All about Jazz History

Jazz started out with a mixture of many types of music. It's roots date back to the 1880's with African origins. Jazz combines elements of African music with elements of Western European music. The birthplace of that combination, which is Jazz, is said to be New Orleans. One theory as to why New Orleans is the birthplace is contributed to the black Creole subculture.The Creoles were originally from the West Indies and lived under the Spanish and French rule in Louisiana. They became free Americans under the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. The Creoles spoke Spanish and French and lived in the high society of the French district in New Orleans. The Creoles took pride in their formal knowledge of the Western European music and their social and cultural values that classified them as upper class. Their music focused on sight-readings and correct performances for they played at the Opera House and chamber ensembles.

On the West Side of New Orleans live the uneducated, culturally and economically poor American blacks. Their music was based on simple melodies and complex cross-rhythms mixed in with verbal slurs, vibrato, syncopated rhythms, and "blues notes". The songs they sang were mostly spiritual or sung to pass the time of hardship and hard labor. The songs were actually encouraged because the workers seem to work better with the soothing effects of the music. Their music was characterized more by memorization and improvisation, and not of formal training.

In 1894, the segregation laws were in effect in New Orleans, which forced the upper class Creoles to live on the West Side with the poor, uneducated American blacks. The mixture of the two styles of music and two cultures clashed and created the start of Jazz.

Jazz changed and new forms were developed often. Between the 1890 and the 1900, "Ragtime" and the Blues was the new craze. New Orleans seemed to be the Mecca of new artists and sounds that included everything including but not limited to brass band, Ragtime, marches, pop, dances, and Blues. The music spread to the north and west through migrating travelers and records. Jazz really came into effect by the 1920's when the whites adapted and imitated it. Some of the leaders of the popular Jazz bands include Joe "King" Oliver, Louis Armstrong, and Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton. These bands played in a style that would come to be known as Dixieland.Dancing became the latest craze during the late 30's. Many people wanted to shake off the depression by dancing. So Jazz music developed into new types of music to dance to.

By the 1940's Jazz has developed into many styles of music. There were Bop, Traditional, Swing, Dixieland, and Latin influences of Jazz. Jazz has a variety of forms, even today. Acid Jazz is the most recent form of Jazz. It is becoming more and more popular these days. Jazz has such a great mixture of rhythm and beats that Jazz will never cease to exist. To view great photographs and listen to some great Jazz songs from the golden age of Jazz visit the American Memory Library of Congress.