What is Jazz?
This is a common question that is often asked.
To begin, I will try to tell you what it is NOT.
It is not the act of painting a dull article in bright colours – the expression often used being “jazzing it up”.
It is not an adjective used to describe a period of social history associated with a new style of music and the pleasure-seeking people who made it popular.
In addition, it is not a motor car made by Honda.
Jazz is a musical art form in its own right. It originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. It came to be recognized as a major form of musical expression in traditional and popular music. Jazz is based around continual improvisation which involves the players creating musical lines on the spot which will be different from the same piece played either beforehand or later on. This music, jazz, can trace its beginnings to the African rhythmic traditions brought over by the enslaved being merged with the European musical influences that came from the slave owners. As time progressed, new musical ideas emerged. The slave workers began to use western instruments, especially the simple guitar from which they began to deliver a style of music that projected the melancholy mood they experienced. Thus, we started to hear the first “blue notes” which would become the foundation of most jazz pieces from that day on. Later additions to the toolbox would be call and response vocals, polyrhythms, swing and complex chords, all being used in the aforementioned improvisation.
The music started to develop and there are stories of jazz bands performing around New Orleans as the 19th century gave way to the 20th. The first major development occurred in February 1917. The first ever jazz recording was made by the Original Dixieland Jass Band and was two sides of a then standard 78RPM record. The titles were Dixieland Jass Band One Step / Livery Stable Blues. However, it is the B side (Livery Stable Blues) that is the only one remembered.
From this humble beginning, jazz spread, first across the USA and then Europe and the rest of the world. In doing so, it has absorbed national, regional, and local musical cultures giving rise to many different styles. The original New Orleans style changed bit by bit as musicians moved around the USA and soon the listening public began to want more and organized jazz orientated big bands began to appear with each tune arranged for the full band but including fully improvised solo performances.
These big bands proved to be the starting point for many of the individual players who appeared on the scene after World War 2. By this time, the big band swing era was on the wane so players had to make their own way musically. From here on a variety of jazz styles have continued to develop and still do. Such is the diversity of the newly developing styles that there is often differences of opinion for each one.
In my brief introduction, I mentioned “jazzing it up”. This erroneous statement infers that all jazz is bright and sparkling. The exact opposite is true. Yes there are performances that lift the spirit and get feet tapping, but there is also the slow meditative performance that, in some cases, can be listened to in quiet reflection.