Jazz It Up

     The African American culture has been through many different advances in music since the simple beating of the African drum. From R&B to Hip Hop, Gospel to Rap, African Americans have made many contributions to the world of music. One of the most popular genres of music that African Americans have created is Jazz. Established in the late 1800’s, Jazz has flourished as one of the most respected and widely listened to genres in the music kingdom.

     After the abolition of slavery in the United States, African Americans began to use what limited freedoms they had through personal expression. One of the most popular ways blacks expressed themselves was through the use of entertainment. At the time, Ragtime had become a huge phenomenon until the arrival of Jazz.

     Arising straight from the heart of New Orleans in 1895, Jazz was the most sought-after genre of music for the vast majority of African Americans at the time. Formally defined as a style of music characterized by a strong but flexible rhythmic understructure with solo and improvisations on basic tunes and chord patterns, Jazz can be more respectfully known as a genre of music with no true definition. Including instruments such as guitars, pianos, saxophones, trumpets, and drums,  Jazz can more properly be characterized as a soulful music with a sound that gets people moving and animated with every note.

     Back when it was first originated, Jazz was more popularly played in low-end entertainment bars where African American could express their soulful sides and get away from the racism and segregation of the world outside the music. Many people, at the time, described jazz as sinful and immoral because many people of the older generations believed that it disturbed old values by making way for new ones. Jazz was considered to be one of the first sexually referenced forms of music at the time so many people, and even the media, had negative views towards it. However, over the years, Jazz slowly became respected throughout the African American community and many blacks began to embrace it as an advancement in their culture. Jazz became a sense of pride for blacks.

     Jazz music serves as one of the most important aspects to the advancement of the African American culture and what is stands for. Created as a form of entertainment in which blacks could express themselves during a very troubling time in history, jazz will forever hold a valuable meaning to blacks in this country and even worldwide. Though it is not recognized or respected nearly as much as it had in the past, the world of jazz music will forever be a part of who we are.