Final Exam

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Question #1

Jazz began in which U.S. city?

A Chicago

B Los Angels

C New York

D New Orleans

Question #2

The trumpet player is

A Louis Armstrong

B Joe King Oliver

C Bix Beiderbecke

D Buddy Bolden

Question #3

______ was Louis Armstrong’s nickname.

A Count

B King

C Dizzy

D Satchmo

Question #4

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

A feature soloists and highlight individual expression.

B epitomize the peak of traditional New Orleans polyphony

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

D were a racially integrated band.

Question #5

Louis Armstrong changed the way jazz musicians improvised by

A deemphasizing the role of the blues.

B performing with a rhythmic energy that was quickly imitated.

C demonstrating his mastery of mutes.

D all answers are true

Question #6

Who is the clarinet player in this recording?

A Benny Goodman

B Woody Herman

C Eric Dolphy

D Sidney Bechet

Question #7

Identify the band for this recording by the bandleader.

A Fletcher Henderson

B Benny Goodman

C Glenn Miller

D Jimmy Lunceford

Question #8

John Hammond

A all answers are true

B was a nonmusician who promoted jazz.

C was born into a wealthy New York family.

D championed black musicians in the recording studio.

Question #9

Benny Goodman played the

A trombone

B saxophone

C trumpet

D clarinet

Question #10

The pianist and bandleader is

A Count Basie

B Mary Lou Williams

C Benny Goodman

D Duke Ellington

Question #11

The bandleader and composer is

A Duke Ellington

B Fletcher Henderson

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 Artie Shaw

B Benny Goodman

C Count Basie

D Duke Ellington

Question #13

In her later career, Mary Lou Williams

A was a devoted teacher of jazz history.

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

C all answers are true

D became increasingly active as a composer.

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 Far East Suite

B Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue

C Black and Tan Fantasy

D Black, Brown and Beige

Question #15

Billy Strayhorn was

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

B a member of Count Basie’s rhythm section.

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

D a boogie-woogie pianist.

Question #16

The vocalist on this recording is

A Billie Holiday

B Louis Armstrong

C Ella Fitzgerald

D Bessie Smith

Question #17

The singer featured in this recording is

A Louis Armstrong

B Billie Holiday

C Cab Calloway

D Ella Fitzgerald

Question #18

The featured saxophone soloist is

A Lester Young

B Coleman Hawkins

C Charlie Parker

D John Coltrane

Question #19

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

A Johnny Hodges

B Lester Young

C Coleman Hawkins

D Ben Webster

Question #20

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

A Artie Shaw

B Benny Carter

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 Billie Holiday

C Louis Armstrong

D Ella Fitzgerald

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 he was blind.

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

Question #24

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

A Blue Skies

B One O’Clock Jump

C Heart and Soul

D Body and Soul

Question #25

Coleman Hawkins was a pioneer on the ______ saxophone.

A soprano

B baritone

C alto

D tenor

Question #26

Who is the pianist heard in this excerpt?

A Art Tatum

B Fats Waller

C Willie “The Lion” Smith

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

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

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

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

Question #29

Art Tatum was a virtuosic

A trombonist

B drummer

C pianist

D bassist

Question #30

The style of this excerpt is

A Hard Bop

B Swing

C Bebop

D Cool Jazz

Question #31

The saxophonist on this recording is

A Cannonball Adderley

B Lester Young

C Ben Webster

D Charlie Parker

Question #32

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

A Bill Evans

B Herbie Hancock

C Teddy Wilson

D Bud Powell

Question #33

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

A Charlie Parker

B Johnny Hodges

C Cannonball Adderley

D Lee Konitz

Question #34

Dizzy Gillespie became famous for

A all answers are true

B his bebop-style big bands.

C a witty, genial stage persona.

D his beret, goatee, and unusually shaped trumpet.

Question #35

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

A classical music.

B gospel music.

C the blues.

D the marching band.

Question #36

Bebop differed from swing in that

A it was more closely linked to popular music.

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

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

D each answer is true

Question #37

Among the drummers crucial to the bebop style were

A Gene Krupa and Chick Webb.

