Glossary of Jazz Terms

Jazz: (1) A style of American music that originated in New Orleans circa 1900, characterized by strong, prominent meter, improvisation, distinctive tone colors and performance techniques, and dotted or syncopated rhythmic patterns. (2) In a big band chart, a rhythm indication for medium to up-tempo swing (as opposed to latin).

Jazz Standard: A well-known tune by a Jazz musician. See Standard.

Jive: the jargon of hipsters.

Jump: A very fast 4/4, usually in a dance-band context.

Latin: (1) Afro-Cuban, Brazilian or other South American-derived. There are many special terms used in Latin music and I haven't tried to include them here. (2) Played with equal eighth notes as opposed to swung (see swing def. 2). Also 'straight-8'. The feel of bossa novas and sambas.

Lay out: Not play. See stroll.

Left hand rootless voicing ('LHRV'): A close-position voicing without a root, played mainly in the octave of middle C. In a style perfected by Bill Evans, these left-hand chords are sprinkled in irregular syncopations under the right-hand melody. The absence of roots both frees the bass player and allows a richer harmony in the voicing. This has become the mainstream style of left-hand playing.

Lead Sheet: A form of music notation that specifies the melody & harmony (and sometimes the lyric) of a tune. The melody is written in modern Western music notation and the harmony is specified with chord symbols above the staff. A single selection from a Fake Book is also referred to as a lead sheet. Also see "Chart".

Legit: The Jazz musician's somewhat ironic term for music, or a gig, that is not Jazz.

Line: (1) A melody of successive, single notes. (2) A composed melody over predetermined chord changes, such as 'a line on Cherokee'. (3) One of the different voices, such as the bass or the melody.

Line-up: The personnel of a band.

Long Meter: A chart in 4/4 time is said to be written in long meter when a written eighth-note feels like a quarter-note, and a written half-measure feels like a whole measure. In this way, for example, a 64-bar tune can be written as if it were a 32-bar tune, which may make it easier to read. The term, though useful, is little-known.

Lydian: A major scale or chord with a raised 4th; the mode of the major scale built on 4. Regarded as the most fundamental Jazz scale by influential theorist George Russell.

Lydian Dominant: A dominant 7th scale with a raised 4th (11th). One of the fundamental forms of the dominant chord; also sometimes called 'lydo-mixian'. The scale/chord most appropriate for non-V dominants, such as II7 or bVII7.

Mainstream: The style of Jazz regarded by the average player as today's norm, as opposed to fusion, rock, avant-garde, etc.; sometimes the term implies a somewhat conservative, relatively diatonic vocabulary exemplified by Oscar Peterson. Mainstream Jazz is in a highly evolved state, having incorporated virtually the entire harmonic language of 20th century tonal music. In timbre, phrasing, form and rhythmic feel mainstream Jazz still rests on a basis of Bebop, which is why 'modern' Jazz is considered to have started with Bebop in the early 40s.

Medium: One of the standard Jazz tempos, neither 'up' nor 'ballad'.

Melodic minor: In Jazz, a scale with a minor 3rd but a major 6th and 7th (both up and down). This scale and its modes (Altered, Half-diminished and Lydian Dominant are the familiar ones) make up a realm called melodic minor harmony. Also called 'tonic minor'.

Melody: Specifically, the topmost line or voice.

Melomania: A singular passion for music that is beyond all reason.

Meter: A basic music term, but sometimes not fully understood. The organization of the beats of time (or ground beat), moving at a certain rate (the tempo), into groupings which are heirarchical, that is, there is a unit of a stated number of beats (the bar) which includes strong and weak beats in an organized pattern. All this is implied by a 'meter' of 4/4, 3/4, etc.

Modal: (1) Said of a section, or a whole tune, having static harmony (using one chord) and using scales from a particular mode, most typically the Dorian. (2) Having a key feeling derived not from dynamic chord progressions (like circle-of-fifths) but rather from repetition, monotony, and weight. (3) Loosely, a harmonic style that is diatonic and makes use of quartal harmony.

Mode: An incarnation of a scale in which a certain note is taken as the root. Thus, each scale has as many different modes as it has different tones. In common usage, the major scale and the melodic minor scale are regarded as 'given' and the scales constructed with other notes as the root are called modes. The modes of the major scale have names (Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, and Locrian); these names were applied in the Renaissance and have no relationship to the Greek originals. Some of the melodic minor scale's modes have names in today's theory: mode 3, the augmented major 7th; mode 4, the lydian dominant; mode 6, the half-diminished; mode 7, the altered.

Modern: The styles of Jazz since 1945. Especially applied to Bebop, Cool Jazz, and Hard Bop.

Modulation: The establishment of a new key. This is mainly a matter of harmonic progression, but expectation, emphasis and phrasing also enter into determining whether a new key has really been established. In standards, a modulation to the beginning of the bridge is strongly expected. Typically, a II - V or a iii - VI - ii - V progression in the new key is used.

Moldy Fig: A term used by the Beboppers to deride players and fans of older styles, especially trad. Someone whose tastes are not up to date.

Monster: A superior player.

Montuno: A term of Latin music which crops up in other Jazz. (1) An indefinitely repeated pattern of 1, 2 or 4 bars in the piano, typically with ingeniously syncopated moving inner voices and a differently syncopated bass line. (2) Incorrectly, a pyramiding vamp in which one instrument enters alone, then another is added, and so on at regular intervals.

Moving inner voice: A momentarily prominent line played by a voice in between the melody and the bass.

Neo-bop: The conservative Bebop style of several successful players in the 90s, like Roy Hargrove.

Open voicing: One in which the chord tones are spread out over a greater range.

Original: A tune composed by a Jazz musician and played by him but perhaps not well-known to others.

Out: The last chorus of a tune, when the head is played for the last time. On the stand the gesture of a raised clenched fist or a finger pointing to the head indicates that the out chorus is coming up.

Outer voice: The melody line or the bass, the top or bottom line.

Outro: A jocular term for coda; an added ending section.

Outside: (1) The A sections of a tune, the parts other than the bridge. (2) A manner of playing over changes that avoids using the normal scales, or has no relationship to the changes. (3) A style of playing without using conventional Jazz chords.