All About Jazz, Uniquely American Music 爵士乐，真的很美国

文/莫伊拉·E.麦克劳克林 译/邓梦寒

By Moira E.McLaughlin

Risky.Dangerous.Scary.A way to break the rules.

冒险。危险。可怕。打破常规。

[2]We’re not talking about failing to study for your final math test or disobeying your parents.We’re talking about a type of music called jazz.

[2]这些词儿不是指不好好准备数学期末考试，也不是指不听父母话，指的是一种音乐——爵士乐。

[3]Some people say that jazz is America’s only true art form.That’s because it began here, hundreds of years ago, in the fields where black people worked as slaves and made up songs to pass time,to express themselves and to keep alive the culture and traditions of their African homelands.It wasn’t called jazz then,but the way the slaves were playing and singing music was different and special.

[3]有人说，爵士乐是美国唯一拥有的真正的艺术。这是因为爵士乐起源于美国——几百年前，黑奴在田间劳作时通过编歌来打发时间、表达自我，并以此维系非洲故乡的文化传统。当时这种音乐不叫爵士乐，不过奴隶们演奏和歌唱的方式与众不同，十分特别。

[4]The music of America’s black people came to be called jazz in the South in the early 1900s; New Orleans,Louisiana, is often called the birthplace of jazz.Despite slavery’s having ended in 1865, African Americans still didn’t have the same rights as white Ameri-cans.But jazz was music that both black and white people could enjoy.By the 1920s, jazz was growing in popularity and included influences from Europe as well as Africa.

[4]20世纪初，这种黑人音乐在美国南部开始被称作爵士乐。路易斯安那州的新奥尔良常被称为爵士乐的诞生地。尽管奴隶制在1865年就已废除，非裔美国人仍未享有和美国白人同样的权利。但爵士乐是黑人和白人皆可欣赏的。到20世纪20年代，爵士乐越来越受欢迎，还吸收了来自欧洲和非洲的影响因素。

[5]Jazz has all the elements that other music has: It has melody; that’s the tune of the song, the part you’re most likely to remember.It has harmony, the notes that make the melody sound fuller.It has rhythm, which is the heartbeat of the song.But what sets jazz apart is this cool thing called improvisation.

[5]爵士乐包含其他音乐的所有元素：它有旋律，即曲调，这是最容易让人记住的；有和声，即使旋律更加饱满的音符；有节奏，即歌曲的脉搏。但是，真正让爵士乐酷炫且与众不同的是即兴创作。

[6]That means making it up on the spot.No music in front of you.No long discussion with your bandmates.You just play.“It’s more free.It’s more soulful,”says Geoffrey Gallante, 11, a sixthgrader at Stratford Landing Elementary School in Alexandria.Geoffrey is such a good musician that he has appeared at the Kennedy Center and has been on television lots of times; he has even played with the band on“The Tonight Show With Jay Leno.”

[6]也就是现场编曲。没有现成的乐谱，也不能与乐队伙伴长时间讨论，而是直接表演。11岁的杰弗里·加伦特是亚历山德里亚市斯特拉特福德·兰丁小学的六年级学生，他说：“这种音乐更加自由，更有感情。”杰弗里是个很棒的音乐人，曾在肯尼迪艺术中心演出，并多次上电视。他甚至还和乐队一起在《杰·雷诺今夜秀》上演出过。

[7]In jazz, Geoffrey says,“it’s easy to express your emotions.In classical, …you get the sheet music and you read it top to bottom.You’re more focused on technically making it perfect.… In jazz,your main focus is… being creative and using your imagination.”

[7]杰弗里说，爵士乐“很容易表达情感，而古典乐……得拿着乐谱从头读到尾。古典乐更关注如何在技术上达到完美……而爵士乐关注的主要是……如何具有创造力和运用想象力”。

What makes jazz unique

爵士乐独特之所在

[8]It’s not that jazz songs don’t have recognizable melodies.They do, but that’s just a small part of it.In jazz, a melody begins a song, but then each musician will take turns improvising,playing all kinds of crazy notes: high,low, long, short, gravelly and clear.

