Jazz is a genre of music that was introduced around 1900 by African Americans. The styles in this genre of music can greatly vary. Most often, the time signature is in 4/4 time, though in jazz it can vary
greatly and still retain the same jazz flavor. The most common pattern in jazz music is that of the 32-measure form of 1121, where the first eight measures are played, the second eight measures are a repeat of the first eight, the third measures have a new melody or rhythm (this part is called the "bridge" or the "release"), and the fourth of the eight measures is a repeat of the first.
The most common instrumentation in jazz music starts off with the piano, the stringed bass, and the drums. Other instruments can be added, such as the guitar and other wind instruments, such as the various types of saxophones, trumpets, and trombones. The clarinets, too, can be part of the instrumentation.
Many of the aspects of African American folk music contributed to jazz, along with European aspects of music and also the popular form of music at that time, including ragtime. It was at about 1900 that a solid form of jazz emerged in New Orleans, Louisiana (in the United States of America). A solid instrumentation emerged (though it would obviously change over time). The trumpet player played the main melody. The clarinet player played the second melody. The trombone player played the chords along with the rhythm. The tuba or stringed-bass player played the bass line, and the drum player would provide more of the rhythm. As for the content of the music, the players preferred to make the music loud and exciting.
No jazz group recorded until 1917. The first band to ever record a jazz song was a group named "The Original Dixieland Jazz Band" There were two other groups by the names of the "New Orleans Rhythm Kings" and the "Creole Jazz Band" that recorded their music.
During the 1920s the jazz center was moving from New Orleans to Chicago and New York, where the style of music was beginning to change. Inspired by Louis Armstrong, who was the first soloist in jazz, more bands were beginning to have more soloist parts, and the music was becoming more complicated in the ways of rhythms and styles. By this time, the saxophone became part of the instrumentation.
In the Harlem section of New York, also about 1920, jazz pieces for the piano were starting to become popular. One style, called stride piano, in which a fierce tone would be played. Another was a form of blues that was called boogie-woogie. For this style, while the bass had a constant rhythm, the main melody would go freely in whatever way the player wanted it to go. This music was popular in the 1920s and the 1940s.
Also during the 1920s, during the "swing" era, another type of jazz, called "big-band" because so many jazz groups would get together to play the music, formed. This style of music remained popular because of its distinctive swing beat. Along with this new style of jazz, current jazz artists were developing jazz versions of classical and popular pieces.
Around 1940, many big bands had been driven out of business due to a decline in popularity. It was then that a person named Charlie Parker started a new form of jazz called bebop, rebop, or just bop. This form of jazz had a faster tempo than previous versions of jazz. This too, became popular for quite a while. In the late 1940s, big band music came up again, and modern big bands were playing with pianists to mix jazz styles.
Yet another style of music, modal jazz, came up around 1955. This form of jazz was played with velocity, yet it was rich in tone and not hurried along. Many of the jazz pieces could be played in this way. Later on, more aspects of other genres were being added, including the rhythm aspects of Latin music.
In the late sixties, since young people were turning away from jazz to listen to more modern music, such as rock music, and older people stopped listening to jazz, a new form of jazz had to be developed. It was called fusion jazz because it fused other aspects of more modern music, therefore rejuvenating it.
Today, jazz is still popular among many. It is played on the radio, and there are still music albums being made in this popular, dynamic style.