B Dexter Gordon and Bud Powell.

C Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie.

D Kenny Clarke and Max Roach.

Question #38

Which ensemble is featured in this excerpt?

A Miles Davis Nonet

B Dave Brubeck Quartet

C Modern Jazz Quartet

D Miles Davis Quintet

Question #39

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

A Dexter Gordon

B Sonny Rollins

C John Coltrane

D Coleman Hawkins

Question #40

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

A Miles Davis

B Lennie Tristano

C Chet Baker

D Gerry Mulligan

Question #41

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

A the Civil Rights movement.

B the end of Prohibition.

C television.

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

Question #42

Cool jazz was also known as

A Bebop

B Swing

C Hardbop

D West Coast Jazz

Question #43

Art Blakey was

A a founding member of the Gerry Mulligan Quartet.

B the drummer for the Dave Brubeck Quartet.

C the leader of the Jazz Messengers.

D a founding member of the Modern Jazz Quartet.

Question #44

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

A Jelly Roll Morton and Duke Ellington.

B Teddy Wilson and Billy Strayhorn.

C Lennie Tristano and Tadd Dameron.

D Art Tatum and Fats Waller.

Question #45

The piano soloist in this recording is:

A Bill Evans

B Bud Powell

C Thelonious Monk

D Red Garland

Question #46

The bassist and composer heard in this listening example is

A Slam Stewart

B Charles Mingus

C Jimmy Blanton

D Scott LaFaro

Question #47

Thelonious Monk’s professional career began in the

A pit band at the Cotton Club.

B rhythm section at Minton’s Playhouse

C Benny Goodman Orchestra.

D rhythm section at Palomar Ballroom

Question #48

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

A drummer

B violinist

C bassist

D pianist

Question #49

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

A Dizzy Gillespie

B Charles Mingus

C Lester Young

D Miles Davis

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 alto saxophone

B bass

C trombone

D piano

Question #52

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

A Duke Ellington

B Count Basie

C Benny Goodman

D Fletcher Henderson

Question #53

What is the name of this recording?

A Giant Steps

B So What?

C Acknowledgement

D My Favorite Things

Question #54

The trumpet soloist on this piece is:

A Lee Morgan

B Miles Davis

C Roy Hargrove

D Clifford Brown

Question #55

The tenor saxophone soloist on this piece is

A Wayne Shorter

B Joe Henderson

C John Coltrane

D Sonny Rollins

Question #56

The style heard in this excerpt is best described as

A fusion

B cool

C bebop

D avant-garde

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 Evans replaced the drummer with an electric guitarist.

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

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

Question #58

The theme of John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme was

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

B Possible Answer an opera by George Gershwin.

C a graphic depiction of an intense romance.

D Coltrane’s profound religious experience.

Question #59

Modal jazz is characterized by

A the technical challenge of improvising in high registers.

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

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

D improvising with scales over very few chords.

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 cool, hard bop, and fusion

B swing, Third Stream, and the avant-garde

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 features Coltrane playing songs from Broadway shows.

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

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

Question #63

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

A John Coltrane

B Dexter Gordon

C Wayne Shorter

D Coleman Hawkins

Question #64

At age nineteen, Miles Davis was hired to play with

A Charlie Parker.

B Coleman Hawkins.

C Duke Ellington.

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 Kind of Blue and Milestones.

C Porgy and Bess and Sketches of Spain.

D E.S.P. and Sorcerer.

Question #66

The three key figures in avant-garde jazz are

A John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, and Cecil Taylor.

B Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Max Roach.

C Miles Davis, Gil Evans, and Herbie Hancock.

D Sonny Rollins, Wes Montgomery, and Art Blakey.

Question #67

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

A Heliocentric Worlds.

B Arkestra.

C Saturn Songsters.

D Interplanetary Experience.

Question #68

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

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

B an avant-garde collective from Chicago.

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

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

Question #69

Cecil Taylor was known for

A playing long, extended pieces in concert.

B composing through the use of “unit structures.”

C all answers are true

D a percussive approach to the piano.

Question #70

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

A Black Music

B The New Thing

C Free Jazz

D Our Music

Question #71

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

A Charlie Byrd and Stan Getz.

