| Jazz is a musical art form that | | | | essentially improvisational musical |
| originated in New Orleans, Louisiana, | | | | styles of jazz. |
| United States at around the start of the | | | | Jazz as a genre is often difficult to |
| 20th century. Born out of a blend of | | | | define, but improvisation is a key |
| African American musical styles with | | | | element of the form. Improvisation has |
| Western music technique and theory, jazz | | | | been an essential element in African and |
| uses blue notes, syncopation, swing, | | | | African-American music since early forms |
| call and response, polyrhythms, and | | | | of the music developed, and is closely |
| improvisation among its many stylistic | | | | related to the use of call and response |
| markers. | | | | in West African and African-American |
| Jazz has roots in the combination of | | | | cultural expression. |
| West African and Western music | | | | The form of improvisation has changed |
| traditions, including spirituals, blues | | | | over time. Early folk blues music often |
| and ragtime, stemming from West Africa, | | | | was based around a call and response |
| western Sahel, and New England's | | | | pattern, and improvisation would factor |
| religious hymns, hillbilly music, and | | | | in the lyrics, the melody, or both. In |
| European military band music. After | | | | Dixieland jazz, musicians take turns |
| originating in African American | | | | playing the melody while the others |
| communities near the beginning of the | | | | improvise countermelodies. In contrast |
| 20th century, jazz styles spread in the | | | | to the classical form, where performers |
| 1920s, influencing other musical styles. | | | | try to play the piece exactly as the |
| The origins of the word jazz are | | | | author envisioned it, the goal in jazz |
| uncertain. The word is rooted in | | | | is often to create a new interpretation, |
| American slang, and various derivations | | | | changing the melody, harmonies, even the |
| have been suggested. For the origin and | | | | time signature. If classical music is |
| history of the word jazz, see Origin of | | | | the composer's medium, jazz is able to |
| the word jazz. | | | | stand up for the rights of the performer |
| Jazz is rooted in the blues, the folk | | | | too, to 'adroitly weigh the respective |
| music of former enslaved Africans in the | | | | claims of the composer and the |
| U.S. South and their descendants, which | | | | improviser' . |
| is influenced by West African cultural | | | | By the Swing era, big bands played using |
| and musical traditions that evolved as | | | | arranged sheet music, but individual |
| black musicians migrated to the cities. | | | | soloists would perform improvised solos |
| Jazz musician Wynton Marsalis states | | | | within these compositions. In bebop, |
| that "Jazz is something Negroes | | | | however, the focus shifted from |
| invented...the nobility of the race put | | | | arranging to improvisation over the |
| into sound ... jazz has all the | | | | form; musicians paid less attention to |
| elements, from the spare and penetrating | | | | the composed melody, or "head," which |
| to the complex and enveloping. | | | | was played at the beginning and the end |
| The instruments used in marching bands | | | | of the tune's performance with |
| and dance band music at the turn of | | | | improvised sections in between. |
| century became the basic instruments of | | | | As previously noted, later styles of |
| jazz: brass, reeds, and drums, using the | | | | jazz, such as modal jazz, abandoned the |
| Western 12-tone scale. A "...black | | | | strict notion of a chord progression, |
| musical spirit (involving rhythm and | | | | allowing the individual musicians to |
| melody) was bursting out of the confines | | | | improvise more freely within the context |
| of European musical tradition [of the | | | | of a given scale or mode (e.g., the |
| marching bands], even though the | | | | Miles Davis album Kind of Blue). The |
| performers were using European styled | | | | avant-garde and free jazz idioms permit, |
| instruments." | | | | even call for, rhythmic variety as well. |
| Small bands of black musicians, mostly | | | | When a pianist, guitarist or other |
| self taught, who led funeral processions | | | | chord-playing instrumentalist improvises |
| in New Orleans played a seminal role in | | | | an accompaniment while a soloist is |
| the articulation and dissemination of | | | | playing, it is called comping (a |
| early jazz, traveling throughout black | | | | contraction of the word "accompanying"). |
| communities in the Deep South and to | | | | "Vamping" is a mode of comping that is |
| northern cities. | | | | usually restricted to a few repeating |
| The postbellum network of | | | | chords or bars, as opposed to comping on |
| black-established schools, as well as | | | | the chord structure of the entire |
| civic societies and widening mainstream | | | | composition. Most often, vamping is used |
| opportunities for education, produced | | | | as a simple way to extend the very |
| more formally trained African-American | | | | beginning or end of a piece, or to set |
| musicians. Lorenzo Tio and Scott Joplin | | | | up a segue. |
| were schooled in classical European | | | | In some modern jazz compositions where |
| musical forms. Joplin, the son of a | | | | the underlying chords of the composition |
| former slave and a free-born woman of | | | | are particularly complex or fast moving, |
| color, was largely self-taught until age | | | | the composer or performer may create a |
| 11, when he received lessons in the | | | | set of "blowing changes," which is a |
| fundamentals of music theory. Black | | | | simplified set of chords better suited |
| musicians with formal music skills | | | | for comping and solo improvisation. |
| helped to preserve and disseminate the | | | | |