Early Jazz Research Paper

Jazz, a genre of music that originated in African American, is one of the most influential music style in the world. It is the production of a blend of influences from different countries and different cultures, giving rise to many distinct styles. As the Jazz musician Ahmad Alaadeen once said, “Jazz does not belong to one race or culture, but is a gift that America has given the world.” Among the early music styles, Ragtime and Blues are two contributors which largely influenced the emergence of Jazz. Jazz is a form of music combines the characteristics and sound of Ragtime and Blues. The syncopation and improvisation of Ragtime and the polyrhythm and swing feeling of Blues all became the main features of the jazz. I am going to talk about …show more content…
“The blues became the principle element of jazz. The blues were one of its primary impulsions.” (Carruth 57). Firstly, the twelve-bar blues, with its harmonic structure and narrative form, was the most important contributor. This structure offered great inspiration and reference for early Jazz musicians. It served like a template for the musicians. The twelve-bar blues then became one of the two main song forms of Jazz music. This evolved three-chord structure ultimately served as popular framework for jazz composition. When original jazz artists started improvising, “the blues mode became dominant in the performance of all the music adapted by jazz musicians to their purposes, and the slurred thirds, fifths, and sevenths characterized jazz improvisation”(Carruth 57). The two elements of the blues that make it original style also serve as foundation for jazz music. “Blues notes have given Jazz most of its melodic originality”(Hodeir 44) and call-and-response can also be seen in many Jazz music compositions. Early famous jazz musicians including Jelly Roll Morton, King Oliver and Louis Armstrong used blues songs as the inspiration for many of their most important