jazz

jazz
Name	Jazz
Caption	Jazz performance with saxophone and piano
Cultural origins	Late 19th–early 20th century, New Orleans, Louisiana
Instruments	Saxophone, trumpet, trombone, piano, double bass, guitar, drum kit
Derivatives	Bebop, free jazz, fusion

jazz

Jazz is a musical tradition that emerged in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, combining African rhythmic heritage, European harmonic practices, and regional folk forms. It developed in urban centers and port cities where performers, ensembles, and institutions interacted, evolving through movements, scenes, and recordings that shaped global music, dance, and popular culture.

Origins and Early History

Early development occurred in New Orleans, Louisiana, with creole musicians, brass bands, and opera house players converging in venues like Storyville and social clubs. Influences included the work songs and spirituals associated with African American communities, minstrel show repertoires, and repertory from touring ensembles such as Buddy Bolden’s bands and parade units. Ragtime pianists like Scott Joplin and marching bands led by figures connected to the Spanish-American War era contributed syncopation and formal models, while early recordings by ensembles in Chicago and New York City transmitted styles northward via migration and record companies. The rise of recording firms and venues like Cotton Club and touring circuits enabled musicians to cross-pollinate repertory, instrumentation, and ensemble practice across regions including Kansas City and the Mississippi Delta.

Musical Characteristics and Forms

Characteristic rhythmic elements include syncopation, swing feel, and layered polyrhythms drawn from African diasporic practices and brass band interlocking parts. Harmonic language relies on extended tertian chords, modal interchange, and circle-of-fifths progressions inherited from European art music filtered through popular song forms such as 12-bar blues and 32-bar AABA standards. Formally, performance structures range from head-solo-head song cycles to through-composed arrangements, with common forms like the 12-bar blues, 32-bar songs associated with composers such as George Gershwin and Cole Porter, and strophic spiritual arrangements related to figures like Mahalia Jackson. Timbre and instrumentation emphasize winds (saxophone, trumpet, trombone), rhythm section roles (piano, double bass, drum kit, guitar), and techniques including mutes popularized by players like Bubber Miley and Joe "King" Oliver.

Key Styles and Periods

Early New Orleans and Dixieland ensembles evolved into larger swing-era big bands led by arrangers and bandleaders such as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Benny Goodman, and Glenn Miller. Bebop emerged in the 1940s around venues like Minton's Playhouse and innovators including Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, emphasizing fast tempos, complex harmony, and small-group virtuosity. Cool jazz and West Coast styles were associated with figures like Miles Davis and Gerry Mulligan, while hard bop integrated gospel and R&B influences via musicians such as Horace Silver and Art Blakey. Modal approaches crystallized in recordings like Davis’s seminal sessions with John Coltrane and Bill Evans, while avant-garde and free movements featured advocates including Ornette Coleman and Cecil Taylor. Fusion combined jazz with rock and electronic textures in projects involving Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, and Weather Report; contemporary scenes include neo-bop revivals and cross-cultural collaborations with artists from Brazil, India, and Africa.

Notable Musicians and Ensembles

Prominent figures across eras include early pioneers Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, and King Oliver; swing-era leaders Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, and Benny Goodman; bebop innovators Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, and Bud Powell; modal and post-bop contributors Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, and Wayne Shorter; avant-garde proponents Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, and Pharoah Sanders; fusion and contemporary artists Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Pat Metheny, and ensembles such as Weather Report and Mahavishnu Orchestra. Important institutions and orchestras include the Savoy Ballroom house bands, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, and international festivals like the Montreux Jazz Festival and Newport Jazz Festival, which promoted careers of soloists, sidemen, arrangers, and composers.

Cultural Impact and Social Context

Jazz intersected with social movements, nightlife economies, and mass media, shaping dance trends, radio programming, and record industry practices tied to labels such as Blue Note Records, Columbia Records, and Verve Records. It figured in debates over race, segregation, and cultural appropriation in cities including New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles', and played roles in transatlantic exchanges during tours sponsored by organizations like the State Department cultural diplomacy programs. Jazz influenced film scores, Broadway productions, and visual arts movements connected to patrons and venues such as the Apollo Theater; awards and institutional recognition came from entities like the Grammy Awards and municipal arts funding bodies, while archives and libraries in institutions like Smithsonian Institution preserved manuscripts, recordings, and ephemera.

Performance, Composition, and Improvisation

Performance practice balances composed arrangements, written charts by arrangers such as Billy Strayhorn, and spontaneous improvisation exemplified by soloists across eras. Compositional techniques include thematic development, reharmonization, contrapuntal ensemble writing, and orchestration for big bands, chamber groups, and soloists. Improvisation employs motivic variation, voice leading, substitution chords, and modes; pedagogy and formal study have been institutionalized in conservatories and programs at universities such as Juilliard School, Berklee College of Music, and Manhattan School of Music, while independent workshops and jam sessions in clubs and festivals sustain oral transmission and apprenticeship models.

Category:Music genres