A musical style that has its roots in black communities in the south of the United States from the beginning of the twentieth century, its style was born from a mix of African and European traditions.
From its origin to the present day, jazz has also incorporated elements from American popular music and as the music has spread throughout the world it has drawn on many different national, regional and local musical cultures creating many distinctive styles such as New Orleans jazz, big band swing, Gypsy and Kansas City jazz from the 1930s and 1940s, be-bop in the mid-1940s and numerous others such as Afro-Cuban jazz, Latin jazz, jazz-funk, acid jazz, jazz rock and many more. Spanning a vast range of music from ragtime to the present day, over a century’s worth of music, Jazz is very difficult to define, with the one key element being the use of improvisation.
Unlike classical music where the musician dare not deviate from the music he is reading, with jazz a performer can interpret a tune in very individual ways, never playing the same composition twice.
Variation can depend on the musician’s mood, interaction with other musicians or members of the audience or just personal experience – all can mean a jazz musician may alter the melodies, harmonies or time signature at a whim. Louis Armstrong born in 1901, known as the Jazz Original, one of the most influential artists in the history of music, perfected the improvised jazz solo as we know it today Jazz musician Wynton Marsalis, says of Armstrong: “Through his clear, warm sound, unbelievable sense of swing, perfect grasp of harmony, and supremely intelligent and melodic improvisations, he taught us all to play jazz.”
Though an early twentieth-century black music innovation, certain characteristics in jazz, as with classic blues, do have their roots in much earlier musical traditions such as the rhythms and musical traditions brought to the United States in the early nineteenth century by the West African slaves, whose music reflected the African speech patterns and was largely functional for work or ritual.
Through the twentieth century, jazz took on many forms from the jazz age of the 1920s and 30s, through to swing, bebop, Afro-Cuban jazz, Dixieland revival, hard bop, modal jazz, free jazz, soul jazz, jazz fusion, smooth jazz, acid jazz and punk jazz – since the 1990s, jazz has been characterised by a pluralism in which there’s not one style that dominates but rather a wide range of active genres and styles.
Jazz, like Blues, is among America’s greatest cultural achievements and exports to the world, giving powerful voice to the American experience. Uniting people across the divides of religion, race and national boundaries, it has always made powerful statements about freedom, creativity and American identity at home and abroad.
Listen in to our newly launched smooth Jazz show, hosted by Julian Perkins, every Sunday and Monday evening from 7-10p.m starting Sunday January 27th.
