A lot of people also listened to swing and bop music. Swing and bop also had a lot in common. Both were played in small groups, and usually had only a couple of instruments such as a trumpet, a saxophone, a piano, a bass and some drums. In the mid 1930’s it was said, "Swing is the king". Some people think that the 1930’s were the only years that jazz was popular.

Another kind of popular jazz music was bebop. Bebop was born in the 1940’s. Some other names for bebop were bop and simply bop, but simply bop was created later in bebop’s life. Bebop musicians were usually Black; most had been poor during their early years. The bebop revolution was somewhat rhythmic, while swing tunes were played with four beats as the time signature.

    Jazz started with the Blues, which was created by the African Americans. It’s called the Blues because the singer sings about bad things that happened to him or her, like loneliness or heartbreak. If you feel bad, some people say that if you play the Blues you will feel happy. That is very strange, because blues means not feeling so great.

The Africans created call and Response. The call in Call and Response means to "ask a question". In jazz, that means to play a section of a song. The response in Call and Response means to "copy the question". In jazz, that means to play the same music as the call. It’s like the game "Follow the Leader", because the response copies the call, just like the people copy the leader.

Dixieland is a form of jazz that is based on New Orleans’ music style. This music is a very cheerful, happy, tap-your-feet kind of music. It also is called "ragtime". It’s played in parks on Sunday afternoons for people of all ages to enjoy. One of the first bands to play Dixieland music was the "Original Dixieland Jazz Band".

Improvisational jazz is created as it is played. First, musicians study a piece of music. Then, as they play together, some of the musicians even make up new sections to the song that they studied.

Modal means scale. This type of jazz doesn't use the traditional chords. It uses very strange sounding chords, but then in a way it sounds very good. Modal style jazz is very lively. It is lively because its rhythm is very active.