The Influence of Jazz Around the World Essay -- Music

Jazz music originated in the late 1800s in the southern area of the United States. Its’ specific birthplace is New Orleans, Louisiana. It was the first genre of music to adopt other genres of music and blend them together. When the topic of music is brought up, many artists often refer to New Orleans as being the Melting Pot of Sound. Genres that were adopted by jazz are opera, folk music, blues, a variety of church music, ragtime, and African drumming. All of those sounds merged together and became the face of jazz. â€Å"There is a tremendous variety in jazz; the music is rhythmic, has a forward momentum called "swing," and employs "bent" or "blue" notes† (Armstrong). My main argument is that jazz music has influenced other genres as well as cultures and artists around the world. Jazz music is formed within improvisation and other aspects of black music such as blues and ragtime to make a particular form of music (scholastic.com). In jazz, musicians often play whatever comes to mind on the spot, or they playback a specific melody or chord sequence. Before there was jazz, there was blues. It is an African American derived genre of music that displayed the pain of the lost and injustice and gave expression of relieving a broken heart and facing down adversity. The blues included hymns, work songs, and field hollers. Although this may not sound like it could be jazz, it very well is. Blues is actually the foundation of jazz as well as the prime source of rhythm and blues, rock ‘n’ roll, and country music. Even today it is still evolving and widely played. Jazz music started placing long melodic sounds between the established beat quite regularly. This technique, called syncopation, gives the music... ...Interwar Paris† (1940). Print. â€Å"Social Movements, Music, and Race† Princeton Press. http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/s9210.pdf Peretti, Burton. â€Å"Creation of Jazz: Music, Race, and Culture in Urban America.† Board Trustee of the University of Illinois 1992. . "About Louis Armstrong." PBS. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Apr 2012. . Armstrong, Louis. Swing That Music. 1995. Print. Mackin, Laurence. "'Jazz is the great grandfather of hip hop'." (2011): n. page. Web. 21 Apr. 2012.. "Hip Hop's Jazz Roots." n. page. Web. 21 Apr. 2012. . "Jazz- Music Of Puerto Rico." n. page. Web. 21 Apr. 2012. .