Essay 1

This same type of feel is one of the most defining characteristics of modern jazz music. The idea of this pulse allows different players to play different rhythms at the same speeds. These complex rhythms mashed together, or polyrhythms, were introduced to the United States as the slave trade began to take its course. Afterwards, spirituals blossomed from “plantation Blacks who fused Western European harmonies with African songs, modalities, and practices” (Banfield, 96) such as polyrhythms. Spirituals were quite popular among the slave community and eventually gave birth to the next musical stepping stone to jazz, blues.

Characteristically, the bands played hymns on the way to funerals and lively marches on the way back. Although blues and ragtime had arisen independently of jazz, and continued to exist alongside it, these genres influenced the style and forms of jazz and provided important vehicles for jazz improvisation. Around the turn of the 20th century, the earliest fully documented jazz style emerged, centered in New Orleans, Louisiana. This city is often called the "cradle of jazz" ("History 101" 3). In this style, the trumpet carried the melody, the clarinet played showy countermelodies, and the trombone played rhythmic slides and sounded the root notes of chords or simple harmony.

On arrival in America, they were exposed to western musical styles that include harmonies, tonal sounds, along with unique beats and rhythms. This resulted in a raw version of what we know as Jazz. Some components of early jazz are still found in the many modern forms of music such as soul and reggae. Ragtime, considered to be the earliest type of jazz, was introduced in the very late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Also, ragtime was considered one of the most decorative and popular styles of music.

The first true virtuoso soloist of jazz, Louie Armstrong was a dazzling improviser, technically, emotionally, and intellectually. Armstrong, often called the "father of jazz," always spoke with deference, bordering on awe, of his musical roots, and with especial devotion of his mentor Joe Oliver. He changed the format of jazz by bringing the soloist to the forefront, and in his recording groups, the Hot Five and the Hot seven, demonstrated that jazz improvisation could go far beyond simply ornamenting the melody. Armstrong was one of the first jazz musicians to refine a rhythmic conception that abandoned the stiffness of ragtime, employed swing light-note patterns, and he used a technique called "rhythmic displacement." Rhythmic displacement was sometimes staggering the placement of an entire phrase, as though he were playing behind the beat.

In conclusion, jazz and hip-hop are both very interesting musical forms to study. Their origins are both mostly from the street, and were invented and perfected by blacks who were talented musicians with little or no training. Bibliography: References 1. Berendt, Joachim-Ernst; The Story of Jazz. Prentice-Hall, New Jersey, 1978.

Jazz could be what describes America to a “T” in the 1920s. It was very popular throughout the entire decade of the 1920s. This era was called “The Jazz Age”, which was a term coined by F. Scott Fitzgerald (Campbell 52). It not only affected music, but it also contributed to an entire cultural renaissance in Harlem, brought other cultural groups together in a time of segregation, and the lifestyle of many Americans throughout the 1920s. Jazz would be the mold for everything American in the 1920s and could possibly be one of the best things that ever happened to this country.

Genres that were adopted by jazz are opera, folk music, blues, a variety of church music, ragtime, and African drumming. All of those sounds merged together and became the face of jazz. “There is a tremendous variety in jazz; the music is rhythmic, has a forward momentum called "swing," and employs "bent" or "blue" notes” (Armstrong). My main argument is that jazz music has influenced other genres as well as cultures and artists around the world. Jazz music is formed within improvisation and other aspects of black music such as blues and ragtime to make a particular form of music (scholastic.com).

Jazz has a rich history that predates all the way to the mid 1800s. It is a form of music that originated from African Americans. Jazz was tied to the experiences African Americans suffered in America. Having nothing, enslaved African Americans entertained themselves through singing. As a result, jazz incorporates their songs, among other styles such as blues, to create a defining genre.

Jazz music originated from the African American culture, but spread quickly through the rest of America as the African Americans migrated north for new work (Great Neck Publishing). Jazz music was considered so unique because it allowed musicians the ability to express individuality and their own interpretations through the use of inflection, changing rhythms, and openness for improvisation during solos. One of the ways jazz music captivated its audience was through the musician’s use of inflection. The musician would often put extra emphasis on certain words or notes to intensify the music. Other ways artists used inflection were to accent, hold, or flatten the notes (Schuller 379).

Jazz only appeared as a kind of entertaining music, but since 1940, it is played in the Bars and Night Clubs and also is shown in the important concert performances. For more than 100 years of non-stop development, jazz has produced a talented musician as Louis Armstrong. He was the greatest man among of famous Jazz musicians, who contributed jazz music through his life and his songs. Louis Armstrong changed jazz into a solo art. He infused blues feelings, changed the rhythms and made it swing.