Jazz Musical
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The jazz musical scores the stage with swing, ragtime, stride, and big-band idioms, foregrounding syncopation, blue notes, brass-and-reed charts, and the loose, swinging feel of jazz performance. Numbers evoke the speakeasy, the vaudeville stage, and the nightclub, with vamps, breaks, and tap-driven rhythm, and the vocal style leans toward the sultry, the belted, and the conversational. Whether original swing scores or revues of classic jazz standards, the writing prizes groove and idiomatic authenticity. The mood is hot, sly, and rhythmically alive, the theatre swinging in the language of America's own art music.
History
Jazz-inflected shows ran from the 1920s songbook era (Lady, Be Good!, Anything Goes) into mid-century, but the jazz musical crystallized in the 1970s: Kander and Ebb's Chicago (1975) staged its story as a Bob Fosse vaudeville of hot jazz, and revues like Ain't Misbehavin' (1978, Fats Waller) and Sophisticated Ladies (1981, Duke Ellington) celebrated the jazz canon. Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk and Jelly's Last Jam later fused tap and jazz history; drawing on the deep American jazz tradition, the form gave Broadway some of its most rhythmically sophisticated scores and enduring showstoppers.
Defining artists
Essential listening
- Cell Block Tango(1975) — Original Broadway Cast of ChicagoSpotifyYouTube
- Roxie(1975) — Gwen VerdonSpotifyYouTube
- Ain't Misbehavin'(1978) — Nell CarterSpotifyYouTube
- The Joint Is Jumpin'(1978) — Nell CarterSpotifyYouTube
- Honeysuckle Rose(1978) — Original Broadway Cast of Ain't Misbehavin'SpotifyYouTube
- It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)(1981) — Original Broadway Cast of Sophisticated LadiesSpotifyYouTube
Sources
- Larry Stempel, Showtime (2010)
- Ethan Mordden, One More Kiss: The Broadway Musical in the 1970s
- Ain't Misbehavin' and Chicago cast-album liner notes