History of Jazz
Improvisational. Creative. Mischievous. Genius. Exciting. Unique. These are all words used to describe one of the most invigorating, influential and provoking genres of our time, Jazz. Jazz evokes human emotion in an array of different ways more so than another genre of the pre-fifties generation of music. Jazz can be upbeat, or sultry, fun or serious. This is due to the fact, that Jazz is the melting pot of elements of Ragtime, Blues, and marching band sounds. All that jazz actually began in the late 19th century down in New Orleans. This new sound that grabbed elements from the Blues and Ragtime, among other influences, and was most notable one of the most unique and intricate forms of music that anyone had ever heard. What made Jazz such a unique and interesting tour de force was its prevalent use of improvisation. This was the first time a genre bent the western musical archetype, and yet strangely it felt completely natural, more so than the premeditated music of the time. In the old formula, a composer wrote a song and the instrumentalists played it exactly as written, but with Jazz a group of musicians used the composed piece as a mere starting point from which to
Jazz is an immeasurable resource to the world of music. As the United State's most indigenously celebrated genre before the 1950's, Jazz became a communication that the whole world could understand. Jazz grew from New Orleans, through the United States and past the oceans to achieve a unique blend that cannot be matched. Though Jazz seemed to loose its popularity by the late forties, its presence is inevitable in any type of music that came after it. Jazz will never die, and will continue to influence modern music to this day. By the end of the twenties and the early thirties, thanks to the publicity that New York caused for the Jazz scene, more and more American cities seemed to have jumped on the Jazz bandwagon. Known as Territory Bands, smaller Jazz bands in more rural areas began to emerge. Some of these emerging cities included Kansas City, Oklahoma City, St. Louis, Memphis and Detroit. "By the 1930's, Jazz was a music that had moved away form the older lowdown forms of blues...it was a music that still relied on older Afro-American musical tradition, but one that had begun to utilize still greater amounts of popular American music as well as certain formal European traditions." (Garofalo 64) go from. The song could have easily been a popular song of the times, but by the time the group had collaborated they had formed a completely new, fresh and alive piece of music, that usually bore little or no resemblance to the original. An interesting fact too, is that Jazz musicians usually could not sight read, if they could read music at all. Throughout Jazz's many incarnations through the years its soul catching recipe of melody, rhythm, improvisational imperfections and harmonious hooks have captivated audiences. Jazz has maintained its appealing entreaty with three main characteristics, "Swing, individual code, and its ecstatic function." (Kernfeld ) These three elements are not limited to Jazz, in fact they could possibly be credited to most forms of music, but to Jazz they are essential. It wasn't until the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, that Jazz came to the forefront. It was the recordings of the Original
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Approximate Word count = 1449
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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