A Brief History of Jazz Music

A detailed explanation of where Jazz music came from, how it started, and how it has evolved over the years.

Origins of Jazz

Jazz is a music genre that was created in the early 20th century in the United States. The style of music was developed from a mix of European and African influences. Jazz started out as a way for people to dance to music, but it soon developed into its own genre of music.

African-American music

African-American music is the product of the blending of African and European music traditions. It is a song form that is built on the call-and-response structure, which is an integral part of African musical tradition. In addition, African-American music often makes use of blue notes, which are notes that are played at a slightly lower pitch than other notes in a piece of music.

African-American music has its roots in the blues, a form of music that developed in the American South in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The blues is characterized by its simple chord structure and its focus on the expression of emotions, both good and bad. The blues influenced subsequent genres of African-American music, including jazz.

Jazz is a genre of music that originated in the African-American community in the early 20th century. It is characterized by its syncopated rhythms, improvisational solos, and use of blue notes. Jazz has been influence by a number of other musical genres, including blues and European classical music.

New Orleans

New Orleans is often considered the birthplace of jazz, as it was here that the genre first developed in the early 20th century. Jazz emerged from a combination of African and European musical traditions, and it was nurtured in the city’s vibrant music scene. New Orleans was a cosmopolitan city with a large population of African Americans, who were able to play and enjoy music without the restrictions imposed by Jim Crow laws. This allowed jazz to develop and flourish in New Orleans before spreading to other parts of the country.

Some of the most important early jazz musicians came from New Orleans, including Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet, and Jelly Roll Morton. These musicians helped to define what jazz would become, and their influence can still be heard in today’s jazz music. New Orleans continues to be an important center for jazz, with many top musicians still calling it home.

Ragtime

Ragtime was the first distinctly American music. It began as the music of poor blacks in New Orleans around the turn of the century (1900), and it quickly spread across the country. Ragtime was a kind of syncopated (off-beat) music, usually played on pianos. Its most famous exponent was Scott Joplin, who wrote such classics as “The Maple Leaf Rag” and “The Entertainer.”

Early Jazz

Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, United States. It emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and developed from roots in blues and ragtime. Jazz is seen by many as “America’s classical music”.

Jelly Roll Morton

Jelly Roll Morton was one of the first important composers and performers in jazz. He was born Ferd Jelly Roll Morton in New Orleans in 1890 and died in Los Angeles in 1941.

Morton claimed he invented jazz while working as a piano player and gambler in New Orleans around 1903, although this is disputed by other musicians of the time. What is certain is that Morton was one of the first musicians to popularize this new style of music, which combined elements of African-American music with European classical music.

Morton’s groups, which he called his “Red Hot Peppers,” were some of the most popular bands of the 1920s. He made over 150 recordings, both as a bandleader and as a solo performer, and composed such classics as “The Entertainer,” “Black Bottom Stomp,” and “King Porter Stomp.”

Morton was an important influence on later jazz pianists and composers, such as Duke Ellington and Fats Waller. He was inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame in 1954 and the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1977.

Louis Armstrong

In the 1920s, Louis Armstrong was the most famous jazz musician in the world. He was also one of the first African American musicians to be widely accepted by white audiences. His playing style influenced all of the great jazz trumpet players who followed him, and his singing voice was immediately recognizable. Armstrong’s career began in New Orleans, where he played in brass bands and dance clubs. He rose to fame in Chicago, where he worked with some of the most important jazz musicians of the time, including Jelly Roll Morton and King Oliver. In 1924, Armstrong made his first recordings with his own band, which became known as the Hot Five. These recordings are still considered among the best examples of early jazz.

Duke Ellington

Duke Ellington is one of the most important figures in the history of Jazz music. He was born in Washington D.C. in 1899 and was exposed to music from an early age. His parents were both musicians, and his grandfather was a professional violinist. Ellington began playing piano at the age of seven, and by the time he was fifteen he had composed his first piece of music.

Ellington’s big break came in 1923 when he moved to New York City and met bandleader Fletcher Henderson. Henderson hired Ellington to play piano in his band, and Ellington quickly became one of the most popular members of the group. In 1927, Ellington made his first recordings with his own band, which included such future jazz legends as trumpeter Bubber Miley and saxophonist Johnny Hodges. These recordings established Ellington as one of the leading bandleaders of the time.

Over the next decades, Ellington continued to produce groundbreaking work, both with his own band and as a solo artist. He also began to experiment with longer pieces of music, incorporating elements of classical music into his compositions. In 1940, he wrote “Black, Brown, and Beige,” a work that told the story of African-American history through the eyes of three generations of Ellington’s family. This bold new direction helped cement Ellington’s reputation as one of the most important American composers of the 20th century.

