Final Exam

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Question #1

Jazz began in which U.S. city?

A New Orleans

B Chicago

C New York

D Los Angels

Question #2

The trumpet player is

A Louis Armstrong

B Buddy Bolden

C Bix Beiderbecke

D Joe King Oliver

Question #3

______ was Louis Armstrong’s nickname.

A Count

B Dizzy

C Satchmo

D King

Question #4

Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings are influential because they

A feature soloists and highlight individual expression.

B were a racially integrated band.

C epitomize the peak of traditional New Orleans polyphony

D feature block-chord riffs in call-and-response patterns.

Question #5

Louis Armstrong changed the way jazz musicians improvised by

A performing with a rhythmic energy that was quickly imitated.

B all answers are true

C deemphasizing the role of the blues.

D demonstrating his mastery of mutes.

Question #6

Who is the clarinet player in this recording?

A Eric Dolphy

B Benny Goodman

C Sidney Bechet

D Woody Herman

Question #7

Identify the band for this recording by the bandleader.

A Fletcher Henderson

B Jimmy Lunceford

C Benny Goodman

D Glenn Miller

Question #8

John Hammond

A was a nonmusician who promoted jazz.

B all answers are true

C was born into a wealthy New York family.

D championed black musicians in the recording studio.

Question #9

Benny Goodman played the

A saxophone

B trumpet

C trombone

D clarinet

Question #10

The pianist and bandleader is

A Benny Goodman

B Duke Ellington

C Mary Lou Williams

D Count Basie

Question #11

The bandleader and composer is

A Fletcher Henderson

B Duke Ellington

C Benny Goodman

D Count Basie

Question #12

Which artist summed up his attitude toward rhythm with the aphorism, “It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing”?

A Count Basie

B Duke Ellington

C Artie Shaw

D Benny Goodman

Question #13

In her later career, Mary Lou Williams

A all answers are true

B was a devoted teacher of jazz history.

C became increasingly active as a composer.

D was a leader in the bebop (modern jazz) movement.

Question #14

In 1943, Ellington wrote __________, a forty-eight-minute piece dubbed the “history of the American Negro,” and performed it in concert at Carnegie Hall.

A Black and Tan Fantasy

B Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue

C Far East Suite

D Black, Brown and Beige

Question #15

Billy Strayhorn was

A a member of Count Basie’s rhythm section.

B a boogie-woogie pianist.

C Duke Ellington’s co-composer and author of “Take the ‘A’ Train.”

D the clarinet soloist on many of Duke Ellington’s recordings from the Cotton Club.

Question #16

The vocalist on this recording is

A Bessie Smith

B Billie Holiday

C Ella Fitzgerald

D Louis Armstrong

Question #17

The singer featured in this recording is

A Louis Armstrong

B Cab Calloway

C Billie Holiday

D Ella Fitzgerald

Question #18

The featured saxophone soloist is

A Coleman Hawkins

B John Coltrane

C Lester Young

D Charlie Parker

Question #19

Which saxophonist had a “musical romance” with Billie Holiday, often appearing as her accompanist on her recordings?

A Coleman Hawkins

B Ben Webster

C Lester Young

D Johnny Hodges

Question #20

This musician steadfastly fought racism, organizing the first integrated and international orchestra in jazz history.

A Benny Carter

B Artie Shaw

C Valaida Snow

D Benny Goodman

Question #21

Often cited as jazz’s greatest vocalist, this singer had a thin, edgy timbre, and worked within a range of no more than an octave and a half.

A Nancy Wilson

B Ella Fitzgerald

C Louis Armstrong

D Billie Holiday

Question #22

Lester Young

A was a soloist with Duke Ellington whose solos had a romantic lyricism.

B had a light sound, played rhythmically unpredictable phrases, and spoke a special slang.

C had a powerful sound with heavy vibrato and specialized in harmonic improvisation.

D played flashy passages in his upper register, often with growls.

Question #23

European guitarist Django Reinhardt’s virtuosity was all the more remarkable because

A he never played in the United States.

B he was deaf.

C his left hand was crippled in a Romany Gypsy campfire.

D he was blind.

