Jazz

Jazz is a group of musical styles that originated in the United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The etymology and history of the term "jazz" is obscure and disputed, but not much less than the history and precise nature of the music itself.

Jazz arose in a number of U.S. cities at the end of the nineteenth century, but its first great centre was without doubt New Orleans. It grew from the combination of a variety of black musical traditions, including ragtime, blues, spirituals, and marching band music. It was distinguished by (especially group) improvisation, and took over various elements of the earlier traditions, especially syncopation.

By the 1920s, the leading jazz musicians had begun to move out from New Orleans to cities such as Chicago, and New York, looking for better lives. This inevitably led to the evolution of regional styles, given the distances involved and the scarcity of recordings and mass-media outlets. The most significant development, however, soon became a national phenomenon: swing.

Sources and external links

• All About Jazz
  • "What is Jazz? Good question..." by Jason West
• "Jazz music" — BUBL Link
• A Passion for Jazz
• The Red Hot Jazz Archive — "A History of Jazz before 1930"
  • "The Origins of Jazz" by Len Weinstock