Final Exam

Navigation » List of Schools » California State University, Northridge » Music » Music 306 – Introduction to Jazz » Spring 2022 » Final Exam

Need help with your exam preparation?

Existing Quiz Clients Login here

Below are the questions for the exam with the choices of answers:

Try The Exam

Question #1

Jazz began in which U.S. city?

A New York

B New Orleans

C Los Angels

D Chicago

Question #2

The trumpet player is

A Bix Beiderbecke

B Louis Armstrong

C Buddy Bolden

D Joe King Oliver

Question #3

______ was Louis Armstrong’s nickname.

A Satchmo

B Dizzy

C King

D Count

Question #4

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

A epitomize the peak of traditional New Orleans polyphony

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

C were a racially integrated band.

D feature soloists and highlight individual expression.

Question #5

Louis Armstrong changed the way jazz musicians improvised by

A deemphasizing the role of the blues.

B demonstrating his mastery of mutes.

C performing with a rhythmic energy that was quickly imitated.

D all answers are true

Question #6

Who is the clarinet player in this recording?

A Woody Herman

B Sidney Bechet

C Eric Dolphy

D Benny Goodman

Question #7

Identify the band for this recording by the bandleader.

A Benny Goodman

B Fletcher Henderson

C Jimmy Lunceford

D Glenn Miller

Question #8

John Hammond

A championed black musicians in the recording studio.

B was a nonmusician who promoted jazz.

C was born into a wealthy New York family.

D all answers are true

Question #9

Benny Goodman played the

A saxophone

B trombone

C clarinet

D trumpet

Question #10

The pianist and bandleader is

A Mary Lou Williams

B Benny Goodman

C Count Basie

D Duke Ellington

Question #11

The bandleader and composer is

A Benny Goodman

B Duke Ellington

C Fletcher Henderson

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 Count Basie

C Duke Ellington

D Benny Goodman

Question #13

In her later career, Mary Lou Williams

A became increasingly active as a composer.

B all answers are true

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

D was a devoted teacher of jazz history.

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 Black, Brown and Beige

D Far East Suite

Question #15

Billy Strayhorn was

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

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

C a member of Count Basie’s rhythm section.

D a boogie-woogie pianist.

Question #16

The vocalist on this recording is

A Ella Fitzgerald

B Louis Armstrong

C Bessie Smith

D Billie Holiday

Question #17

The singer featured in this recording is

A Louis Armstrong

B Ella Fitzgerald

C Cab Calloway

D Billie Holiday

Question #18

The featured saxophone soloist is

A Coleman Hawkins

B Charlie Parker

C Lester Young

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 Ben Webster

C Coleman Hawkins

D Lester Young

Question #20

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

A Valaida Snow

B Benny Goodman

C Artie Shaw

D Benny Carter

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 Louis Armstrong

B Ella Fitzgerald

C Billie Holiday

D Nancy Wilson

Question #22

Lester Young

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

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

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

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 his left hand was crippled in a Romany Gypsy campfire.

B he never played in the United States.

C he was deaf.

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 Blue Skies

B Body and Soul

C One O’Clock Jump

D Heart and Soul

Question #25

Coleman Hawkins was a pioneer on the ______ saxophone.

A alto

B baritone

C tenor

D soprano

Question #26

Who is the pianist heard in this excerpt?

A Fats Waller

B Willie “The Lion” Smith

C Duke Ellington

D Art Tatum

Question #27

Who was the first important electric guitarist in jazz?

A Django Reinhardt

B Charlie Christian

C Jim Hall

D Pat Metheny

Question #28

What were “cutting contests”?

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

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

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

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

Question #29

Art Tatum was a virtuosic

A pianist

B drummer

C trombonist

D bassist

Question #30

The style of this excerpt is

A Cool Jazz

B Bebop

C Hard Bop

D Swing

Question #31

The saxophonist on this recording is

A Ben Webster

B Charlie Parker

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 Bud Powell

B Herbie Hancock

C Bill Evans

D Teddy Wilson

Question #33

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

A Charlie Parker

B Cannonball Adderley

C Johnny Hodges

D Lee Konitz

Question #34

Dizzy Gillespie became famous for

A his bebop-style big bands.

