Jazz Music took birth in the Southern United Sates in the 1880s, primarily from vocalizations of African plantation workers in the form of sorrow songs, shouts during fieldwork, hymns, and spiritual and religious folk songs of predominantly African harmonic, rhythmic, and melodic elements.
The exact birthplace of jazz music is traced to New Orleans, the largest city of Louisiana where it flourished until the First World War. The origin of the word jazz is not very clear and guesswork relates it to several sources including the name of some particular performer, or an African word that could not be used respectably until a century ago since it referred to sexual activity. Gradually, its meaning was modified to any vigorous, enthusiastic activity.
Jazz Music History through Time
Jazz music history can be traced back to as far as the eighteenth century when slaves were brought from Africa to work on plantations, fields, railroads, and seaport docks. Singing while working was a means to pass time, driving the mind away from their plight, and it took the shape of call-and-response. A song-leader would call a line and the rest would respond in chanting. Spirituals were also sung by the slaves, carrying elements of both religious belief and the desire for freedom.
Ragtime
As America turned into the land of opportunity in the nineteenth century, Europeans sought their fortune here, bringing along a variety of musical traditions e.g. Irish, German, and French. Scott Joplin, the African-American composer, blended these European compositional styles with the rhythm and melody of black communities. The result was syncopation of a particular style of popular music, primarily meant for the piano, and called ragging. Ragtime was essentially a written form of music and in the early 1900s New Orleans performers used the term ragtime instead of jazz.
Swing
The late 1920s are remembered in jazz music history for another style of popular music, called Swing, which became a national craze. It originated in Kansas City and Harlem in the late 1920s. By virtue of its highly vigorous beat, swing moved people to dance on floor every night and the mania kept its hold well into the 1930s and 1940s.
Bop
Bop developed around the mid 1940s as a form of music characterized by flatted fifth, a more developed rhythmic structure, and with greater focus on harmony than melody. Major influences in bop were to later become the foundation of the modern jazz. Lester Young had obviously a great influence on the harmonic and rhythmic style of bop.
Progressive Jazz
Progressive (or Cool) jazz came in the jazz music history in the late 1940s and early 1950s primarily from the West coast. Progressive jazz was characterized by intense yet ironically relaxed tonal seniorities. The melody was less convoluted than in bop.
Later Trends
Jazz music history took a new turn with the popularity of television as a source of entertainment in America in the 1950s. Interest in concert music for entertainment began to dwindle and dance halls began to close
In the 1960s, rock n roll was fused with jazz and this became a most popular connection in the jazz music history so as to march ahead right to the end of 1970s. The jazz of the 1980s was less form bending and rather revivalist, with musicians reluctant to follow trends and accept labels. In the early 1990s, a new style acid jazz evolved by blending of traditional jazz, soul, and funk with Latin and hip-hop rhythms. Smooth jazz and retro jazz are other products of the 90s.
