The Influence Of Jazz On American Popular Music

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.

     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

Jazz is among one of the most interesting genres. It has encompassed all cultures since it arose in the late 18th century. Cool jazz, hot jazz, gypsy jazz, and many other sub-genres of Jazz have emerged throughout the years; however, it is seen through history that many of those sub-genres emerged during the Harlem Renaissance. This was a time period in the late 1920s and early 1930s in Harlem, a neighborhood within the northern section of New York that celebrated black intellect, black voice, and black ways of life. Jazz music was widely popular among that movement. Traditionally, Jazz is an improvisation and syncopation that showcases brass instruments, piano, and woodwind instruments. This genre will also generally have a forceful rhythm.

Eventually the periods branched into genres, which focused and categorized with even greater detail on each piece of music (Estrella par. 6). Jazz is a genre of music that originated in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. As jazz began to grow popular, it served as a means to bring young people together. It also settled some of the controversy between the blacks and whites, as it was a great unifier and social

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.

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 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.

Although Jazz has changed so much the central essence of Jazz has remained the same throughout all the changes in America. Jazz is seen as separate from the popular music industry. Capitalism is seen as cheapening and deteriorative force by Jazz musicians. What Jazz is today is accomplished by encompassing all music that has come before. This depth gives it roots and uniqueness

Once we understand how improvisation plays a role in the overall tune of jazz, we can then look to how jazz is communicated. To musicians, jazz is a language. It doesn’t limit to a yes or a no, but instead it communicates feelings that show our anger, happiness, sadness, and everything in the middle. It is unique in that it seems to transcend tradition language barriers. Though a man who speaks Spanish and another who speaks English cannot understand what the other is trying to say, jazz has a way that communicates the feelings behind the words, that

jazz was popular. Jazz most likely will end up not mattering. People like music that

The rhythm section (piano, guitar, bass, and drums) maintained a steady, even beat; the saxophone and brass sections countered each other with harmonized riffs and repeated figures, with section leaders improvising over this background (Stewart, 1979).

Jazz originated in New Orleans as a byproduct to the unique culturally rich environment that encompassed the city in the 19th and 20th century. Jazz has a long history with many influential artists, which made it one of the most diverse genres of our time (Basin 2014). Jazz emerged as a part of a broad musical revolution encompassing many genres with a large contribution from people of African heritage. Charles Bolden was one of the most influential artists and is credited as the principle leader of the Jazz era. All in all, Jazz is a diverse genre with a rich past encompassing many strong musicians (McNulty 2015).