It combined elements of Ragtime, marching band music, and Blues. What differentiated Jazz from these earlier styles was the widespread use of improvisation, often by more than one player at a time. Jazz represented a break from Western musical traditions, where the composer wrote a piece of music on paper and the musicians then tried their best to play exactly what was in the score. This chart of Jazz Styles is derived from Joachim Berendt's The Jazz Book. Almost all popular music contains elements of African American rhythms and culture.
Black spirituals are one of the best known and earliest forms of American music.
These religious songs eventually gave birth to the blues. Jazz, which began in the late 1800's, grew out of black folk blues and ballads. And musicians in the mid-1900's combined spirituals, blues, and jazz styles to develop rock and roll. Copyright 2000 KinderStart. Inc. All rights reserved.