Development of Jazz and Blues

Development of Jazz and Blues

Jazz music traces its origin to a mixture of West Africa and European musical elements (Hoiberg , 2002 ,

. 641 .It is said that slaves from West Africa took with them their music when they came to North America (p . 641 . There , their music was exposed to European music . Thus , it is believed that jazz evolved from a fusion of these two elements- West Africa with its rhythm and structure and from Europe , harmony and the use of other instruments such as trumpet , trombone , saxophone and piano (p . 641 . The

fact that its roots were in the United States and not from South America or Caribbean where there were also African Blacks is rather interesting . However , African Blacks in those regions were emancipated and thus , had the chance to practice and promote their African music tradition (p . 642 . In the United States , however , there was slavery . Slaves were not able to retain their music tradition and had to rely to whatever was available to them at that time to make music . While it is unfortunate to think that such practice existed , had it not been for slave trade , we probably would not enjoy jazz music now Jazz music was heard in various occasions , from funeral processions and parades , hymns and religious events , even for work songs (p . 642 . When classically-trained black musicians could not find work , they turned to jazz and played in clubs

New Orleans was the place where jazz music evolved (Hoiberg , 2002 br

.642 . At that time , musicians were limited to seven instruments- cornet , clarinet , trombone , bass or tuba , piano , banjo and drums (p 642 . Saxophone made its way into jazz music only after ten years (p 642 . In 1915 , the place was teeming with jazz musicians . Among those who were well known were Buddy Bolden , Buddy Petit , and Bunk Johnson (p 643 . At this time , jazz has spilled over other places such as Kansas City , Colorado and had reached Los Angeles and New York City (p . 643 Jazz groups and orchestras had started to perform . Fate Marable 's orchestra , for instance , produced the great Louis Armstrong (p . 643 Armstrong invented swing but perhaps his greatest contribution to jazz music was introducing jazz to the entire world with his jazz recordings (p . 643 . He was the first superstar of jazz (p . 643 . He also introduced what is now known as scat ' or singing without words or texts (p . 643 . Other jazz standouts were Fletcher Henderson , Duke Ellington , Benny Goodman , and King Oliver (pp .643-644

Jazz at the end of the twentieth- century is changing . Others say that some elements of jazz have been chucked in favor of new styles (Hoiberg 2002 ,

. 648 ) In the past , jazz had a distinct sound but it has now been replaced by stylistic flexibility (p . 648 . Also , music schools have exposed jazz students and musicians to all aspect of music now whereas before , jazz musicians were mostly self-taught . Today , we study about music theory and styles , among...