Topic > The Development of Jazz Music: Miles Davis and Frank Zappa

Jazz music can always surprise the audience about how it might sound, because jazz always shows its great flexibility in combining with other musical styles and its high acceptability regarding new ideas. “In its earliest form, jazz showed the ability to assimilate blues, rag, marching and other idioms.” In the contemporary era, some musicians have combined jazz with rock, pop music, free funk, etc. The works they created, which began to emerge in the 1960s, belong to a new genre called jazz fusion. Jazz fusion brought audiences a new kind of aesthetic experience and encouraged musicians of that era to create many special pieces. In “Bitches Brew”, Miles Davis mixes some rock elements with jazz music; in Out of Your Mind! and Weasels Ripped My Flesh, Frank Zappa created music that gives people totally different feelings even though both are jazz fusion albums; and on Weather Report's album Heavy Weather, they combined jazz with funk and R&B music and gave each member the opportunity to improvise. Jazz fusion, as a general concept, just shows people that music representing an idea of ​​combining characteristics of two or more types of music to create new and special works that have the musicians' personal icon and can better express emotions of musicians. If we explore each type of combination, we may find that each new type is so special in its focus, use of tools, emotional expression. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayWhen jazz fusion is mentioned, people will probably first think of Miles Davis' Bitches Brew, due to its prominence in jazz-rock fusion music and incredible songwriting and arranging. The first time I heard this song, I felt that it sounded like jazz as it includes a lot of improvisations and some melodies sound disharmonious and chaotic. However, the rhythms of the song played by drum and bass are much more powerful than the rhythms of jazz music I have heard before, and this reflects the influence of rock music on Bitches Brew. Bitches Brew may arguably be the most notable album marking the emergence of jazz-rock music, and its features of both rhythm and improvisation can be seen as innovations. The musical instruments used in this song that respond to the rhythm section include a guitar. During the recording, a bass, a double bass, three drums, two electric pianos and a percussion were played simultaneously. The rhythm section plays an important role in all music, just like the music of a rock band, and therefore the soloists, Miles and Wayne Shorter who played trumpet and soprano saxophone, were able to have more freedom and space to do their improvisations and expressing oneself. When recording the album, Davis focused on the spontaneous interaction between each musician, rather than giving many instructions on what they would play. This decision also made the improvisational part of Bitches Brew very special. Frank Zappa is also a representative figure of jazz fusion active from the 1960s to the 1990s. However, his music gives people a significantly different feeling from Davis' music. As a musician without much musical training, Zappa had a hybrid musical style that was difficult to clearly classify. Although his music usually gives people the feeling of rock music, it is also influenced by musical styles such as classical music and rhythm and blues. But his musical style is not always the same in his career. As Gioia writes, “Zappa has always chosen to.