Ragtime And The Life Elements Of Early Jazz

The relation between Blues and Jazz music can be discovered if we look closely and scrutinize the origins of both the music genres. How one developed can be found out from the roots of the other as both the separate genres use similar sound patterns. Both of these genres belong to a different decade/era however, are closely linked to one another. In this essay I will deliver a brief history of both Blues and Jazz, their similarities, and also discuss how the advancement of technology has affected the way we hear both these genres of music.

Ragtime and Blues are two different styles of music that came together to make what is known as jazz music. Ragtime was more about freedom, fun, and giving the listener an elated feeling while Blue’s intent was to appeal to the listeners emotions and make them feel better about the troubles in their life. The way Jazz came about was the collaboration of these 2 very different styles of music. Due to very influential people in the music world like Jelly Role Morton, Joe Oliver, Louis armstrong, just to name a few, Jazz has flourished into the music known all over the world. Although Jazz and Ragtime have many differences, they also had many similarities and each style is significant to the amercement of jazz.

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

Black folk traditions like spirituals and “ragged music” evolve into the blues, ragtime, and jazz.

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 is the world - famous music genre that originated from the African - American communities that existed during the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the town of New Orleans, United States. The genre of jazz has many subgenres which have evolved over time to give us current modern day jazz. The two jazz genres which will be compared and contrasted in this essay will be the two subgenres; Bebop, and Ragtime Jazz, which differ but at the same time have some similarities.

Out of the streets of New Orleans, a new form of music arose. This new type of music was not known as African or European, but simply American. It was jazz. In 1900 jazz first developed, but it wasn’t until the

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

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

     Jazz music is a blending of both black and white tradition and heritages. New Orleans was the center of many different ethnicities, such as French, Spanish, American, and African

It goes without saying that Jazz as a music genre was influenced very much by the New Orleans musicians. Almost every jazzman accepts the fact that he was somehow influenced by the classic jazz tunes, melodies and improvisations of the old New Orleans. Thus, this period of time, when New Orleans was one of the greatest centers of jazz music should be described and analyzed accordingly. First, it should be noted that the early jazz musicians used to perform in venues throughout New Orleans, especially across the bars and/or brothels (Cooke, 1999). The mixture of the bands playing there was of the highest diversity, as numerous dance bands were playing along with the marching bands. Nevertheless, all these bands were mostly arranged and organized

that first appeared in the 1890s, was composed for the piano, and each rag is a

The origins of jazz music and dance are found in the rhythms and movements brought to America by African slaves. The style of African dance is earthy; low, knees bent, pulsating body movements emphasized by body isolations and hand-clapping. As slaves forced into America, starting during the 1600’s, Africans from many cultures were cut off from their families, languages and

One cannot speak about music especially in America with referencing Jazz or the Blues. The two genres of music are synonymous with the American music scene originating from Southern America. Their similar point of origin has caused much confusion in distinguishing the two mainly due to the way today’s artists’ music crossover. Both Jazz and Blues, are two independent genres that formed concurrently in the 20th century and were produced at the same time.

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