Question #24

Coleman Hawkins’s most famous recording, the 1939 ______, was a pinnacle in jazz improvisation and a tremendous commercial success.

A Body and Soul

B Heart and Soul

C Blue Skies

D One O’Clock Jump

Question #25

Coleman Hawkins was a pioneer on the ______ saxophone.

A tenor

B baritone

C soprano

D alto

Question #26

Who is the pianist heard in this excerpt?

A Willie “The Lion” Smith

B Art Tatum

C Fats Waller

D Duke Ellington

Question #27

Who was the first important electric guitarist in jazz?

A Pat Metheny

B Django Reinhardt

C Jim Hall

D Charlie Christian

Question #28

What were “cutting contests”?

A competitive jam sessions in which jazz musicians would try to outplay each other

B recordings created by “cutting” recording tape (i.e., splicing) to eliminate errors

C drummers cutting off soloists by “dropping bombs” in the middle of a phrase

D sessions at the Savoy Ballroom in which dancers would “cut a rug”

Question #29

Art Tatum was a virtuosic

A trombonist

B pianist

C bassist

D drummer

Question #30

The style of this excerpt is

A Hard Bop

B Swing

C Cool Jazz

D Bebop

Question #31

The saxophonist on this recording is

A Charlie Parker

B Ben Webster

C Cannonball Adderley

D Lester Young

Question #32

The bebop pianist on this piece who was in and out of institutions throughout his life is

A Teddy Wilson

B Bud Powell

C Bill Evans

D Herbie Hancock

Question #33

Which Kansas City-born jazz saxophonist is known as a pioneer of bebop?

A Cannonball Adderley

B Charlie Parker

C Lee Konitz

D Johnny Hodges

Question #34

Dizzy Gillespie became famous for

A all answers are true

B a witty, genial stage persona.

C his beret, goatee, and unusually shaped trumpet.

D his bebop-style big bands.

Question #35

Charlie Parker was crucial for linking the modernist complexity of bebop with

A classical music.

B gospel music.

C the marching band.

D the blues.

Question #36

Bebop differed from swing in that

A it was performed by small combos rather than big orchestras.

B it used the tuba and banjo instead of the string bass and guitar.

C each answer is true

D it was more closely linked to popular music.

Question #37

Among the drummers crucial to the bebop style were

A Gene Krupa and Chick Webb.

B Kenny Clarke and Max Roach.

C Dexter Gordon and Bud Powell.

D Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie.

Question #38

Which ensemble is featured in this excerpt?

A Miles Davis Nonet

B Miles Davis Quintet

C Modern Jazz Quartet

D Dave Brubeck Quartet

Question #39

This hard-bop musician, whose lengthy career was occasionally interrupted by brief sabbaticals devoted to practicing, recorded Saxophone Colossus in 1959.

A Sonny Rollins

B Dexter Gordon

C John Coltrane

D Coleman Hawkins

Question #40

The baritone saxophonist who became famous for leading a “pianoless” quartet in 1952 was

A Gerry Mulligan

B Miles Davis

C Lennie Tristano

D Chet Baker

Question #41

Hard bop tended to feature longer solos, in part because of

A the Civil Rights movement.

B the invention of the LP (long-playing record).

C the end of Prohibition.

D television.

Question #42

Cool jazz was also known as

A Bebop

B West Coast Jazz

C Hardbop

D Swing

Question #43

Art Blakey was

A a founding member of the Modern Jazz Quartet.

B the drummer for the Dave Brubeck Quartet.

C a founding member of the Gerry Mulligan Quartet.

D the leader of the Jazz Messengers.

Question #44

Among the pioneers of cool jazz are the following pianist/composers

A Lennie Tristano and Tadd Dameron.

B Teddy Wilson and Billy Strayhorn.

C Art Tatum and Fats Waller.

D Jelly Roll Morton and Duke Ellington.

Question #45

The piano soloist in this recording is:

A Bud Powell

B Bill Evans

C Red Garland

D Thelonious Monk

Question #46

The bassist and composer heard in this listening example is

A Scott LaFaro

B Charles Mingus

C Slam Stewart

D Jimmy Blanton

Question #47

Thelonious Monk’s professional career began in the

A pit band at the Cotton Club.

