Sunday, February 26, 2012

The History Of Jazz Music

Jazz is actually a type of music that hadn't been clearly defined as a result of various influences of various musical traditions since its evolution. However, its stylistic roots may be traced from the combination of early styles, the Blues, Folks and Ragtime - the earliest musical style that started in the U. S. around 1800's. Jazz's cultural origin was generally recognized during the early 1910's in New Orleans. Its early development was mainly associated with the coming together of African folk music and European classical music traditions.

Jazz is among America's notable cultural achievements that has spread all throughout the world. This kind of music proved as being a music legacy that has continued to unite people in the expression of passion, freedom, emotion and life experiences. This music is usually observed as having strong rhythms but this genre could vary as musicians may have varying interpretations of the music. Today, jazz musicians use saxophone, piano, trumpet, bass and drums (to name a few) to produce a beautiful melody to this music.


Since its birth in the early 20th century, jazz morphed right into a number of subgenres and styles. The music dictionary will walk you through from the time of its birth. Let's take take a peek at how some genre was formed along with their contribution to the jazz music that we now love today. 

Dixieland, also referred to as New Orleans Jazz, Hot Jazz or Early Jazz was probably created from the first original Dixieland Jazz Band - a New Orleans Group who spread the popularity of jazz music from Chicago, New York to California. The instrumentation ensemble employed in Dixieland jazz-style includes trumpet, trombone, clarinet, as well as the saxophone, while banjo, string bass piano, drums are played for the rhythm section.

Within this era of Great Depression, the big band ensemble brought relief to the American homes using their swing jazz music. The growth of the Big Band, which was comprised of 10 players or even more, made jazz music quite popular that catapulted Ellington's, Basie's, Goodman's, and Herman's music as well as music legends Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, Joe Williams and Bing Crosby to superstardom during their time.


Unlike the Big Band ensemble that was made up of 10 players or more, Bebop came to being as a totally different style. It featured 4 to 6 players that played jazz music as a mix of melodies, structure and irregular duration of phrases which made this music interesting to listeners. This style was eventually viewed as one of the modern subgenres of jazz in the 1960's.

Free jazz is a radical departure from the previous styles. This extreme approach to jazz music attempted to infuse new sounds from non-Western music traditions like the music of Asia and what was considered the "Avante Garde" music. Free Jazz was described as experimental and not easy to many listeners. Change in pitch and tone quality characterized the innovation. Massive changes were attempted by this era's musicians.

Jazz Fusion, also known as Jazz-rock characterizes the fusion of the energy and new rhythms of Rock music. Fusion musicians improvised jazz music by mixing funk and R&B combined with the amplification and upshots of electronic instruments like synthesizer, electric guitar, electric bass, electronically-processed woodwind and brass instruments and much more of percussion, whilst the rhythm section used a range of syncopated repeated notes to produce beats.

Acid jazz is in reality, a term used to refer to an array of music. Out of the facets of jazz to funk and hip-hop, musicians focused more about instrumental music instead of the lyrics. It is not widely recognized as being a subgenre of the mainstream jazz given that it didn't came from traditional origins, unlike other members of the genre.

It is sometimes called electronic jazz, neo jazz, jazztronica, electro jazz. Nu jazz is a term used to refer to the blending of jazz elements with an array of musical styles. Funk, electronic dance music, soul and also the mixture of free music include the main innovations in this grouping of music styles during the 90's.

As Paul Whiteman, the king of Jazz once said "Jazz tickles parts of your muscles, symphonies stretch your soul." It is certainly the music of every soul. To learn more about the aforementioned terms, simply go to our music dictionary page.

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