The Origin of Jazz Music - Essay Example

Jazz is an art form of contradictions and surprises and happens to be a strange mix of conformity and rebellion, tradition and novelty, practice and improvisation, discipline, and impetuosity. Jazz is everything that one seeks in a musical composition and still, it always seems to be so fresh, new, and exotic (Miles 37). It is this very quality of Jazz that makes it so typically American.

Jazz originated in the port city of New Orleans at some time around 1895, which was and is the home to a diverse and multicultural population that included blacks, Hispanics, and European immigrants. The history of Jazz is akin to the history of America. The various ethnic communities residing in New Orleans happened to be the custodians of musical traditions originating from Europe, Africa, and Latin America. It is difficult to say when and how, but Jazz emerged as a formative tradition that was the result of the juxtaposition and coalescing of these diverse musical traditions. Initially, it was performed and played by really small groups who mostly resorted to improvisation and spontaneous composition while exhibiting an astonishing aptitude for classical music and a diehard instinct for African and Latin notes (Aaberg 1). One special thing about these performances was that no one performance sounded like the other, even if it involved the same musicians and singers. Even today this trait happens to be the hallmark of jazz music. Eventually, the Jazz groups gradually started moving to Chicago in the 20s (Aaberg 2). These vagrant performers continuously experimented with their music and the Jazz music that developed in these times is known as early Jazz (Aaberg 2).

As expected, Jazz was never to lose its panache for evolution. The music that was now confined to small groups gave way to big bands in the early 40s. Still, there was no dearth of performers who preferred to go solo. This period in the history of Jazz is known as the swing era (Aaberg 3). Some of the noteworthy bands of this era were Jimmy Lunceford, Duke Ellington, and Fletcher Henderson (Aaberg 3). There also existed a special class of bands who were more into dance music. Yet, the era of big Jazz bands was not to last for very long.

In the 50s and 60s, Jazz musicals split into a range of styles such as Be pop, More, Cool, Funky, and Free Jazz (Aaberg 4). Be pop was a more straight-jacketed approach to Jazz in the sense that it insisted on pleasing the musicians rather than appealing to the masses (Aaberg 4). Thus it had a limited financial scope. Cool Jazz was more experimental in its perspective and often incorporated musical instruments like the oboe and flute that were never traditionally related to Jazz (Aaberg 4). Funky Jazz was inspired by black spirituals. One common thing about all these Jazz styles was that they were primarily solo driven.

However, sometime around the end of 1970, the age of big bands was to come back. The introduction of electrical instruments on the scene ushered in new opportunities and possibilities for musicians and composers. Jazz was also not averse to this new trend. Hence originated the most liberal and innovative form of Jazz called the Fusion. Fusion was closer to Rock and Roll in its approach toward music and in its vision, perspective, and commercial scope. This libertarian trend in Jazz known as Free Jazz produced several famous bands such as The Headhunters and Weather Report (Aaberg 4).

Even today Jazz is experimenting with new forms and styles. Hence, Jazz lovers have a big menu to choose from as Jazz is and never will be what they expect it to be. It is more of an approach toward music than being a dull, monolithic genre.