Jazz, in fact, is not—and never has been—an entirely composed, predetermined music, nor is it an entirely extemporized one. For almost all of its history it has employed both creative approaches in varying degrees and endless permutations. And yet, despite these diverse terminological confusion...
Discover the definition of jazz music and learn where it began and how it developed in New Orleans. Explore the characteristics of jazz music and...
“sweet,” legato popular music characteristics. With the slow development of a unique identity inrockmusic, occasional jazz tunes also began including rock rhythms in the 1960s. Beginning in 1969, trumpeterMiles Davisand associates such as drummerTony Williams, guitaristJohn McLaughlin, saxophonist...
The meaning of JAZZ is American music developed especially from ragtime and blues and characterized by propulsive syncopated rhythms, polyphonic ensemble playing, varying degrees of improvisation, and often deliberate distortions of pitch and timbre. How
Word Matters, Episode 39When it comes to defining an entire musical genre, especially one with as many forms and perspectives as jazz, the work can get pretty tricky. Even the word itself has a long and sometimes controversial history. Today we'll look at the story of jazz, from the ...
Jazz and politics have always been entwined, but rarely in the music’s history have the links spelt out on record. The 1960s was a decade when that orthodoxy was reversed, with Charlie Haden’s debut album at the decade’s end being one of the most explicit endorsements of leftist sentim...
Concealed in the shadows of Jazz and Blues history are dynamic women who nurtured, guided and developed the music. Several of the most talented and accomplished are profiled including Blanche Calloway, the first woman to lead an all-male jazz band; “Empress of the Blues” Bessie Smith; the...
Dinah Washington‘s versatile voice had hints of gospel, hints of jazz, and made for some incredible early pop/R&B music too. Her rendition of one of the best jazz songs of all time is sung with a big band, but she still shines brightly against their backing. ...
An essential intro to jazz for beginners, these 20 albums offer a guide to jazz that traces the music’s development over the 50s and 60s.
of Arabic music in jazz. The mood is reflective and poignantly unresolved, the story never finished so long as it’s still being told. Scree tell it the way the best history books do: rich in tradition with a flair for melodrama and plenty of time to take in the scenery. –Anna Gaca...