Story of Jazz Music

     So what's Jazz? (From Wikipedia) "Jazz is a music genre that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th century American popular music. Its West African pedigree is evident in its use of blue notes, improvisation, polyrhythms, syncopation, and the swung note."


    So now we've already known that jazz is a fusion of African and European music. But do you know the origin of jazz music? It began in 1808 when half of million African were moved to United States by Atlantic slave trade. The slaves largely came from West Africa and brought strong tribal music traditions with them. The African tradition made use of a single-line melody and call-and-response pattern, but without the European concept of harmony. Rhythms reflected African speech patterns, and the African use of pentatonic scales led to blue notes in blues and jazz. 

    Musical instruments that is commonly used in jazz music are saxophone, trumpet, trombone, piano, guitar, double bass, vibraphone and drums. But nowadays musicians could play jazz music with other instruments. Such as harmonica, flute, electric bass, synthesizer and even traditional musical instruments. 

    There are many of jazz subgenres and fusion genres. The popular jazz subgenres are Swing, Bebop, Avant-garde Jazz, Big Band and Latin Jazz. Fusion genres of jazz are Acid Jazz, Bossa Nova, Smooth Jazz, Jazz Fusion, Soul Jazz, Funk, Hard bop, Nu Jazz, Crossover Jazz etc.