B Nat “King” Cole and Frank Sinatra.

C Jimmy Smith and Louis Jordan.

D Dizzy Gillespie and Mario Bauzá.

Question #72

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

A Dizzy Gillespie

B Charlie Parker

C Thelonious Monk

D Miles Davis

Question #73

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

A Bossa Nova

B Salsa

C Cubop

D Reggaeton

Question #74

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

A Cubop

B Reggaeton

C Bossa Nova

D Salsa

Question #75

From which country did bossa nova emerge?

A Cuba

B Mexico

C United States

D Brazil

Question #76

Chano Pozo was

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

B a Cuban conga player who performed with Dizzy Gillespie.

C the founder of salsa music in the 1970s.

D all answers are true

Question #77

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

A Mario Bauza

B Machito

C Antônio Carlos Jobim

D Chano Pozo

Question #78

A clave is

A all answers are true

B Spanish for “keystone.”

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

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

Question #79

Who is the pianist on this recording?

A Herbie Hancock

B Chick Corea

C Keith Jarrett

D Brad Mehldau

Question #80

The name of this fusion band is

A Martin Medeski and Wood

B Mahavishnu Orchestra

C Head Hunters

D Weather Report

Question #81

How could you describe the style of this music?

A jam band

B fusion

C funk

D all answers are true

Question #82

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

A Radiohead

B Medeski, Martin, and Wood

C Mos Def

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

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

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

D played electric piano with Miles Davis but disliked the experience

Question #85

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

A extended the upper range by adding frets to the fingerboard

B used guitar strings instead of bass strings

C used a wide range of effects pedals

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

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 Joe Zawinul

C Jaco Pastorius

D Wayne Shorter

Question #87

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

A Indian classical music

B Flamenco guitar

C Celtic fiddle music

D Eastern religion

Question #88

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

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

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

C The studio sessions were extensively edited.

D The album did not find a broad audience.

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 simplicity

D the strictness of rock recording practices

Question #90

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

A jazz critics and magazines beginning to take rock seriously

B young jazz musicians unwilling to embrace pop artists

C death of John Coltrane

D stagnation of mainstream jazz style

Question #91

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

A a focus on sweet, hummable vocal melodies

B interlocking rhythmic layers

C syncopated, danceable bass lines

D harmonic complexity

Question #92

Why was rock and roll initially dismissed by jazz musicians?

A It wasn’t marketable by promoters.

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

C It was aimed at a teen audience.

D It was too sophisticated for general audiences.

Question #93

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

A Jazz and doo wop

B Country and swing

C Black race records and rural hillbilly music

D Afro-Cuban and classical

Question #94

This is an example of

A comping

B free improvisation

C block-chord texture

D scat singing

Question #95

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

A Miles Davis

B Dizzy Gillespie

C Wynton Marsalis

D Louis Armstrong

Question #96

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

A Europe

B Universities

C Commercial bands

D all are true

Question #97

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

A Mary Lou Williams

B Bud Powell

C Art Tatum

D Nat King Cole

Question #98

All of the following are true of Wynton Marsalis EXCEPT:

A from a musical New Orleans family

B won Grammy awards in jazz and classical categories

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

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

Question #99

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

A it operated for several decades.

B led to further teaching opportunities for several faculty members

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

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

Question #100

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

A 1960s

B 1950s

C 1930s

D 1980s

Question #101

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

A Jazz creativity is inextricably bound to its past.

B Jazz evolves in response to contemporary pop culture.

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

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

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 Vijay Iyer

C Brad Mehldau

D Abdullah Ibraham

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 Lingua Franca

C Dance

D Carnatic

Question #104

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

A Jaco Pastorius

B Esperanza Spalding

C Diana Krall

D Miles Davis

Question #105

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

A Patti Austin

B Joe Lovano

C Pat Metheny

D Yo-Yo Ma

Question #106

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

A firmly established as art

B influential in popular and classical idioms

C supported by academia

D embraced as a generation’s dance music

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 swing

B fusion

C repertory bands

D bebop

Question #108

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

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

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

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

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

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