Thursday, October 23, 2014

History And Types Of Jazz Music Genres

By Dominique Martin


Millions of fans all over the globe know there is only one kind of music which takes them away and lifts them up when they are down. This song can't be any other than jazz music. It is music that fits into all occasions; in fact, it can be called a whole package when it comes to music. Whether you want to dance, on the road driving, relaxing the afternoon away or create background music for a photo album, this African-American originated song will make a perfect choice.

This genre of song has been around for quite some time. It has a rich history on the way it started and its development over the years to become accepted as one of the best genres of song in all continents of the world. It just keeps getting better and better with generation and definitely it is here to stay long after the current generation is gone.

Jazz is a very wide type of music with so many sub-genres within it. Each sub-genre has a distinct note from the other ones. The sub-genres are either categorized depending on the period of time they were popular or the tone and tempo. Everything in this world is dynamic and keeps on changing to stay relevant and so has this African-American originated song seen major changes from the way it was done in the past.

Towards the end of the 1800s the African-Americans started their own kind of music which came to be known as jazz. The first place which is credited with the jazz's origin is New Orleans, but other parts of America started playing this African-American originated song almost at the same time. Regardless of the uncertainty of where exactly it started, it has grown to be the greatest song in the world.

The first genre of this African-American originated song is normally referred to as the New Orleans Dixieland, which was very popular in the last years of 19th Century and lasted up to late 1920s. The most identifiable feature of this genre was the ragtime style. This genre gave birth to the many others which have succeeded it to the current type.

The second genre to have ruled the world immediately after the New Orleans Dixieland up to the end of the Second World War was the Swing. The acceptance of this genre had grown by this time and there were many big bands which rose up during this time entertaining people on live concerts across the country. It was at this time when improvisation started being a feature after the inclusion of an extended tone over another tone.

Up to the end of the war, this African-American originated song was characterized by slow tempo tone, but things changed for a faster tempo in the 1950s to 60s. The up-tempo came to be known as the Bop style. Not everyone liked the speed of the Bop so soft, cool and so the relatively easy tone form came back in the 60s named as the Cool Jazz.

Rapid improvements and changes occurred in the 70s going forward, when the fusion was born from combination of rock and this one. Many combinations have occurred since then, but still jazz stands strong. The latest of these is the pop fusion which is the hit in the 21st Century.




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