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• Jazz is an American genre of music that has been around since the early 1920s. Jazz originated around the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions.

• Fast Facts

  1. Height of popularity: 1920s-1960s
  2. Typical instruments: Saxophone, Trumpet, Trombone, Clarinet, Piano, Guitar, Double bass, Drums, Vocals

• Notable Acts

  • Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Billie Holiday, Ornette Coleman, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Dave Brubeck, John Coltrane, Ella Fitzgerald, Stan Getz, Benny Goodman, Wynton Marsalis, Thelonious Monk

• Improvisation

  While jazz may be difficult to define, improvisation is definitely one of its key elements. Early blues was commonly structured around a repetitive call-and-response pattern, a common element in the African American oral tradition. A form of folk music which rose in part from work songs and field hollers of rural Blacks, early blues was also highly improvisational. These features are fundamental to the nature of jazz. Depending upon the performer's mood and personal experience, interactions with fellow musicians, or even members of the audience, a jazz musician/performer may alter melodies, harmonies or time signature at will.

• Related Mahalo Pages

  Albert Ayler | Amy Winehouse | Antonio Carlos Jobim | Art Ensemble of Chicago | Basquiat Strings | Benny Goodman | Bill Evans | Billie Holiday | Bobby Darin | Boney James | Bud Powell | Buddy Rich | Buena Vista Social Club | Cab Calloway | Charles Mingus | Charlie Parker | Charlie Watts | Chick Corea | Cole Porter | Count Basie | Dave Koz | Dean Martin | Dexter Gordon | Diana Krall | Dinah Washington | Dizzy Gillespie | Django Reinhardt | Duke Ellington | Ella Fitzgerald | Fats Navarro | Fats Waller | Frank Sinatra | Gene Krupa | George Benson | Glenn Miller | Harry Connick, Jr. | Herb Alpert | Herbie Hancock | Jaco Pastorius | Jelly Roll Morton | Jimmy Smith | Joel Dorn | John Coltrane | John Scofield | Keith Jarrett | Kenny G | Ledisi | Leo Fender | Les Paul | Lester Young | Louis Armstrong | Louis Prima | Max Roach | Mel Torme | Miles Davis | Naked City | Nat King Cole | Norah Jones | Ornette Coleman | Oscar Peterson | Pat Metheny | Paul Anka | Pink Martini | Ruth Etting | Sammy Davis, Jr. | Sarah Vaughan | Sonny Rollins | Stan Getz | Stanley Jordan | Sun Ra | Thelonious Monk | Tito Puente | Tony Bennett | Tortoise (Band) | Vusi Mahlasela | Wayne Shorter | Weather Report (Band) | Wes Montgomery | Will Downing | Wynton Marsalis | Freddie Hubbard

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