History of Jazz
The origin of jazz can be traced back to the early 19th century, New Orleans. The first recorded jazz performance ever was on February 21, 1819, in Congo Square. This documentation gives us evidence that African rooted music was played in New Orleans as early as 1819.
The history of jazz is often intertwined with other hybrid genres, like the minstrel shows, the work song and call-and-response. The minstrel shows were developed before the Civil war. It was originally a performance where white performers in blackface mimic the behaviors of the slave population. Then, later generation of African American performers “imitated in turn the white stereotypes of African-American behavior.” (Gioia, 1997) However, the work song, has a purer African nature. It was performed by African American workers to demonstrate their “disregard for Western systems of notation and scales.” (Gioia, 1997) Similarly, the call-and-response form is a matter of social integration.
We can divide the history of jazz into three periods. First of all, from the 1890s to the 1910s, it was the ragtime. As mentioned above, music with African roots were brought into the West and Europe. In 1895, the first ragtime song was published by Ben Harney. Then, in 1899, Scott Joplin, a classically trained pianist, published the first of many Ragtime compositions that would come to shape the music of a nation.
Consequently, we come to the 1920s and 1930s, which is often referred to as the Jazz Age. During this time period, we witnessed the success of the great jazz artist, Louis Armstrong recorded his first ever record. The music in this time period was characterized by collective improvised solos, with a certain rhythm structure, that built up to an emotional climax. Soon, larger bands and orchestras began to study that climax and perform in the same manner, with the help of the advanced record technology. In the 1930s, swing bands dominated the jazz world. Derived from New Orleans Jazz, swing was the music to dance with, It was robust and invigorating and connected with people immediately.
Then, finally, during the 1940s and 1950s, the emerging of bebop changes jazz from danceable music to an art form, a more musician music. The most influential figures of bebop were Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. Bebop performers engaged in harmonic improvisation. With little constraint, the soloists were free to explore improvised possibilities as long as they fit into the chord structure.
Although through the past century, jazz has developed a variety of branches, it has never drifted away from this core idea, the African-American music tradition, improvisation.