The Jazz Music Genre

The Jazz music genre originated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in African American communities in the Southern United States.

Origins of Jazz

Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was developed from a combination of African and European music traditions. Jazz is characterized by a complex groove, improvisation, and often includes elements of swing.

New Orleans

New Orleans is known as the birthplace of Jazz. The combination of African and European musical elements in this city created a new kind of music that would eventually spread across the country and the world. Jazz has its roots in the blues, but it also draws from other genres like Ragtime, Marching Band music, and even gospel.

One of the earliest and most influential Jazz musicians was Sidney Bechet, a New Orleans native who played the saxophone and clarinet. His style helped to shape the sound of Jazz in its early years. Bechet was one of the first musicians to use “blue notes” – notes that are slightly flattened or lengthened to create a sadder, more emotive sound. This became a signature sound of Jazz, and can be heard in many early recordings.

Jazz quickly spread beyond New Orleans in the early 1900s, thanks in part to developments in technology like radio and recording. These new forms of media allowed people to listen to Jazz from all over the country, and eventually all over the world. Today, Jazz is considered one of America’s greatest contributions to music, and its influence can be heard in genres as diverse as rock ‘n’ roll, hip hop, and even classical music.

Ragtime

Ragtime music was born out of the forsyncopated music that was created by slaves in the Southern United States. This type of music was often played on banjos and guitars, and it had a very syncopated rhythm. Ragtime music became popular in the late 1800s, and it continued to grow in popularity until the early 1900s.

Ragtime music was a major influence on the development of jazz music. Many of the early jazz musicians came from a ragtime background, and they incorporated many of the elements of ragtime into their own playing. Ragtime was also one of the first genres of music to be truly American; it was a distinctly American form of music that arose out of the melting pot of cultures in the United States.

The blues

The blues is a genre of music that arose in the African-American communities of the Southern United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It developed from a combination of African and European musical traditions. The blues is a vocal and instrumental form of music characterized by specific chord progressions, particular rhythmic patterns, andcall-and-response techniques. The blues form, ubiquitous in jazz, rhythm and blues and rock and roll, is characterized by the call-and-response pattern, the blues scale and specific chord progressions, of which the twelve-bar blues is the most common. Blue notes (or “worried notes”), flattened third tones often appearing in the melody or bass line, create a sense ofDespair throughout a composition.

The major pioneers of the blues were W. C. Handy, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Charley Patton. The genre quickly spread to civilian urban nightclubs such as speakeasies from which developed jazz. Jazz guitarists such as Django Reinhardt followed suit in developing their own abrupt virtuosic solos within this new democracy of single note improvisation which jazz guitar was now capable of.

Key Figures in Jazz History

Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities in the late 19th and early 20th century. It is a style of music that is characterized by syncopated rhythms, polyphonic ensemble playing, and improvisation. Jazz has been influenced by other music genres, including blues and European classical music.

Louis Armstrong

One of the most influential trumpet players in history, Louis Armstrong was born in New Orleans in 1901. He started playing in the city’s famous Storyville district, where prostitution and gambling were legal, and quickly developed his own style. In 1922, he moved to Chicago to join bandleader King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band.

While with Oliver, Armstrong made some of his most famous recordings, including “West End Blues” and “Struttin’ with Some Barbecue.” He left Oliver’s band in 1924 and returned to New Orleans, where he formed his own group, the Hot Five. With the Hot Five, Armstrong recorded such classics as “Heebie Jeebies,” “Hotter Than That,” and “Potato Head Blues.”

In 1930, Armstrong traveled to Europe for the first time, appearing at London’s Palladium Theatre. He toured extensively throughout the 1930s, both in America and Europe. In 1932, he made his first appearance at New York’s famed Carnegie Hall. During this period, Armstrong also began working in Hollywood, appearing in such films as Pennies from Heaven (1936) and Every Night at Eight (1935).

Armstrong continued to perform and record until his death in 1971. His hits from this later period include “Hello Dolly,” “What a Wonderful World,” and “Mack the Knife.” He is widely considered one of the most important figures in jazz history.