B Benny Goodman Orchestra.

C rhythm section at Minton’s Playhouse

D rhythm section at Palomar Ballroom

Question #48

In addition to his compositions, Thelonious Monk was known as a

A violinist

B bassist

C drummer

D pianist

Question #49

From the 1950s to the 1970s, Gil Evans had a long working relationship with

A Miles Davis

B Charles Mingus

C Lester Young

D Dizzy Gillespie

Question #50

Charles Mingus’s “Fables of Faubus” was a protest sparked by

A The murder of Emmett Till in Mississippi.

B The lunch counter sit-ins in Greensboro, North Carolina.

C A governor bringing in the National Guard to prevent the integration of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas

D Rosa Parks’s defiance of segregation in Montgomery, Alabama.

Question #51

Charles Mingus was a virtuoso on the

A piano

B alto saxophone

C trombone

D bass

Question #52

Charles Mingus consistently drew inspiration from the Swing Era bandleader and composer

A Benny Goodman

B Count Basie

C Duke Ellington

D Fletcher Henderson

Question #53

What is the name of this recording?

A So What?

B Acknowledgement

C Giant Steps

D My Favorite Things

Question #54

The trumpet soloist on this piece is:

A Roy Hargrove

B Clifford Brown

C Lee Morgan

D Miles Davis

Question #55

The tenor saxophone soloist on this piece is

A Joe Henderson

B Wayne Shorter

C John Coltrane

D Sonny Rollins

Question #56

The style heard in this excerpt is best described as

A bebop

B fusion

C avant-garde

D cool

Question #57

What was unusual about Bill Evans’s piano trio?

A Each of the three pianos in the group performed in a different style.

B The accompanying instruments played simply to accommodate Evans’s stride style.

C The bassist was freed from keeping time to play strong melodic ideas.

D Evans replaced the drummer with an electric guitarist.

Question #58

The theme of John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme was

A the birth of Coltrane’s first son, Ravi.

B Coltrane’s profound religious experience.

C a graphic depiction of an intense romance.

D Possible Answer an opera by George Gershwin.

Question #59

Modal jazz is characterized by

A the technical challenge of improvising in high registers.

B drawing the melody for improvisation out of the chord changes.

C improvising with scales over very few chords.

D combining chromatic chord changes with melodies in the major mode.

Question #60

Miles Davis’s most famous album, the culmination of his experiments with modal jazz, was

A E.S.P.

B Portrait in Jazz

C Giant Steps

D Kind of Blue

Question #61

Miles Davis played a major role in establishing which jazz styles?

A swing, Third Stream, and the avant-garde

B cool, hard bop, and fusion

C swing, bebop, and fusion

D bebop, hard bop, and the avant-garde

Question #62

John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme is unusual (in jazz format) in that it

A focuses relentlessly on Coltrane’s approach to harmonic improvisation.

B is divided into four “movements” with abstract titles (e.g., “Acknowledgement”).

C places Coltrane in the midst of a large jazz orchestra.

D features Coltrane playing songs from Broadway shows.

Question #63

In his second quintet, in the 1960s, Miles Davis relied on the composing talents of the tenor saxophonist

A Coleman Hawkins

B Dexter Gordon

C John Coltrane

D Wayne Shorter

Question #64

At age nineteen, Miles Davis was hired to play with

A Duke Ellington.

B Coleman Hawkins.

C Charlie Parker.

D John Coltrane.

Question #65

Among the orchestral albums Miles Davis created in collaboration with Gil Evans in the late 1950s were

A Walkin’ and Steamin’.

B Porgy and Bess and Sketches of Spain.

C E.S.P. and Sorcerer.

D Kind of Blue and Milestones.

Question #66

The three key figures in avant-garde jazz are

A Miles Davis, Gil Evans, and Herbie Hancock.

B John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, and Cecil Taylor.

C Sonny Rollins, Wes Montgomery, and Art Blakey.

D Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Max Roach.

Question #67

The pianist, composer, and bandleader Sun Ra directed a large ensemble called the

A Saturn Songsters.

B Arkestra.

C Heliocentric Worlds.

D Interplanetary Experience.

