Friday, June 26, 2015

More Information About Jazz Music

By Ruthie Calderon


There are several genres of music and each claims its unique fans. African American communities in the United States pride themselves as the originators of this genre of music. It is hailed as traditional style given the multicultural society that it its background. Jazz music emerged in late 19th century. It emerged in several parts of the US in the form of new independent musical style.

It is normally difficult to describe this genre given the different variations of music it has some dating back over 100 years. Most fans attempt to define it from the standpoint of other musical traditions with examples like European music and African music, even though the description is at times wider. The descriptions differ as per various fans with others going for the broader description and others preferring the shorter form.

The genre comprises of swung note, improvisation, syncopation, and polyrhythms. It has aspects of European harmony, American popular music, and brass tradition. To add on this, it unites African musical elements like blue notes and ragtime. It took on varied regional, national, and local musical cultures resulting to lots of distinctive genres while spreading all over.

Each genre of music has a crucial role, which it serves in addition to the usual entertainment purpose. One of the areas it served was uniting people, mainly its supporters despite their age differences. Jazz has been important leveler and unifier and is still held as such. It generated and sustained artistic subcultures that are responsible for nowadays new and advanced artistry.

It played a role in awareness of black history and culture. This memorable role cannot be assumed. Among its other roles included outlining the contributions of African Americans to society. Others link the style to oppressive and racist societies with restrictions as the order of the day. To other people it serves as a constant reminder of unsuccessful artistic career because of the situation of those days.

The audience to this style increased with a booming recording industry and live band appearances. It is usually associated with nightlife and nightclubs. Professionals and performers in this field travel widely, playing at all sorts of venues from restaurants to dance halls. Initially there was restricted color line that performers were not allowed to cross, however the introduction of swing jazz led to worldwide integration.

Part of evolution of this style saw female artists and innovators enter this male dominated field. Dating back to 1920s women served as instrumentalists. Female singers remained unpopular since they were given lesser roles such as pianists. Women took over from men when they got enlisted for war and still make their appearance to date. Women bands with female singers started emerging during the First World War.

In conclusion, throughout its evolution the style continuously claims talented and creative singers who continuously reshape and reinvent it. It is wide spread in each continent and claims great heritage. It has had many celebrities down the line who reshaped it to its current form. The engaging rhythms, rich melodies, and harmonies are some of the elements contributing its uniqueness.




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