Standing ovation for THeSKuLL for the premiere debut, er, Co-First to Find!

Consider the other geocaches in this series:

GC3TGDG, Satchmo - JazzMan’s Musical Mystery Tour

GC3TMYT, Ray Charles - JazzMan’s Musical Mystery Tour

GC3TRV0, Tower of Power - JazzMan’s Musical Mystery Tour

GC3W4QR, Chicago - JazzMan’s Musical Mystery Tour

The cache is NOT at the listed coordinates.  Enjoy the history of Jazz to find the location.  Bring some tweezers and definitely bring your own pen (even though you won’t be expected to write any music with it). 

Difficulty rating is for the process of determining the actual coordinates.

Determine answers to the questions below to find the required coordinate numbers by listening to the single audio file provided below.  I have visited this site repeatedly without harming my computer and no downloads or signups are required.

Because the answers must be numbers, the questions themselves may or may not be especially significant to appreciating the history of jazz.  The experience of finding the answers, however, will hopefully bring you pleasure as you explore important milestones in the history of Jazz in America.

The goal of this puzzle cache is to understand what jazz is:

- What jazz sounds like

- Why it sounds that way

-Who some of the performers are

In 1961, Julian “Cannonball” Adderley, the jazz saxophonist best known for his work on Miles Davis’ epic album Kind of Blue, narrated a children’s introduction to jazz music.  Part of a larger series of educational albums for children, this 12-inch LP offered an easy-going, conversational discussion of the highlights of the jazz story, emphasizing the major styles and great performers that began in New Orleans and spread beyond.  Included on the album are some legendary jazz figures — Louis Armstrong, Fats Waller, Jelly Roll Morton, Duke Ellington, Coleman Hawkins, Sidney Bechet, Thelonious Monk, and, of course, Cannonball himself.  The album, A Child’s Introduction to Jazz, has long been out of circulation, but you can catch it here!

Actual coordinates = N38° ab.cde  W104° fg.hij

Answers to all questions may be found on this YouTube video.

The answers are to be discovered in the order the questions are given.  Pause the video and understand the next question before continuing to listen.

a. “…The first [song on the video] is called Chimes Blues. [The second song is called] Barefoot Sunday ___________.  …both are Blues, which means they have the same musical form.…”  How many letters are required to fill in the blank?  Answer = a.

b. “…One of the most important things that almost all music is concerned with, and for that matter almost all stories and paintings, is the way people _______ about things, their emotions.…”  How many letters are required to fill in the blank?  Answer = b.

c. “…And there were also the very catchy melodies of a kind of music called Ragtime.  Here’s Scott Joplin, one of the most famous Ragtime composers and piano players, and his best known tune, ______  _____ Rag, which you’ve probably heard before.…”  How many letters are required to fill in the two blanks?  Answer = c.

d. Immediately following the two songs, one by a “stayer”, George Lewis, the second by a “mover”, Sidney Bechet, you will hear this narration: “…In Chicago, jazz was no longer so much a part of community life.  There were no jazz band parades.  But in Chicago in the 19_0s, you could have heard a great many men and women who were the star entertainers of their day.…”  What is the number required to fill in the blank in the decade name?  Answer = d.

e. ”…Although we haven’t talked much about the instruments used in playing jazz, you might have been able to notice that there is almost always a piano, drums, and … a bass fiddle to keep the basic rhythm going.  And the melody is usually played by such brass instruments as trumpet and ____________, and such reed instruments as clarinet and saxophone.…”  How many letters are required to fill in the blank?  Answer = e.

f. “…Still another thing that should be noticed is that solos began to become a very important part of jazz, meaning that instead of everyone playing together…single instrumentalists, assisted by the rhythm instruments, would play his own variations of the melody.  That, basically, is improvising…meaning creating your own music to some extent, instead of sticking to the written down notes, which of course is part of the expressing your feelings through music idea that we pointed to at the beginning as so important a part of _______.…[Louis] Armstong can really be called the first great soloist.…”  How many letters are required to fill in the blank?  Answer = f.

g. Immediately following “Fats” Waller’s version of the song Oh, Susanna, you will hear this narration: “In that growth of big bands, which became very important in the 19_0s, no one was more essential than band leader and composer “Duke” Ellington.…  What is the number required to fill in the blank in the decade name?  Answer = g.

h. “…the saxophone had really been added mostly to help create that bigger, fuller dance band kind of sound.  But [Coleman] Hawkins made the saxophone into a true jazz instrument, simply by inventing a style of playing that produced wonderful original solos, thus showing the way for all the saxophonists who came along later, for which all of us are thankful.  Hawkins is still playing and still playing fascinating jazz, as on this tune called _________ _______, recorded just a few years ago” [in 1961 when this recording was made].  How many letters are required to fill in the two blanks?  Answer = h.

i. “…The 1930s were the Swing era with big orchestras…playing a music that was much smoother and more carefully written down and more suitable for dancing than any earlier jazz had been.  Swing referred mostly to that kind of easily rocking rhythm, whether fast or slow…”  [Recorded music is played]  “…Early in the 1940s there began to be another change in the form and sound of jazz, possibly the biggest change of all, so far.  It involved different ways of dealing with rhythms and harmony, and even with melody…Bebop, which was the first name given to this new kind of music, and the other forms which have followed it…[Bebop is also called Modern Jazz] …Modern Jazz was largely created by the musical thinking and experimenting of such men as alto saxophonist Charlie ___________, trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, and pianist Thelonius Monk.…”  How many letters are required to fill in the blank?  Answer = i.

j. After Ella Fitzgerald singing It Might As Well Be Spring, the narrator talks about differences and similarities between jazz from different eras.  He says, “But there are many similarities and one way of emphasizing them might be to listen to a Modern Jazz group playing the same sort of tune that was played by New Orleans bands.  Listen to an old spiritual, Wade in _____ Water, as recorded in 1960 by a band led by tenor saxophonist Johnny Griffin.”  How many letters are required to fill in the blank?  Answer = j.

Actual coordinates = N38° ab.cde  W104° fg.hij

Use this link to verify coords.

Contact the cache owner for assistance.  No need to be frustrated, this is a game!