Question #68

The Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) was

A the cultural wing of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

B an avant-garde collective from Chicago.

C the official name of the orchestra organized by Sun Ra.

D a performing group founded by Lester Bowie and Joseph Jarman.

Question #69

Cecil Taylor was known for

A a percussive approach to the piano.

B all answers are true

C playing long, extended pieces in concert.

D composing through the use of “unit structures.”

Question #70

Avant-garde jazz was also known as __________, taken from a 1961 album by Ornette Coleman.

A Our Music

B The New Thing

C Black Music

D Free Jazz

Question #71

Two jazz artists responsible for fusing bossa nova with jazz in the 1960s were

A Dizzy Gillespie and Mario Bauzá.

B Jimmy Smith and Louis Jordan.

C Nat “King” Cole and Frank Sinatra.

D Charlie Byrd and Stan Getz.

Question #72

This bebop pioneer became a pioneer of Afro-Cuban jazz.

A Dizzy Gillespie

B Miles Davis

C Thelonious Monk

D Charlie Parker

Question #73

The mixture of Cuban music and jazz in the 1940s was known as

A Cubop

B Bossa Nova

C Reggaeton

D Salsa

Question #74

In the mid-1960s, Latin American musicians created a new hybrid style known as

A Cubop

B Bossa Nova

C Reggaeton

D Salsa

Question #75

From which country did bossa nova emerge?

A United States

B Brazil

C Mexico

D Cuba

Question #76

Chano Pozo was

A all answers are true

B a popular Cuban dance band leader of the 1930s and 1940s.

C a Cuban conga player who performed with Dizzy Gillespie.

D the founder of salsa music in the 1970s.

Question #77

All of the following were important Latin performers in the years before 1945 EXCEPT:

A Antônio Carlos Jobim

B Machito

C Mario Bauza

D Chano Pozo

Question #78

A clave is

A Spanish for “keystone.”

B all answers are true

C a time-line pattern on which Cuban music is based.

D a syncopated rhythm, used in two forms (son and rumba).

Question #79

Who is the pianist on this recording?

A Brad Mehldau

B Herbie Hancock

C Keith Jarrett

D Chick Corea

Question #80

The name of this fusion band is

A Head Hunters

B Mahavishnu Orchestra

C Weather Report

D Martin Medeski and Wood

Question #81

How could you describe the style of this music?

A jam band

B funk

C all answers are true

D fusion

Question #82

Pianist Robert Glasper has performed and recorded pieces by all of the following contemporary artists EXCEPT:

A Mos Def

B Radiohead

C Medeski, Martin, and Wood

D Herbie Hancock

Question #83

Why are Medeski, Martin, and Wood considered a “jam band”?

A because they tour in a camper

B because the musicians have little formal training or jazz pedigree

C because their audience overlaps with that of various rock-leaning artists such as Phish and Dave Matthews

D because they refuse to use acoustic instruments

Question #84

Which of the following is NOT true of the career of pianist Keith Jarrett?

A recorded a solo LP that has sold more than 4 million copies

B most regular work has been as part of a quartet with saxophonist Charles Lloyd

C played electric piano with Miles Davis but disliked the experience

D often berates his audience for making noise or not paying attention

Question #85

How did Jaco Pastorius alter the electric bass to make a distinctive sound?

A removed the frets and filled in the holes with wood filler

B used a wide range of effects pedals

C used guitar strings instead of bass strings

D extended the upper range by adding frets to the fingerboard

Question #86

Who of the following musicians did NOT work with Miles Davis before forming or participating in an important 1970s fusion band?

A Chick Corea

B Jaco Pastorius

C Joe Zawinul

D Wayne Shorter

Question #87

John McLaughlin’s music blended elements of all of the following traditions EXCEPT:

A Eastern religion

B Flamenco guitar

C Indian classical music

D Celtic fiddle music

Question #88

Which is NOT true of Miles Davis’s Bitches Brew?

A The studio sessions were extensively edited.

B Davis did not think it should be marketed as jazz.

C The album did not find a broad audience.

D All of the songs were composed specifically for this recording session.

Question #89

What element of rock aesthetics drew the attention of Miles Davis?