[8]并不是爵士歌曲的旋律无法辨识。其中确有可辨识的，但只是一小部分。爵士歌曲以某一旋律开始，而之后每个音乐人轮流即兴创作，奏出各种疯狂的音符：或高或低，或长或短，或厚重或清亮。

[9]The performers who are not soloing are playing quietly in the background, or comping, short for accompanying.Then at the end of the song, the melody returns.Improvising is what makes a jazz song different every time you hear it, unlike any pop song you hear on the radio.

[9]没有担任独奏的表演者在后面安静地演奏，或者说就是伴奏。之后，歌曲结尾处，开头的旋律重现。即兴演奏让你在听同一首爵士歌曲时每次听到的都不一样，不像收音机里听到的那些流行歌曲。

[10]Another thing that sets jazz apart is its approach to rhythm.Think of“The Star-Spangled Banner.”When you hear that song, it probably doesn’t make you want to tap your foot.There are no rhythmic surprises, or what is called syncopation, in most presentations of“The Star-Spangled Banner.”Jazz musicians, on the other hand,“swing”notes, which means they change the length of notes, holding some longer and making others shorter.

[10]爵士乐与众不同的另一面在于它对节奏的处理。想想美国国歌《星条旗》。听到这首歌的时候，你也许并不想用脚打拍子。这首歌的大部分节奏没有什么强弱变化，或者说切分，但爵士音乐家却可以“旋转”音符，即改变音长，使其长短不一。

Jazz and D.C.

爵士乐和华盛顿特区

[11]Washington has an important place in jazz history.In 1920, the city had the largest population of black people in the country.That’s around the time that a very famous jazz piano player, Duke Ellington,was playing around town.

[11]华盛顿在爵士乐历史上占有重要地位。1920年，该城拥有美国最多的黑人人口。大概正是那时，著名爵士钢琴演奏家艾灵顿公爵正在华盛顿环城演出。

[12]Born in Washington in 1899, Ellington as a kid wanted to play baseball instead of the piano.But his parents played the piano, and so he started taking lessons when he was 7 or 8 years old.

[12]艾灵顿于1899年生于华盛顿，儿时想打棒球而不是弹钢琴。但是他的父母弹钢琴，因此他在七八岁的时候开始上钢琴课。

[13]By 1920, he was playing small shows at the Howard Theatre, where black musicians played to mostly black audiences.When he was 24, he moved to New York, but he didn’t forget his home town.He called his band the Washingtonians and later he returned to perform at another famous Washington spot, the Lincoln Theatre.(Both the Lincoln Theatre and the Howard Theatre, where a statue of Ellington stands, still exist.)

[13]到1920年，他已在霍华德剧院举办了一些小型演出。黑人音乐家在该剧院演出，观众也主要是黑人。24岁时，他搬到了纽约，但并没有忘记故乡。他把自己的乐队命名为“华盛顿人”，后来曾回到华盛顿，在著名的林肯剧院演出。（留存至今的林肯剧院和霍华德剧院都立有艾灵顿的雕像。）

Why is jazz cool?

爵士乐酷在哪儿？

[14]Geoffrey Gallante was 4 years old when he picked up the trumpet.Now he practices three hours a day,mostly classical pieces.But what he really loves playing is jazz.It’s the spontaneity of jazz—that means there’s no planning ahead of time—that he really loves.He can walk into a club that he has never visited, with guys he has never seen, and just play.

[14]杰弗里·加伦特四岁开始学小号。现在他每天练习三小时，主要是古典乐曲。但是他真正喜欢演奏的是爵士乐。爵士乐的自然即兴意味着没有提前准备，这正是他热爱的。他可以走进一家从未去过的俱乐部，和一群素未谋面的人合作，就这么一起演出。

[15]“The [band leader]says, ‘What do you want to play, and what key?’ [I]can get up there and have a blast.With classical, you have to plan everything.You need to practice.… It’s a whole big production.With jazz, you just walk up and you say, ‘Hey, I want to do this.…Let’s go.’”

[15]“（乐队指挥）说：‘你想演奏什么？哪个调？’（我）会站起来直接吹一声。古典乐需要提前准备一切，还需要练习……它是一整个大作品。而爵士乐只需走上前说：‘嘿，我想演奏这个……来吧。’”

[16]Now that does sound scary—in a very cool way.

[16]这听来确实可怕——酷毙了。