Essay about Jazz Styles in America

Jazz music originated from the Black Americans in the beginning of the 20th century. It is characterised by improvisation, syncopation, and usually a regular or forceful rhythm. Instruments like the harmonica, trumpets and other percussion instruments are associated with jazz. Some jazz sub genres are swing, Dixieland, Blues, Free jazz, Acid/Fusion jazz and Bebop. Chicago and New Orleans are the two types of Jazz that are very popular and an instrumental and historical pathway to the introduction of the creation and entirety of Jazz music.

Jazz is a style of music composed of various instruments. Originating in New Orleans, Louisiana it is believed that jazz rose up from the traditional African American style of dance music. As Jazz progressed it became very adaptive including styles from Spanish, blues, folk, and orchestral. “Anthropologist call this process ‘Syncretism’— the blending together of cultural elements that previously existed separately.” (www.nytimes.com) This new style of music would soon start to catch the ears of those in the northern region of the United States. Jazz would make its way up to Chicago, New York, and Charleston branching out throughout the US.

     The music called Jazz was born sometime around 1895 in New Orleans. It combined elements of Ragtime, marching band music and Blues. What made Jazz such a different perspective of traditional music was its act of improvising. There was a widespread use of improvisation often by more than one player at a time. Songwriters would write the music down on a piece of paper, and then the Jazz musicians would try their best to play the music. Usually in a Jazz piece, musicians would use the song as a starting point to improvise around. Jazz musicians would play a familiar song to the audience, and by the time they were done with the piece they would stir up a totally different feeling away from the

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

This also affected the conservative populace of the suburbs who were afraid their young girls were mesmerized by the "black music." Jazz was so closely tied with to African American culture that it was often referred to as being "the accompaniment of the voodoo dancer" (Roaring 2). By referring to jazz in this manner, critics were trying to degrade and undermine everything that it meant to the black community. They were also trying to lure white Americans into their train of thought and trying to get them agree with their mind mapping accusations. "Many […] Americans were appalled to see their children dancing to music that was believed to have emerged from […] [the] Negro brothels of the south"(Roaring 2). In addition, a plethora of jazz critics became famous for voicing their dislike of jazz. But in fact, they hid behind their critiques of jazz in order to express, not the dislike of the music, "but the social and political dislike of the black population" (Anderson 135). The problem that worried white conservatives the most was interbreeding between black and white young people who were really into jazz mainly because it belonged to the new counter-culture. Jazz served as the highway that joined blacks and whites. Whites were not only racists towards blacks emotionally, but their prejudice expanded to influencing their physical behavior as well.

Jazz is an American music genre, founded by African-American musicians. It emerged in the early 1900s as its creators merged aspects from West African musical traditions with aspects from religious music and from many other types of popular music based on European traditions. While some elements of jazz were borrowed from other musical genres, the music that came forth was one of a kind, an art form of its own. A significant element of jazz is improvisation, the adjustment of a melody or countermelody as a song is being performed. Therefore, a song may be different every time it is played.

Jazz emerged towards the beginning of the 20th Century, but didn 't just spring up out of nowhere. Instead, it was a creation that developed from popular music styles of the 1800s that blended and combined them to entertain the nation and social dancers. The two main music styles that jazz consisted of were ragtime and the blues. Both ragtime and the blues had their beginnings in African-American communities. While both of these music styles strongly contributed to the creation of jazz and have a lot of similarities, they do have their differences. These differences lie within their origins, their elements that make up their styles and how these elements influenced jazz, and their artists and composers.

Knowledge of jazz has fallen far behind its development. Most people do not know the facts on jazz, only some generalities and stereotypes. Often being called America’s only original art form, jazz began as an ethnic music, but there is much more to jazz than music. It is difficult to think of jazz without thinking of African-American

Jazz music originated in New Orleans around the beginning of the 20th century, developing through various increasingly complex styles. These scores are generally marked by intricate, propulsive rhythms; polyphonic ensemble playing; improvisatory, virtuosic solos; melodic freedom and a harmonic idiom. These pieces range from simple diatonicism, through chromaticism, to atonality (Dictionary.com). The foundation of jazz is associated with the Black experience in the United States, but different cultures have added their own personal experiences and styles to this art form as well. As a result of jazz spreading around the world, it grew locally, regionally, and nationally in cultures. Each decade brought a new form of jazz including brass bands in the twenties, swing bands in the thirties, and smooth cool jazz in the forties.

A style of music that was created in the 20th century, Jazz has had a major impact on American culture. Originating from work songs African American slaves used to sing on plantations, the foundations of jazz first began as a three piece music group using instruments like the Fiddle, Banjo and the drum. These instruments formed a style known as Ragtime, which can be recognized as one of the first styles that marked the birth of jazz. Although jazz grew out of a lifestyle shaped by plantation life, over the course of the next hundred years, jazz evolved immensely, as it underwent many changes and branched off into various substyles. In the beginning of the 1900s, New Orleans style of Jazz also known as “Classic Jazz” became tremendously popular to all ethnicities. Performed by black, whites and African American creoles, Classic Jazz took the form of a small-band. These bands would performed at parties and dances with large brass instruments that had been salvaged from the civil war which include the clarinet, banjo, bass, guitar saxophone, cornet, trombone, tuba, drums and occasionally a piano. This dynamic new music combined syncopation of ragtime with modified popular melodies like marches, hymns work song and the blues. However in 1925 everything changed as Jazz introduced a new genre called Hot Jazz. This new style of jazz was characterized by spontaneous collective solos, that stirred up an emotional and “hot” climax. Additionally Hot Jazz was played with drums, banjo

     Before even hitting a year as a soloist, Miles Davis put out his first album as a soloist named Birth of the Cool. This was definitely something to be marked down on the timeline of Jazz. The album was accurately named, being responsible for the stardom of Cool Jazz, a movement that the very new to the Jazz movement, Miles Davis, invented within his first year of success. The Cool Jazz, which featured Gil Evans, first appeared in the latter days of 1949.

     Jazz is a style of music that began and has been revolutionized within the United States. Jazz music first appeared in the city of New Orleans and eventually moved onto Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City, and New York City. Jazz unites different elements of African, African- American, religious, brass brand, and blues style of music. The music of Jazz, and its changes through the years, is now a form of music that is known and respected throughout this nation and the world.

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.

Jazz was music to everyone no matter race or religion jazz brought everyone together. But where did the other types of music get their sense for style for that type of music was is influenced by Jazz? Was Jazz the start of new age music as pop, rock, rap, and R&B? Not just music in America what other types of music has jazz been a part of? All of these questions are hard to get answers to, but even some can’t get

Pbs.com Ken Burns states that just like all music jazz went through it trial era of music. The swing era was very popular through the early 1930’s into the late 1940’s. The swing style type of music consist of large number of band member featuring at least three to four saxophones, two or three trumpets, two to three trombones, a piano guitar and a bass violin. Not including the lead vocalist of the groups. Swinging was a life style that lifted anyone