What do plungers, scatters, and West Africa have in common? They all have to do with an American genre of music called jazz. In this article, I will give a brief overview of jazz, its history, its subgenres, and its defining and unique elements. Jazz is a style of music that is centered around improvisation, which is a musician’s way of making music on the spot. However, there is a great variety in jazz music, leading to some controversy on how to define it. For example, some songs are intended to express sadness, while on the other end of the spectrum create exciting themes (“What is Jazz”). Due to the large variation of styles and components, jazz can not be summarized simply. Louis Armstrong, a pioneer jazz musician, was once asked what swing meant. He replied, “If you …show more content…
This genre of music was created by African Americans. It features some influence from European harmonies but is mostly driven by African rhythms (Schuller). This is why many jazz songs have a distinct swing rhythm (“What is Jazz”). However, this music is constantly changing and evolving. Throughout its history, it has gone through many different phases and has been influenced by many different cultures. This in turn led to lots of variety in the music (Schuller). To see how the music got to its modern form, let us take a closer look at its history. The origins of jazz lie strongly in its West African roots. West Africa is known for its diverse tribal cultures. During the slave trade, many people were captured and shipped to North America. Although they were living on another continent, much of their musical culture managed to be preserved. These African music elements, when being composed in America, were met with lots of European ideas and influences. These include concepts along the lines of dance, entertainment, and even hymn music (Schuller). Throughout the early 20th century, the combination of African rhythms and European instrumentation, such as