist Frank Losser are credited on the train song.

Another pop song inspired by Jazeera is Candyman by Christina Aguilera. Linda Perry and Aguilera, who co-wrote Candyman, have said they were emulating the style of the Andrew sisters, particularly their classic wartime boogie woogie boogle boy and now the company jumps when it plays reveling in he's the boogie will give you company and a latest pop song to lift up by a classic jazz artist is anyone but me for joy the thieves love me or leave me and leave i feel alone inside my head there is a voice that controls me anyone but me adapt the lyrics and melody of the song from 1928 love me or leave me which has been recorded over the years by many artists including nina simone and bing crosby love me, leave me and leave me lonely you won't believe me but I love it but perhaps the style of music where the influence of jazz is most powerful today is hip-hop, both born from African American culture, jazz and hip-hop have always combined well, rap artists have.

They often used samples from jazz records as the basis of their own songs, perhaps most notably in 1991 a tribe called Quest sampled Jimmy McGriff's version of the jazz standard on Green Dolphin Street for their song Jazz We've Got More. recently, although jazz has had a great influence. influence on Kendrick Lamar's music, for example, his song sings about me, I'm dying of thirst, it is based on a sample of maybe tomorrow by jazz guitarist Grant Greene, I find nothing but trouble in my life, I have lucky that you believe in a dream, this orphanage. Producer William is also interested in sampling jazz-era songs Bang Bang, which he wrote for the 2013 Great Gatsby soundtrack.

It's based on James P. Johnson's iconic Charleston. She can't leave her forever. I always need it. She lied, but I think her love is sick. I have that that I can't forget you about eitherNass, which William produced and co-wrote, is based on a sample of Nat King Cole's signature song. Unforgettable when you want to lie with your straw hat on the porch when you are old, maybe you want to collect your thoughts. have a call and brag about being an unforgettable artist whose music oozes jazz is stevie wonder, of course, the most obvious example of stevie's jazz influence is sir duke, who not only makes sure to name some of the biggest artists of the Jazz Age, but also includes this iconic swing-inspired scream chorus.

A scream chorus is a common feature of big band music, often near the end of the arrangement, the scream chorus would be an upbeat section. and full of energy characterized by all the wind instruments playing together, for example, here is the scream chorus that ends glenn miller's arrangement of chattanooga choo-choo, but beyond being duke, you can hear the influence of jazz in Stevie Wonder's back catalogue, particularly in his approach to harmony, for example in You Are the Sunshine of My Life for the B section, Stevie modulates briefly from the key of B major to the key of flat major and does so using a typically jazzy 2-5-1 progression and a few bars later it returns to the original key of B major through another, this time more dragged with cadence 251.

I will finish this video today with three more examples of songs directly inspired by jazz music. Jefferson Airplane's White Rabbit was inspired by Miles Davis' Spanish-infused album. Skechers of Spain. The marching rhythms and the exotic and mysterious atmosphere of Skechers of Spain. It can be heard quite clearly on the white rabbit's mobile phones. Dead by Beck seems to be inspired by Herbie Hancock's legendary chameleon jazz funk track, in fact it's interesting that despite being recorded over 30 years apart, both tracks also share exactly the same drummer Harvey Mason and the latter example we will look at today is burn by deep purple, the initial guitar riff of burn seems to be based on george gershwin's fascinating rhythm, deep purple, he has taken the first two bars of a fascinating rhythm, he has made some small adjustments to the melody , including reducing the G's by an octave and then turning the result into a longer guitar riff, as mentioned at the beginning of this article.

The video is made in collaboration with Amy Nolte. Amy just released her own video of jazz-inspired songs on her channel, so go check it out and let her know I'll send it to you if you come up with any other jazz-inspired songs. so let me know in the comments and thanks as always to all the wonderful people who support me on Patreon, including the names you see on the screen right now and the andre science diagram andrew andrew brown andrew sussman stem barrett austin russell bob mckinstry britney parker cameron olivaina colin aiken chris Cabell christopher ryan david rivers donald howard dr darren wicks edina scorchenko es ben hansen eugene leroy fd hodor yolamo latona hamesh brocklebank hugo miller james ko j.a cookensberger john tint josh sandolin justin vigor lampenderman rosa brand height brand ziegenhagen max o'keefe melody composer squared melanie schoenert michael vivian nancy gillard nathan lawrence nathaniel park paul miller paul paisle peter dunphy pioche milovsky roger clay sam lin scott finley sean kennedy steve daly stephen lazzaro tim beaker tomah aharoni tricia adams chimpanzee toot victor levy vidad flores vladimir kodakov y volte you