\u201cJazz is a word they use to sell our music, but to me that word does not exist.\u201d\u2014John Coltrane<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before we dive into the music known as \u201cjazz,\u201d it’s imperative to first cover the origin of this music and the word itself\u2014it’s just four letters, but it\u2019s loaded with history, struggle, brilliance, and distortion. As the quote from the great John Coltrane states, jazz was a label slapped on a sound to sell records. But, the music itself? That came from somewhere far deeper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jazz is Black American music. Full stop. It developed in the American South in the early 20th century in New Orleans, where African rhythms, spirituals, the blues, and work songs collided with European harmony and instruments. From its inception, this music was (and is) a response to oppression and a celebration of survival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At its core, jazz is freedom inside a structure. It’s an individual expression inside a collective. That tension mirrors the Black experience in America: trying to carve out humanity and identity in systems built to erase both. From its beginnings, this music has both been shaped and has shaped the cultural and political landscapes of the United States. It has been a soundtrack for protest and for joy, but it has also been commodified and whitewashed. As the music moved into the mainstream, the work of Black creators has been often sidelined and \/ or stripped of context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today, this music is global and constantly evolving. You can hear it in concert halls, sampled on platinum records, at 3 a.m. sessions in the West Village, and on #jazztok. And, as it has become more global over the past decades, the genre has experienced a notable resurgence in popular culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But, no matter how far it travels, it’s critical to understand that its roots are in Black American culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So yes, I\u2019m using the word here\u2014not because I particularly like it, but because it\u2019s a term that most people know. I use it here because it remains the most widely-recognized word for this music and its legacy, even as I acknowledge that the term itself has been used to obscure, commodify, and contain something far deeper and more expansive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As stated above, the origins of jazz began in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the American South, specifically New Orleans, where African rhythms, work songs, and spirituals melded with Western harmony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ragtime, which was at its height from ~1890 – 1910, was an early form of this merging and was popularized by artists like Scott Joplin.<\/a> From there and into the early 1920s, the New Orleans style of jazz emerged, often commercially referred to as Dixieland. This music was popularized by musicians like King Oliver,<\/a> Sidney Bechet,<\/a> and, most notably, Louis Armstrong.<\/a> It often featured collective improvisation in the frontline from clarinet, trombone, and trumpet\/cornet voices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the Great Migration, Black communities moved north, and cities like New York and Chicago became key epicenters for the evolution of jazz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n