The Evolution Of Jazz And The Jazz Age

Jazz. One of the music genres that all but demolished its competition back in 1920s and for several decades after. It was so popular, it had its own period of time known as the “Jazz Age” in the 1920s. It was also home to some very famous artists like Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong, and Duke Ellington. However, in the 21st century, it seems like no one really talks about jazz anymore. It has become one of the worst genres in terms of sales and it’s generally never talked about outside of certain social circles. So is Jazz dead? Or has the crowd just never given modern jazz a try? Do people just hold the idols from the 20s in such high regard that they don’t accept the new jazz? Or has the crowd just moved on? Many say Jazz is dead, however

However, Jazz has always been changing. It all started with the Congo Square back in the 19th century. According to Ted Gioia, “the Congo Square was a place where slaves were able to take place in dances” (New York Times). The Congo Square was an open area where the slaves could actually have a little fun. Eventually the dancing wasn’t enough so they brought in music. Percussion and string instruments virtually identical to those characteristic of indigenous African music. Later documents add knowledge of the public slave dances in New Orleans but still leave many questions unanswered. There is one thing clear, the accounts of the Congo Square dances provide a with a real time and place and an actual transfer of the African ritual to the native soil of the New

Tonal Jazz is what most people think of when they hear the word “jazz”. Including big-band swing, bebop, and the mainstream jazz that followed it, excluding music like modal jazz, free jazz, and various jazz fusion styles. Tonality is the arrangement of pitches and/or chords of a musical work in a hierarchy of perceived relations, stabilities, attractions and directionality. Tonal Jazz is a vital tool for analyzing tonal music in general. It also Leads to many productive insights into a wide variety of music. The character of a piece of music as determined by the key in which it is played or the relations between the notes of a scale or