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.
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
Bebop is revolutionary because its skills and like swing, bebop was still a music that prized virtuosity; if anything, its standards were higher. But were seeing by most people as an outsider’s music steeped in drug abuse and tainted with an atmosphere of racial hostility. It was evolutionary because it firmly placed in the center of jazz tradition while acknowledging that its status was altered to that of self-conscious art music.
The Jazz Age was a cultural movement that took place in America during the 1920 's (also known as "the Roaring Twenties") from which both jazz music and dance emerged. This movement matched with both the equally phenomenal introduction of mainstream radio and the conclusion of World War I. The 1920s was the decade that marked the beginning of the modern music era. Some of the popular music genres were Jazz, Dance Bands, Blues, and Broadway. The decade marked the beginning of independent record companies, smaller operations that weren’t afraid to take a chance on music and artists that the bigger companies shied away from.
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.
Jazz was a hit in the 1920s, African Americans were given credit for leading the jazz industry, the Jazz industry had an amazing impact on many other popular cultures. Jazz was the favorite type of music among the flappers. The Jazz age was known to be powered by the prohibition of alcohol.
Picture this: the year is 1926 and you are walking down the street in downtown Chicago. You pass a crowded club, where you hear the upbeat and speedy rhythms of music pouring out. The sound consumes you, fills you with joy, and persuades you to dance. You walk into the club to find numerous people swinging and tossing themselves around each other, enjoying the fast-paced and boisterous music. This is the appearance of jazz music, and in the early 20th century, jazz music swept the nation. With artists like Jelly Roll Morton, Joe King Oliver, Sidney Bichet , Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, jazz filled the souls of Americans, promoting a free and fun lifestyle. Although these artists had different beginnings,
One of the most iconic happenings in this age was the creation of jazz. Jazz had always been popular in night clubs in the south but during the great migration, jazz was brought to the north. After just a few weeks, jazz was the new fad and everyone was playing it. “Jazz flouted many musical conventions with its syncopated rhythms and improvised instrumental solos…improvisation meant that no two performances would ever be the same…” (The Decade That Roared, page
The Jazz Age was a period in the early 20th century. It impacted our world, and music tremendously today in the 21st century. Influenced by the Harlem Renaissance, people such at Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington became well known names in the twenties.The radio, a powerful communication system that started in the twenties, became the world’s entertainment system.
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
to create new kinds of jazz. The most popular result of this trend to variety
Initially, the first jazz is said to have been played by funeral bands that wailed music full of soul and sadness as the followed horse drawn hearses down the streets of New Orleans. It was blues music though (Winfield 157). Many historians mark the start of the “Jazz Age” on November 12, 1917- the day the Department of the Navy closed a thirty-eight square-block neighborhood known as storyville in the city of New Orleans. Fearing the health of its sailors, the navy shut the doors of Storyville’s brothels and nightclubs, forcing
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
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.
Other developments led to the ``trumpet-piano'' style of Earl Hines and Teddy Weatherford and to the swing style of Duke Ellington. Some Historians consider ragtime to be the very first jazz style. Although it cannot actually be classified as jazz, ragtime is definitely a very influential part of jazz. In Louisiana at this time there was music everywhere. Ragtime bands and marching bands were joining together. Mexican bands were also and influence especially in the way the trumpets and horns were played. All this merging of different band sounds was important in the creation of jazz. Eventually the instruments used in marching bands crossed over into jazz instruments. The drums and clarinet filled in for the marching band instruments. New Orleans was such a melting pot for music and culture but it was also a party town. This party scene was also a part of how jazz was molded. The demand for fresh new music was high, which caused musicians to alter and elongate their styles. All the new creations and variations on the music in the end fused into jazz.