Duke Ellington

Duke Ellington was born Edward Kennedy Ellington in Washington D.C. in 1899. He was a pivotal figure in the development of jazz music and is considered one of the greatest composers in the genre. His compositions were heavily influenced by the music of his time, including ragtime and blues. He is best known for his big band orchestra, which he led for over 50 years. Some of his most famous compositions include “Mood Indigo,” “Take the ‘A’ Train,” and “Satin Doll.” Ellington died in 1974.

Miles Davis

Miles Davis (1926–1991) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th century music. Davis adopted a number of musical styles throughout his career that encompassed elements of bebop, cool jazz, hard bop, modal jazz, and jazz fusion.

Davis recorded some of the most influential albums of the 20th century, including “Kind of Blue” (1959) and “Bitches Brew” (1970). His best-known compositions include “So What”, “All Blues”, “Footprints”, and “Autumn Leaves”. Miles Davis was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2006.

The Elements of Jazz

Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities in the late 19th and early 20th century. It is characterized by blue notes, syncopation, swing, call and response, polyrhythms, and improvisation. Jazz has been described as “the sound of surprise”.

Improvisation

Jazz is often thought of as a uniquely American art form, but its roots are in the music of Africa. In the early 20th century, jazz emerged from a mix of African and European musical traditions. One of the most important aspects of jazz is improvisation — the ability to create new melodies on the spot.

Jazz musicians often use “scales” or “modes” to improvise new solos. A scale is a set of notes that are played in order, usually ascending (going up in pitch) or descending (going down in pitch). A mode is a scale with a specific starting note, called the “tonic.”

There are many different scales and modes that can be used in jazz improvisation, but the most commonly used scale is the major scale. The major scale has 7 notes, plus an 8th note that repeats the first note an octave higher.

Swing

Swing is a lively, upbeat style of jazz that developed in the early 1930s and became very popular in the Midwestern United States in the 1930s and 1940s. The first use of the word “swing” in jazz was in 1934, when guitarist Django Reinhardt described his music as “swing”. Jazz historian Marshall Stearns says that Reinhardt’s usage was typical of musicians of that time, who used the term to refer to the use of eighth notes rather than simply quarter notes (crotchets). Swing music featured a strong, anchored rhythm section with a leadership role for the piano or guitar, massed horns playing ensemble riffs, and soloing by trumpets, trombones and saxophones. Like New Orleans jazz, swing emphasized improvisation and invention by individual musicians; but unlike that earlier style swings reliance on ensemble playing gave it a more continuous flow.

Polyrhythm

Polyrhythm is the simultaneous use of two or more contrasting rhythms, usually in the same melody. It is a defining characteristic of jazz and one of the most important elements of the genre. Jazz musicians often create polyrhythms by playing different subdivisions of the beat at the same time, or by superimposing two or more independent rhythms against each other. This can give the music a complex, shifting, and dynamic quality that is essential to its swing feel.

Jazz Today

The Jazz music genre has changed and morphed since it originated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Today, there are many different sub-genres of Jazz that have emerged. This section will explore some of the popular Jazz sub-genres that exist today.

Contemporary jazz

Contemporary jazz is a genre of music that draws from traditional jazz, as well as from more recent styles such as rock, funk, and rhythm and blues. Contemporary jazz musicians often use improvisation to create new melodies and sounds. This type of jazz is often more driving and energetic than traditional jazz, and it often has a strong rhythm section.

Jazz fusion

By the early 1970s, jazz fusion was being used as an umbrella term to refer to various popular music styles that were influenced by jazz, including rock, funk, R&B, and pop. As the 1960s came to a close, many young musicians— tired of what they saw as the stifling conventions of bebop and hard bop—began to experiment with different styles of music. They blended elements of rock and roll, soul, rhythm and blues (R&B), and even classical music into their playing. This period saw the development of electric pianos and organs, amplified guitars, electric basses, and drum kits equipped with foot-operated bass drum pedals and hi-hat stands for hands-free operation. These new instruments were used in combination with traditional acoustic instruments—such as saxophones, trumpets, trombones, double basses (played with a plectrum or “pick”), and drums—to create a richer sound than that produced by bebop groups.