Jazz


 * Jazz**

Jazz is primarily an American musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. Its style is evident in its use of blue notes, improvisation, polyrhythms, syncopation, and the swung note. In the 20th century, jazz has developed a variety of subgenres, from New Orleans and 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 from the 1950s and 1960s, jazz-rock fusion from the 1970s, and late 1980s developments such as acid jazz, which blended jazz influences into funk and hip-hop."

Jazz can be hard to define because it spans from Ragtime waltzes to 2000s-era fusion. While many attempts have been made to define jazz from points of view outside jazz, such as using European music history or African music, jazz critic Joachim Berendt argues that all such attempts are unsatisfactory. One way to get around the definitional problems is to define the term “jazz” more broadly. Berendt defines jazz as a "form of art music which originated in the United States through the confrontation of blacks with European music"; he argues that jazz differs from European music in that jazz has a "special relationship to time, defined as 'swing'", "a spontaneity and vitality of musical production in which improvisation plays a role"; and "sonority and manner of phrasing which mirror the individuality of the performing jazz musician".

Popular Jazz Songs:
 * Don't Get Around Much Anymore - Nat King Cole
 * It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing) - Duke Ellington
 * It's Almost Like Being in Love - Frank Sinatra

Literary Movement Music of the 20th Century (Home)