Bebop

Bebop was the first style of jazz that developed as an alternative to swing. Swing was the popular style of jazz at the time, but bebop was a more challenging and complex style of music. Bebop was developed in the early 1940s by a small group of musicians in New York City. These musicians were influenced by the music of Europe, Africa, and the Caribbean.

Charlie Parker

Charlie Parker was one of the most influential jazz musicians of all time. He was a master of improvisation and helped to pioneer the bebop style of jazz in the 1940s.

Born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1920, Parker began playing the saxophone at an early age. He quickly developed a unique style that blended elements of blues, swing, and traditional jazz. Parker’s revolutionary approach to music inspired a whole new generation of jazz musicians, including Miles Davis and John Coltrane.

Parker’s career was cut short by his addiction to heroin, and he died at the age of 34. But his legacy continues to live on through his music, which is still heard and appreciated by fans all over the world.

Dizzy Gillespie

Dizzy Gillespie was one of the most important figures in the development of bebop and modern jazz. He was a master trumpeter, composer, and bandleader who was one of the first jazz musicians to experiment with Afro-Cuban rhythms. Gillespie’s signature style combined bebop’s complex harmonies with Latin-influenced rhythms, creating a sound that was both exciting and accessible to audiences.

Gillespie was born in Cheraw, South Carolina, in 1917. He picked up the trumpet at an early age and was playing professionally by the time he was 15. In 1935, Gillespie joined Cab Calloway’s big band, which gave him his first exposure to the world of jazz. He left Calloway in 1939 to join pianist Earl Hines’s band, which is where he really began to develop his own style.

In 1941, Gillespie began working with another important bebop pioneer, tenor saxophonist Charlie Parker. The two men had an immediate musical rapport and their collaboration helped spur the development of bebop. Gillespie and Parker continued to work together throughout the 1940s, recording several influential albums such as “Theory of Art” (1949) and “Groovin’ High” (1945).

In the 1950s, Gillespie began experimenting with Afro-Cuban rhythms, which helped give birth to a new style of music called Latin jazz. He continued to perform and record until his death in 1993. Today, Gillespie’s legacy continues to influence generations of musicians all over the world.

Hard Bop

Hard bop is a style of jazz that was developed in the mid-1950s, largely in response to the popularity of rhythm and blues. Hard bop was a reaction against the lightweight, easy-listening style of music that had become popular in the early 1950s. It is characterized by a driving, hard-hitting sound, with a strong emphasis on the downbeat.

Miles Davis

Miles Davis was one of the most influential and innovative Jazz musicians of all time. He was born in 1926 in Alton, Illinois and raised in East St. Louis. Davis started playing the trumpet at age 13 and by age 19, he was playing with Charlie Parker’s band. He quickly developed a unique style that blended bebop, blues, and modal jazz.

In the 1950s, Davis played on some of the most famous Jazz recordings of all time including, “The Birth of Cool”, “Round Midnight”, and “Kind of Blue”. In the 1960s, he experimented with electric instruments and rock rhythms to create a new style of jazz-fusion. His groundbreaking album “Bitches Brew” is considered one of the most important and influential jazz records ever made.

Davis continued to experiment with his sound throughout his career, always pushing the boundaries of jazz music. He passed away in 1991 at the age of 65, but his legacy continues to inspire generations of musicians.

Thelonious Monk

Thelonious Monk was one of the most innovative and eccentric jazz pianists of the 20th century. He developed a unique, angular style of playing that was often at odds with the more smooth and fluid styles of his contemporaries. Monk was also well known for his love of striking poses and making strange faces while he played, which endeared him to many fans but also led some critics to dismiss him as a clown.

Despite his unorthodox approach to music, Monk was a highly influential figure in the jazz world, and his compositions “Round Midnight” and “Well You Needn’t” have become standards. He also mentored a number of young musicians, including saxophonist Sonny Rollins and trumpeter Clifford Brown.

Free Jazz

Free jazz is an approach to jazz that was first developed in the 1950s. The style is characterized by a freedom of expression that is absent in other forms of jazz. Free jazz is often seen as a reaction against the constraints of bebop, which was the dominant form of jazz at the time.

Ornette Coleman

Ornette Coleman was one of the architects of free jazz, a style of music characterized by its departure from traditional harmonic and rhythmic conventions. Coleman’s approach was based on the belief that all sounds are equally valid, and that it is the musician’s responsibility to shape them into a cohesive whole. This approach led to a highly individualistic style of playing, which was often at odds with the more rigid conventions of the jazz establishment. Nevertheless, Coleman’s influence was profound, and his music continues to challenge and inspire musicians today.

