Tuesday, October 21, 2014

History And Types Of Jazz Music Genres

By Dominique Martin


Millions of fans all over the globe know there is only one kind of music which takes them away and lifts them up when they are down. This song can't be any other than jazz music. It is music that fits into all occasions; in fact, it can be called a whole package when it comes to music. Whether you want to dance, on the road driving, relaxing the afternoon away or create background music for a photo album, this African-American originated song will make a perfect choice.

You can't be more mistaken if you think this African-American originated song is new in the music arena. It is century old with a very rich history in the old West African culture. There is nothing to stop the growth and that growth have been accepted worldwide by a fan base which keeps growing with each new generation and great legends adding on to the ever growing list.

Like any genre of music you expect jazz to have many sub-genres to categorize each style done within the wider genre. These genres are either grouped depending on the period of time they were most played or by the specific tone they had or have. Something that grows with time always changes and so is this African-American originated song; it has been changing over time and that of the 70s is definitely different from that of today.

Towards the end of the 1800s the African-Americans started their own kind of music which came to be known as jazz. The first place which is credited with the jazz's origin is New Orleans, but other parts of America started playing this African-American originated song almost at the same time. Regardless of the uncertainty of where exactly it started, it has grown to be the greatest song in the world.

New Orleans Dixieland is the first well known genre of this African-American originated song. It's very popular among the people living at the close of the 19th Century up to late 1920s. Ragtime style was the common feature among this genre. Many other genres have since come and gone, reshaping how this African-American originated song is done.

The second genre to have ruled the world immediately after the New Orleans Dixieland up to the end of the Second World War was the Swing. The acceptance of this genre had grown by this time and there were many big bands which rose up during this time entertaining people on live concerts across the country. It was at this time when improvisation started being a feature after the inclusion of an extended tone over another tone.

An up-tempo jazz replaced the slow tempo of the previous versions in the late 1940s and lasted up to 1960s. This African-American originated song is referred to as the Bop but due to its speed a new genre came up in the 1950s called the Cool Jazz which had a relatively easy tone. The "Cool" one lasted up to the 1960s.

Rapid improvements and changes occurred in the 70s going forward, when the fusion was born from combination of rock and this one. Many combinations have occurred since then, but still jazz stands strong. The latest of these is the pop fusion which is the hit in the 21st Century.




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