Distinctive Styles Of Jazz Essay

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The Distinctive Styles of Jazz throughout the Ages

Jazz was born by the African American community in New Orleans. Although it was founded in New Orleans the roots can be found in the musical traditions of both African and European cultures. Jazz gets it rhythm and blues quality from African music. Along with the tradition of playing an instrument in your own way from the African culture. However jazz got its harmony and instruments from Europe. Jazz is a combination of many different cultures and ethnicities. New Orleans was the origination of jazz mainly because New Orleans is a port city. Meaning there were people arriving from all parts of the world, it was a meeting place for people of different ethnic groups. The city was …show more content…

Ragtime originated in the southern U.S. during the late 1800 's. This music is made up by the vibrant rhythms that are often associated with African dancing. Scott Joplin was a great pianist from the era of ragtime. But as time when on the culture of jazz transitioned into a blues style. The blues style was another important influence on the development of jazz. Usually blues vocalists sang with the background instrumentation such as guitar, piano, and sometimes harmonica. One very important famous blues musician was Bessie Smith, she had a great impact on the blues era. As time went on jazz continued to change throughout history. The next jazz style was Dixieland aka traditional jazz that rose up in the early 20th Century. Dixieland jazz was a combination of blues, ragtime, and brass band. The common instruments in a Dixieland jazz-style group included clarinet, trumpet-cornet, trombone, and the saxophone. Normally the rhythm section included the banjo, drums, piano, tuba or string bass. Unlike blues Dixieland was usually performed without a vocalist. A few of Dixieland most talented jazz musicians were trumpeter Louis Armstrong, trumpeter Bix Beiterbecke and pianist Jelly Roll Morton. The Dixieland jazz phase died down when the Big band came along. Big band was a very popular style. A big band is an ensemble of 10 or more musicians. The Big Band played instruments such as saxophones, trumpets, piano,

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