B his beret, goatee, and unusually shaped trumpet.

C all answers are true

D a witty, genial stage persona.

Question #35

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

A gospel music.

B the marching band.

C the blues.

D classical music.

Question #36

Bebop differed from swing in that

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

B each answer is true

C it was more closely linked to popular music.

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

Question #37

Among the drummers crucial to the bebop style were

A Dexter Gordon and Bud Powell.

B Kenny Clarke and Max Roach.

C Gene Krupa and Chick Webb.

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 Lennie Tristano

C Chet Baker

D Miles Davis

Question #41

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

A the Civil Rights movement.

B television.

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

D the end of Prohibition.

Question #42

Cool jazz was also known as

A Hardbop

B Swing

C West Coast Jazz

D Bebop

Question #43

Art Blakey was

A a founding member of the Modern Jazz Quartet.

B the drummer for the Dave Brubeck Quartet.

C the leader of the Jazz Messengers.

D a founding member of the Gerry Mulligan Quartet.

Question #44

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

A Art Tatum and Fats Waller.

B Teddy Wilson and Billy Strayhorn.

C Jelly Roll Morton and Duke Ellington.

D Lennie Tristano and Tadd Dameron.

Question #45

The piano soloist in this recording is:

A Bill Evans

B Thelonious Monk

C Red Garland

D Bud Powell

Question #46

The bassist and composer heard in this listening example is

A Slam Stewart

B Scott LaFaro

C Charles Mingus

D Jimmy Blanton

Question #47

Thelonious Monk’s professional career began in the

A rhythm section at Palomar Ballroom

B rhythm section at Minton’s Playhouse

C pit band at the Cotton Club.

D Benny Goodman Orchestra.

Question #48

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

A pianist

B bassist

C violinist

D drummer

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

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

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

Question #51

Charles Mingus was a virtuoso on the

A trombone

B bass

C alto saxophone

D piano

Question #52

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

A Benny Goodman

B Duke Ellington

C Count Basie

D Fletcher Henderson

Question #53

What is the name of this recording?

A Acknowledgement

B My Favorite Things

C Giant Steps

D So What?

Question #54

The trumpet soloist on this piece is:

A Clifford Brown

B Miles Davis

C Lee Morgan

D Roy Hargrove

Question #55

The tenor saxophone soloist on this piece is

A Sonny Rollins

B Wayne Shorter

C Joe Henderson

D John Coltrane

Question #56

The style heard in this excerpt is best described as

A bebop

B cool

C avant-garde

D fusion

Question #57

What was unusual about Bill Evans’s piano trio?

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

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

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

D Evans replaced the drummer with an electric guitarist.

Question #58

The theme of John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme was

A Coltrane’s profound religious experience.

B Possible Answer an opera by George Gershwin.

C a graphic depiction of an intense romance.

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

Question #59

Modal jazz is characterized by

A improvising with scales over very few chords.

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

C the technical challenge of improvising in high registers.

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 Kind of Blue

D Giant Steps

Question #61

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

A bebop, hard bop, and the avant-garde

B swing, Third Stream, and the avant-garde

C cool, hard bop, and fusion

D swing, bebop, and fusion

Question #62

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

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

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

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

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 Wayne Shorter

C John Coltrane

D Dexter Gordon

Question #64

At age nineteen, Miles Davis was hired to play with

A Coleman Hawkins.

B John Coltrane.

C Duke Ellington.

D Charlie Parker.

Question #65

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

A E.S.P. and Sorcerer.

B Kind of Blue and Milestones.

C Walkin’ and Steamin’.

D Porgy and Bess and Sketches of Spain.

Question #66

The three key figures in avant-garde jazz are

A Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Max Roach.

B Sonny Rollins, Wes Montgomery, and Art Blakey.

C John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, and Cecil Taylor.

D Miles Davis, Gil Evans, and Herbie Hancock.

Question #67

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

A Arkestra.