A the abstract nature of rock compositions

B atonal, noisy timbres

C the strictness of rock recording practices

D simplicity

Question #90

Which is NOT an aspect of the crisis that jazz faced in 1967?

A young jazz musicians unwilling to embrace pop artists

B stagnation of mainstream jazz style

C jazz critics and magazines beginning to take rock seriously

D death of John Coltrane

Question #91

All of the following elements of funk style made it well-suited for fusion with contemporary jazz EXCEPT:

A interlocking rhythmic layers

B harmonic complexity

C syncopated, danceable bass lines

D a focus on sweet, hummable vocal melodies

Question #92

Why was rock and roll initially dismissed by jazz musicians?

A It was aimed at a teen audience.

B It was too sophisticated for general audiences.

C It didn’t have the support of major record labels.

D It wasn’t marketable by promoters.

Question #93

Rock and roll represented a fusion of which two musical styles?

A Country and swing

B Jazz and doo wop

C Afro-Cuban and classical

D Black race records and rural hillbilly music

Question #94

This is an example of

A block-chord texture

B comping

C free improvisation

D scat singing

Question #95

Who is the band director and lead trumpet player in this recording?

A Louis Armstrong

B Dizzy Gillespie

C Wynton Marsalis

D Miles Davis

Question #96

With the decline in American jazz audiences in the 1970s, where did musicians go to find work?

A Universities

B all are true

C Europe

D Commercial bands

Question #97

Pianist Diana Krall made her name with a trio inspired by which midcentury musician?

A Art Tatum

B Mary Lou Williams

C Bud Powell

D Nat King Cole

Question #98

All of the following are true of Wynton Marsalis EXCEPT:

A won Grammy awards in jazz and classical categories

B from a musical New Orleans family

C he is appreciative of and tolerant toward all jazz styles.

D insisted on a dress code inspired by the elegance of the swing bands

Question #99

All of the following are true of the Lenox School of Jazz EXCEPT:

A led to further teaching opportunities for several faculty members

B first time a group of faculty gathered together for the sole purpose of teaching jazz

C faculty included John Lewis, Gunther Schuller, Ornette Coleman, and Max Roach

D it operated for several decades.

Question #100

When was the first genuine movement to promote an older, neglected jazz style over current jazz styles took place?

A 1950s

B 1980s

C 1960s

D 1930s

Question #101

Which of the following best describes a “historicist” perspective on jazz history?

A The music of New Orleans and the Swing Era are the only true jazz styles.

B Jazz evolves in response to contemporary pop culture.

C Jazz creativity is inextricably bound to its past.

D Jazz masters move the music along in radical leaps of creativity.

Question #102

In a series of five albums called The Art of the Trio, the pianist ____________ brought a powerfully meditative approach to pop standards, jazz, classics, and original pieces.

A Jason Moran

B Brad Mehldau

C Abdullah Ibraham

D Vijay Iyer

Question #103

Vijay Iyer and Rudresh Mahanthappa have undertaken an intense consideration of the relationship between jazz and the _____________ music of southern India.

A Fusion

B Dance

C Lingua Franca

D Carnatic

Question #104

Who was the first jazz artist to win the Grammy Award for Best New Artist?

A Miles Davis

B Jaco Pastorius

C Diana Krall

D Esperanza Spalding

Question #105

During her time at Berklee College of Music, Esperanza Spalding worked with all of the following musicians EXCEPT:

A Yo-Yo Ma

B Patti Austin

C Joe Lovano

D Pat Metheny

Question #106

Which of the following does NOT describe the second phase of jazz history as described in Chapter 19?

A supported by academia

B embraced as a generation’s dance music

C firmly established as art

D influential in popular and classical idioms

Question #107

In acknowledging their freedom to adapt material from any time, place, or genre, the next generation of jazz stars may be best described as continuing the ideology of:

A bebop

B repertory bands

C swing

D fusion

Question #108

All of the following are aspects of the term “post-historical” EXCEPT:

A suggests that the current moment offers a privileged vantage point from which to view the past

B attempts to convey the idea that the great political and cultural movements are all behind us

C argues that the past should be set aside and no longer studied

D recalls former arrogance that leads to moral chaos and military struggle

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