What Exactly is Jazz, Anyway?
If you listen to a dozen renditions of the same song by different jazz musicians, each one will probably sound categorically different. One of the key elements of jazz is taking something familiar, a favorite song, and making it fresh and personal. Jazz is considered “America’s classical music.” This style of music relies on improvisation, local culture, and music traditions. Simply asking “what is jazz” would get you dozens of answers.
Jazz has many styles, musicians and recordings. This genre started out as a medium for social change for minorities in 20th century New Orleans. If you listen to Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit”, you can feel the power of jazz music as it pertained to the Civil Rights Movement. Jazz music is one style of music that captures raw emotions very well.
Where and When Did Jazz Originate?
The 1920s might be known as the Jazz Age, but jazz music was around before the Roaring Twenties. In the history of jazz music, New Orleans is considered the birthplace of jazz. It emerged from a blend of music found in African culture, ragtime, blues, and marches. The same instruments used by marching bands that played at lavish funerals and in dance halls would become the instruments of this genre.
At first, jazz was simply for dancing. It was popular and played in many illicit speakeasies. Much like these speakeasies that served alcohol illegally, Jazz was considered immoral. The older generation considered the music a threat to its cultural values, but that didn’t stop the musicians.
Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington were just a few of the great musicians to come out of the 1920s as jazz artists and trailblazers. In the 1930s, jazz and swing became more mainstream as it was broadcasted over the radio. Although America was segregated at the time, jazz musicians were able to cross over. The divide between white and black was blurred when it came to celebrating the talents of jazz music.
How to Play Jazz
In the past 100 years, jazz has gone through many different styles. From bebop of the 1940s, which made jazz more of an art than dance music, to modal jazz, which relies on a specific musical scale or mode. Today’s jazz might be considered fusion or avant-garde. Most people think there are only a few kinds of jazz: sweet, hot or cool.
Hot jazz is characterized by high energy, fast tempo, and a heavy rhythm. Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong and Charlie Parker, the inspiration for Birdland, were just a few of the musicians who played hot jazz.
Cool jazz was born in the 1950s as a counterpoint to Bebop. Cool jazz might have been inspired by classical music, with relaxed tempos. Lester Young is one of the musicians that inspired cool jazz, but Miles Davis probably created it.
Once considered America’s only native art form, jazz music is now played all around the world. What sets jazz apart from other genres is its improvisation and attention to the present. Even though Jazz music was created by blending different styles of music together, it has managed to retain its true identity through the decades.
Enjoy an Evening of Jazz With Dinner in New York City
Come to Birdland to enjoy dinner and a jazz show, featuring modern artists that riff on the jazz musicians of yesterday. You can also enjoy southern cooking that will take you on a trip to New Orleans, preserving the heritage of jazz and promoting it for the next generation.
