Jazz

A music that originated at the beginning of the 20th century, or earlier, within the African-American communities of the Southern United States. Its roots lie in the African-American adoption of European harmony and form onto existing African musical elements. Its African musical basis is evident in its use of blue notes, improvisation, polyrhythms, syncopation and the swung note. As the music has developed and spread around the world it has, since its early American beginnings, drawn on many different national, regional and local musical cultures, giving rise to many distinctive styles. Jazz spans a range of music from ragtime to the present day—a period of over 100 years—and has proved to be very difficult to define. Critic, Joachim Berendt, says that jazz has a "special relationship to time defined as 'swing'", involves "a spontaneity and vitality of musical production in which improvisation plays a role" and contains a "sonority and manner of phrasing which mirror the individuality of the performing jazz musician". Travis Jackson states that "it is music that includes qualities such as swing, improvising, group interaction, developing an 'individual voice', and being open to different musical possibilities."

Associated Sub-Genres: Acid Jazz, Afro-Cuban Jazz, Asian American Jazz, Avant-Garde Jazz, Balkan Jazz, Bebop, Big Band, Boogie-Woogie, Bossa Nova, British Dance Band, Cape Jazz, Chamber Jazz, Continental Jazz, Cool Jazz, Crossover Jazz, Cubop, Dixieland, Ethno Jazz, European Free Jazz, Folk Jazz, Free Funk, Free Improvisation, Free Jazz, Gypsy Jazz, Hard Bop, Jazz Blues, Jazz Fusion, Jazz Rap, Jazz-Funk, Kansas City Blues, Kansas City Jazz, Latin Jazz, M-Base, Mainstream Jazz, Modal Jazz, Mini-Jazz, Neo-Bop Jazz, Neo-Swing, Novelty Ragtime, New Big Band, Nu Jazz, Orchestral Jazz, Post-Bop, Punk Jazz, Ragtime, Shibuya-Kei, Ska Jazz, Smooth Jazz, Soul Jazz, Straight-Ahead Jazz, Stride, Swing Music, Third Stream, Trad Jazz, Twelve-Bar Blues, Vocal Jazz, West Coast Gypsy Jazz, West Coast Jazz, White Ja