Cecil Taylor

One of the most important and influential pianists in jazz history, Cecil Taylor is known for his unique approach to the instrument, which often involves extended periods of atonality and free-flowing improvisation. Growing up in New York City, Taylor began playing piano at an early age and later studied with renowned teachers such as Lennie Tristano and Art Tatum. He made his recording debut as a leader in 1956, and over the next few years he worked with some of the most influential figures in jazz, including Coleman Hawkins, Dizzy Gillespie, and Miles Davis.

In the 1960s, Taylor began to develop his own unique style, which incorporated elements of both European classical music and African-American rhythm and blues. He also became involved in the avant-garde jazz movement, which was devoted to pushing the boundaries of jazz music. Taylor’s 1967 album Unit Structures is considered one of the most important works of this period. In subsequent years, he continued to experiment with new musical ideas, often collaborating with other artists from a variety of genres. Today, Cecil Taylor is recognized as one of the most important innovators in jazz history.

Fusion

In the late 1960s, jazz musicians began to experiment with electric instruments and amplified sound for the first time. This new style of music, which came to be known as fusion, blended elements of jazz with rock, funk, and other genres. Thanks to its catchy rhythms and improvisational nature, fusion quickly gained popularity among young fans of both jazz and rock.

Miles Davis

Miles Davis (1926-1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader and composer who was at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz, hard bop and jazz fusion.

Davis’ style of playing was characterized by its economy and elegance, as well as its use of space and silence. He is one of the most revered and influential figures in the history of jazz, and his work has had a profound impact on the development of musical styles across the spectrum of popular music.

Davis began his career as a member of legendary bebop saxophonist Charlie Parker’s band in the 1940s, before striking out on his own with a series of critically acclaimed albums that defined the cool jazz sound of the 1950s. He would go on to experiment with a wide range of styles throughout his career, from the hard-charging funk of his groundbreaking album “Bitches Brew” to the more meditative sounds of his later work.

In addition to his work as a musician, Davis was also a highly respected bandleader, collaborating with some of the greatest names in jazz over the course of his five-decade career. He also wielded considerable influence as a mentor to younger musicians, many of whom would go on to become leading lights in their own fields.

Weather Report

Weather Report was an American jazz fusion band of the 1970s and early 1980s. The band was initially co-led by the Austrian-born keyboard player Joe Zawinul, and the American saxophonist Wayne Shorter.

The group electrified the jazz world with its innovative combination of jazz, rock, and Latin music influences, buying into Miles Davis’ vision of a “world music” for a new audience. Weather Report’s individualistic approach followed in Davis’s footsteps: eschewing tonal centers and conventional soloing strategies in favor of free-form improvisation and sound exploration.

The band attracted some of the most accomplished musicians of its time, including Alphonso Johnson on bass, Chester Thompson on drums, Airto Moreira on percussion, Jaco Pastorius on electric bass (1975–81), Dom Um Romão on percussion (1976), and Don Alias on percussion (1981).

Contemporary Jazz

Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, United States, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was developed from African musical traditions, African-American work songs, spirituals, and blues.

Wynton Marsalis

Wynton Marsalis (born October 18, 1961) is a trumpeter, composer, bandleader, educator, and leading advocate of the view that jazz is America’s classical music. He has promoted the appreciation of classical and jazz music often to young audiences.

Marsalis is the son of Ellis Marsalis Jr., a pianist and music instructor at Xavier University of Louisiana. His brothers Branford (tenor saxophone), Delfeayo (trombone), Jason (drums), and Ellis III (piano) are also jazz musicians; father Ellis Marsalis and grandfather Willie Hill were both New Orleans musicians.

Marsalis graduated from The Juilliard School in 1980, and in 1982 became the first jazz musician to be awarded a platform by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Pat Metheny

Pat Metheny (born August 12, 1954) is an American jazz guitarist and composer. He is the leader of the Pat Metheny Group and is also involved in duets, solo works, and other side projects. His style incorporates elements of progressive and contemporary jazz, Latin jazz, and jazz-fusion.

Metheny has been awarded 20 Grammy Awards and in 2001 was inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame in recognition of his “ongoing contributions to the vitality of jazz”. He was also inducted into the Missouri Music Hall of Fame in November 2013. In 2014, Metheny was presented with the Léonie Sonning Music Prize, one of Denmark’s most prestigious music prizes.