Jazz Vs Black Music Essay

The question of whether or not jazz exists as black music has plagued those who ponder the problem for generations. Questions such as: “can non-black jazz artists create true jazz?” or “if jazz is black music, what components make it so?” crop up left and right when regarding the possibility of jazz as black music. Conflicts involving ownership or legitimacy are seen to arise when considering jazz artists of various ethnicities and it comes down to these artists that are ethnically different to the forerunners of the jazz genre to prove that what they produce truly embodies the essence of jazz. Examining the facets of jazz itself, namely its origins, its purpose, and its audience, one can formulate their own opinion on the impossible question of “Is jazz black music?” By acknowledging these three facets and scrutinizing their details, it can be determined that jazz does not exist as

However, it is equally obvious “that jazz did not spring from African-American culture without the influences of American band traditions and Western harmony, melody, and rhythm” (O’Meally, 198). Throughout time, African-American music has been exposed to the melting pot that is American culture and has therefore been influenced in its development. As songs like work songs and field hollers developed into blues and subsequently into jazz, the music was exposed to elements of Western musical themes and thus incorporated some of them into its own form. Considering this, it seems more apt to call jazz American music rather than black music. Other genres and subgenres of music form in mush the same way. Punk, for example, is more sensibly viewed as stemming from the United States, specifically New York, rather than originating from a specific race of