B Saturn Songsters.

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 the official name of the orchestra organized by Sun Ra.

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

D an avant-garde collective from Chicago.

Question #69

Cecil Taylor was known for

A playing long, extended pieces in concert.

B composing through the use of “unit structures.”

C a percussive approach to the piano.

D all answers are true

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 Nat “King” Cole and Frank Sinatra.

B Charlie Byrd and Stan Getz.

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 Miles Davis

D Thelonious Monk

Question #73

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

A Salsa

B Reggaeton

C Bossa Nova

D Cubop

Question #74

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

A Cubop

B Salsa

C Reggaeton

D Bossa Nova

Question #75

From which country did bossa nova emerge?

A Brazil

B Mexico

C United States

D Cuba

Question #76

Chano Pozo was

A a Cuban conga player who performed with Dizzy Gillespie.

B the founder of salsa music in the 1970s.

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

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 Antônio Carlos Jobim

C Chano Pozo

D Machito

Question #78

A clave is

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

B all answers are true

C Spanish for “keystone.”

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

Question #79

Who is the pianist on this recording?

A Brad Mehldau

B Herbie Hancock

C Chick Corea

D Keith Jarrett

Question #80

The name of this fusion band is

A Head Hunters

B Martin Medeski and Wood

C Mahavishnu Orchestra

D Weather Report

Question #81

How could you describe the style of this music?

A all answers are true

B jam band

C fusion

D funk

Question #82

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

A Herbie Hancock

B Medeski, Martin, and Wood

C Mos Def

D Radiohead

Question #83

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

A because they refuse to use acoustic instruments

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 tour in a camper

Question #84

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

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

B played electric piano with Miles Davis but disliked the experience

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

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

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 a wide range of effects pedals

C used guitar strings instead of bass strings

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 Jaco Pastorius

B Chick Corea

C Joe Zawinul

D Wayne Shorter

Question #87

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

A Indian classical music

B Eastern religion

C Flamenco guitar

D Celtic fiddle music

Question #88

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

A The album did not find a broad audience.

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

C The studio sessions were extensively edited.

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

Question #89

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

A the strictness of rock recording practices

B atonal, noisy timbres

C the abstract nature of rock compositions

D simplicity

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 syncopated, danceable bass lines

B interlocking rhythmic layers

C harmonic complexity

D a focus on sweet, hummable vocal melodies

Question #92

Why was rock and roll initially dismissed by jazz musicians?

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

B It was aimed at a teen audience.

C It wasn’t marketable by promoters.

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 Afro-Cuban and classical

C Black race records and rural hillbilly music

D Country and swing

Question #94

This is an example of

A scat singing

B block-chord texture

C free improvisation

D comping

Question #95

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

A Wynton Marsalis

B Louis Armstrong

C Miles Davis

D Dizzy Gillespie

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 Commercial bands

D Europe

Question #97

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

A Mary Lou Williams

B Bud Powell

C Nat King Cole

D Art Tatum

Question #98

All of the following are true of Wynton Marsalis EXCEPT:

A won Grammy awards in jazz and classical categories

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

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

D from a musical New Orleans family

Question #99

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

A it operated for several decades.

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

C led to further teaching opportunities for several faculty members

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 1930s

B 1950s

C 1980s

D 1960s

Question #101

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

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

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

C Jazz evolves in response to contemporary pop culture.

D Jazz creativity is inextricably bound to its past.

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 Vijay Iyer

B Brad Mehldau

C Jason Moran

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 Dance

B Lingua Franca

C Fusion

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 Joe Lovano

B Yo-Yo Ma

C Patti Austin

D Pat Metheny

Question #106

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

A influential in popular and classical idioms

B firmly established as art

C embraced as a generation’s dance music

D supported by academia

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 bebop

D repertory bands

Question #108

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

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

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

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

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

Try The Exam

Fresh Grad Lands Job as Real Estate Agent With Help from Professional Writers

Need help with your exam preparation?

Below are the questions for the exam with the choices of answers:

Christian S.

Tyra

Linda

Manush

We accept payment