"If you have to ask what is jazz, you’ll never know.”
Louis Armstrong
Jazz is the music genre which is probably hardest of all to define. We can pretty safely presume the history of jazz started at the end of 19th century in southern parts of the USA, we can relate its origins to several other music genres like marches, gospels, blues, and quadrilles, but still can’t provide a good definition.
We know there are some elements, which are more characteristic for jazz than any other kind of music. These are syncopations (kind of disturbances in the rhythm), polyrhythms (use of more rhythms which are in conflict) and of course improvisation (derived from one of the most basic patterns coming from Western African origins and called call-and-response).
So instead of trying to write what is jazz, I will only provide a few interesting facts – to amuse and confuse:
1. The meaning of word jazz is almost so unclear as of the history of this music. There are many explanations, but it seems it is closely related to indecent behavior. The phrase ‘to jazz’ can be translated as ‘to cheat’ or ‘to fornicate’, ‘jazzer’ is ‘lover’, ‘jazz baby’ is ‘woman of easy virtue’ and ‘jazzing’ meant ‘to sleep around’. Coded words are not surprising if we think about the black slaves who used to work on a plantation, singing songs and often incorporated hidden messages about their hopes and also plans to escape.
2. Jazz started as a music of black people, outcasts, rebels, poor, … It is inseparable from some major points in the history of USA. We can connect it to New Orleans which is still considered the world capital of jazz, to prohibition and gangsters in Chicago, to women’s right to vote (and before that to drink, smoke, and dress like men), to the end of World War 2, big swing bands and so on. Today it is kind of elitist music – most popular among well educated and affluent people.
3. If we have to choose one, the most characteristic instrument of jazz music, this would be a saxophone, named after Adolphe Sax, an instrument maker from Belgium. It’s interesting to note it was only used first around 1920 in jazz orchestra and was until then considered more as part of inventory in classical arrangements and chamber music.
For the end, let’s enjoy one of the classic jazz pieces: George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue in Original Jazz Band version.
Well, this can be of course described as a jazzy interpretation of classical music (with an orchestra with several classic instruments), but these controversies are the part of the charm of the jazz music. Se what I mean?
