Before being able to understand what Jazz is, there needs to be an understanding of where Jazz came from. Intellectuals of Jazz history highlight the notion that the roots of Jazz are held within the Blues. The Blues served slaves during the 19th Century as a form of escape from the hardships through a passion for music and song. Building off of this, Jazz embraces aspects of tonality, form, and expression that the Blues was known for(Oliver, 12). Being established around the turn of the 19th Century, Jazz was being influenced and then proceeded to take off to create its own genre, which we would see develop into much more.

There are several aspects of Jazz that really make it a one of a kind in terms of being a music genre as well as an art form that can be performed. It can take on several different forms while still keeping identifiable factors. Syncopation, improvisation, blue tonalities, and improvisation, to a name a few (Ogren, 7). Transforming from “popular music” to what we see today, these unique aspects have pushed Jazz along in order to maintain its constant variability, which not only provides listeners and performers with near endless options and variations that can be heard and played, but it also allows for new innovations and the creation of sub-genres. In his book, Categorizing Sound: Genre and Twentieth-Century Popular Music, David Brackett explains how even the term “Swing” evolved over Jazz’s existence and evolution. He mentions that prior to 1935, swing was mainly seen as the rhythmic groove that Jazz heavily used, but that after that, given the rise of Big Band performances, “Swing” became a type of music of its own, proving that the options were incredibly open and that certain parts of Jazz were stemming from the Blues and building subcategories that go on to dominate popular music (Brackett, 150). We started with Jazz and then it delved into Bebop, Swing, Latin Jazz, Fusion, and the list goes on (OPB, Watch How The Sound Of Jazz Evolved). Brackett also mentions that some would consider the essence of Big Band Swing actually faded out a bit after the war, but despite this, there was still music that was inspired by Swing that small combos playing Bebop, which was taking into account the more artistic side of music and placing less emphasis on the sales aspect (Brackett, 151).

Video explanation of how Jazz has evolved and came to be what it is today.