Jazz is an original American musical art form which originated around the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States out of a confluence of African and European music traditions. The use of blue notes, call-and-response, improvisation, polyrhythms, syncopation and the swung note of ragtime are characteristics traceable back to jazz's West African pedigree.^[1] During its early development, jazz also incorporated music from New England's religious hymns and from 19th and 20th century American popular music based on European music traditions.^[2] The origins of the word "jazz," which was first used to refer to music in about 1915, are uncertain (for the origin and history, see Jazz (word)).

Jazz has, from its early 20th century inception, spawned a variety of subgenres, from New Orleans Dixieland dating from the early 1910s, big band-style swing from the 1930s and 1940s, Bebop from the mid-1940s, a variety of Latin-jazz fusions such as Afro-Cuban and Brazilian jazz from the 1950s and 1960s, jazz-rock fusion from the 1970s and later developments such as acid jazz.

History

Origins

See also: Origins of the blues

African-Americans dance to banjo and percussion, around the 1780s.

By 1808 the Atlantic slave trade had brought almost half a million Africans to the United States, mostly to the . The slaves largely came from West Africa and brought strong tribal musical traditions with them.^[3] Lavish festivals featuring African dances to drums were organized on Sundays at Place Congo, or Congo Square, in New Orleans until 1843, as were similar gatherings in New England and New York. African music was largely functional, for work or ritual, and included work songs and field hollers. In the African tradition, they had a single-line melody and a call-and-response pattern, but without the Western concept of harmony. Rhythms reflected African speech patterns, and the African use of pentatonic scales led to blue notes in blues and jazz^[4]

The blackface Virginia Minstrels in 1843, featuring tambourine, fiddle, banjo and bones.

In the early 19th century an increasing number of black musicians learned to play Western instruments, particularly the violin, which they used to parody European dance music in their own cakewalk dances. In turn, European-American minstrel show performers in blackface popularized such music internationally, combining syncopation with European harmonic accompaniment. Louis Moreau Gottschalk adapted African-American cakewalk music, South American, Caribbean and other slave melodies as piano salon music. Another influence came from black slaves who had learned the harmonic style of hymns and incorporated it into their own music as spirituals.^[5] The origins of the blues are undocumented, though they can be seen as the secular counterpart of the spirituals. Paul Oliver has drawn attention to similarities in instruments, music and social function to the griots of the West African savannah under influence.^[6]

1890s-1910s

Shoe Tickler Rag, cover of the music sheet for a song from 1911 by Wilbur Campbell

"Song From A Cotton Field"

This 1920s classic jazz song by Bessie Brown has a clear blues influence.

"Take The 'A' Train"

This 1941 sample of Duke Ellington's signature tune is an example of the swing style.

"Yardbird Suite"

Excerpt from a saxophone solo by Charlie Parker. The fast, complex rhythms and substitute chords of bebop would change jazz forever.

"Mr. P.C."

This hard blues by John Coltrane is an example of hard bop, a post-bebop style which is informed by gospel music, blues and work songs.

"Birds of Fire"

This 1973 piece by the Mahavishnu Orchestra merges jazz improvisation and rock instrumentation into jazz fusion

"The Jazzstep"

This 2000 track by Courtney Pine shows how electronica and hip hop influences can be incorporated into modern jazz.

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