Jazz Effects On America

The birth of jazz music is often credited to African Americans, though it didn’t take long to expanded to America's white middle class. Jazz, therefore, was characterised by a meshing of African American traditions and ideals with white middle class societies. Big cities like New York and Chicago were

Jazz has always been a part of the American tradition. Some may say they like Jazz for its rhythmic twist and turns. Others may love the soothing melodies from an improved Trumpet solo. All in all, Jazz has been an American staple and has molded today’s popular music, into what it is today. It’s very different from classical music, which is written out and strict. Jazz is much more. It’s made up of spontaneity and improvisation, which makes up an idea on the spot. There are many wide varieties in Jazz. There is Bebop Jazz, Avante Garde Jazz, Acid Jazz, Free Funk Jazz, Soul Jazz, Swing Jazz, and many, many more! These forms of Jazz can be seen and heard in some of your favorite music of Today. It’s been widely used by the world. There is an important reason as to why this genre contributes to the growing of music. We first take a look into the root of all Jazz. In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, the country of Africa was the first known country to use rhythm primarily for the element of musical expression, and ensembles composed entirely of percussion instruments created extended polyrhythmic works. These polyrhythms, which means the “layering of multiple rhythms.”, were record in Western music. African music did not use paper, or sheet music. Instead, they relied on Aural rituals, learned by ear and also used” spontaneity, which is later said to be known as improvisation”. In Africa, most of the music that was expressed was for religious

Jazz music is a blend of white middle class thoughts and African American traditions. Jazz originated in New Orleans in the beginning of the 1920’s. The Jazz Age was from 1920 through 1929. During the 1920’s, the First World War had just ended in 1918 and the Great Depression was affecting the citizens of the United States. Jazz music and dancing helped people forget about the terrible Great Depression. It gave the citizens a reason to be happy and love life during the 1920’s. The new form of music allowed people to express themselves in new ways. Jazz music was influenced by African American musicians, changed the music industry all over the world, and affected the society.

The Jazz Age was a national undertaking that took place in America during the 1920’s, also known as “the Roaring Twenties” from which both jazz music and dance emerged. Despite the era ending with the beginning of The Great Depression in the 1930’s, jazz has lived on in American pop culture. The birth of jazz music is often credited to African-Americans, but it soon expanded to America’s white middle class. This resulted in jazz being combined by both African-American traditions and ideals with white middle class society.

Jazz is a music genre that has complex characteristics and history of development and thus many musicians and scholars face troubles in defining what jazz is. In general, jazz is believed to have born in New Orleans. Jazz developed for the pleasure of the social dancers. According to the “Understanding Jazz: What Is Jazz?” of John F. Kennedy center for the Performing Arts, Jazz was created mainly by Afro-Americans, and had elements of European and Afro-American culture. Also, it emphasizes few elements of Jazz, which are swing-feel, syncopation, and improvisation. These different culture and elements of jazz may be explained by how jazz

Furthermore, the jazz musicians create their own unique sound and flair allowing differentiation among playing styles. Many times, bringing a fresh new spin on an old familiar song. Jazz was born and evolved in America. In fact, “In 1987 the joint houses of congress passed a resolution declaring jazz an American National Treasure” (Jazz in America, n.d.).

Until the past year or so, I considered jazz to be an out dated style of music that only elderly folks enjoyed listening to in their retirement homes. However, jazz has immense influence from the cultural integrations that took place during the early days of America. Cultural influences such as religion, politics, race, socioeconomic status, and musical ideologies from both the Americans and the Africans meshed together which formed the genre of jazz that I personally love and enjoy. These cultural influences played a major role in shaping jazz into a specific art form/genre. Before, during, and after America declared independence from Britain many African slaves were introduced into this new land through means of the middle passage.

America during the 20th century was said to be a “melting pot” of cultures. A bit like America today, people from all over the world came together there. As a result, the population was exposed to a cosmic range of music. European classical music, American blues, and South American songs and rhythms came together to form what became known as jazz. However, it wasn’t always embraced by all.

As jazz began to gain popularity, it changed American life throughout the 1920’s. Before jazz music, American societies were plummeting. World War I caused a series of unfortunate events for America. Starvation, limited resources, and racial prejudice were only a few factors to society’s downhill slide. However, the changing attitudes of the 1920’s began to uplift American spirits. Jazz

Dance and music clubs became tremendously popular in an effort to improve the quality of life for many people. Jazz’s influence on America could be described as a positive for cultural diversions. This new genre of sound paved a way for artists to express their feelings, but also different types of music were created and jazz began to spread around the US.

Jazz is consider one of the most influential types of music an America History. Some of the greatest artist in the world have contribute to the success jazz have had not only on America History but throughout the world. This paper will explain the history of jazz, where it all came from and the effect it has had on the America Culture.

The Jazz Age represents a period in the 20th century starting from about the end of the first world war to the beginning of The Great Depression. During this time jazz became a popular genre of music and led to the creation of many sub-genres. It originated in New Orleans and other areas of the south eastern portion of the U.S. with Dixieland, which later on spread to other major cities and evolved into big band jazz and swing. It connected the drastically different cultures of the musically inclined individuals of New Orleans and the troubled african american culture of the south. This changed many people’s lives, giving them plentiful opportunities for gaining popularity in the musical epicenter of New Orleans.

The evolution of jazz music elevated aspects of African American popular culture for the first time in the United States. Jazz music intrigued many people in every social class. With the rise in the African American music in mainstream culture, there became a respect for African Americans that they had been deprived of for so long. Not only was jazz music founded by African Americans, but dances such as the Charleston were also developed by them. These new changes brought an African American style to a predominantly white cultural scene.

What exactly is the Jazz genre? Judging by Merriam Webster it defined as an American music developed especially from ragtime and blues and characterized by propulsive syncopated rhythms, polyphonic ensemble playing, varying degrees of improvisation, and often deliberate distortions of pitch and timbre. Although, for others

Jazz was inspired by African-American folk music, Blues and Ragtime in the early 20th century and introduced in New Orleans. According to the text book “Discovering Humanities”, “Jazz was “the” American music, and was almost as popular in Paris and Berlin as it was in New York, Chicago, and New Orleans” (468). The first feature of Jazz is improvisation, when a song was played there is no specific arrangement, it is spontaneously elaborated around a specific song (Listen, 386). A second feature is that there is a rhythmic style that involves highly developed syncopation. Syncopation occurs when accents in