The Evolution of Jazz: Tracing African Influences and Key Artists

This essay delves into the origins and evolution of Jazz music, specifically focusing on its African roots and the contributions of African American communities. It traces the genre's development from the late 19th century through the Jazz Age, highlighting its improvisational nature and ability to unite diverse cultures. The essay discusses key figures like Charles "Buddy" Bolden and the influence of Bepop, emphasizing the role of instruments like the saxophone, piano, and trumpet. It explores the cultural significance of Jazz, its ability to express emotions, and the contributions of artists like Abdullah Ibrahim and Hugh Masekela in expanding the genre's reach. The essay concludes by underscoring Jazz's capacity to bring people together through its unique blend of melody, rhythm, and improvisation, and the importance of preserving its African American heritage.

Running head: JAZZ STYLE – AFRICAN JAZZ
JAZZ STYLE – AFRICAN JAZZ
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1JAZZ STYLE– AFRICAN JAZZ
Introduction:
The Jazz is the kind of music genre that had originally been developed in the African
American communities in the United States of America. Being considered as the American
Classical music, it had come a long way from the end of the 19th century, till the modern day
music style.
Discussion:
The end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century had been called the Jazz
age because this music genre had been recognized by almost all the world. This music had a
traditional origin and was independent in linking Africa, America and Europe with its
characteristics of performance. As per the discussion of Conyers (2015), through this music, the
Black people could speak out as this genre had an influence over their existence. Soon this music
genre had spread all across the world and the other cultures began to be drawn towards its
improvisational nature.
The first band of the Jazz style had been developed in the city of New Orleans by Charles
“Buddy” Bolden. Other bands of the Jazz genre included New Orleans Rhythm Kings, King
Oliver Bands. Moreover, during this period, the Jazz music had been practiced by several solo
singers as well such as John Lewis, Thelonious Monk and George Russel. According to the
statement of Finkelstein (2018), the prime Jazz music had been started with the improvisations
made with the help of saxophone, piano as well as trumpet. After the post Jazz period, the most
important developer of this music had been Bepop.

2JAZZ STYLE– AFRICAN JAZZ
According to Malik and Ek (2017), the jazz music had been the only way through which
the black and the white could unite. Jazz music had been the most popular among the masses
because it had the same characteristics as the other music genres. There had been melody in its
tune along with the harmony. The rhythm is the actual crux of the song where the people could
relate to, and could remember the tune for longer period of time. It had been easy to express
one’s emotion in this music genre because there had not been any pre supposed composition or
lyrics. Everything was made up on the sport and the people could make use of their creativity
and imagination to the utmost. An entire band is supposed to carry forward the tune and the
melody with their own creations and improvisations, with every instrument.
Some of the African Jazz artists were Abdullah Ibrahim, Hugh Masekela, Sun Ra, Randy
Weston and Mulatu Astake. These people are the internationally famous master musicians who
had taken the responsibility of taking the Jazz music genre further to the different cultures and
nations. They aimed to bring the entire world closer, and specially the white and the black
together with its melody. It is a music genre that requires no trans.lation (Eppler, et.al. 2014).
The other people who carries forward this tradition are Marsalis, Roy Hargrove, Bobby Mcerrin
and others. They embrace the tradition, understand its and make this music genre ever evolving,
keeping its tradition firmly rooted in the ground of the African Americans.
Conclusion:
Thus from the above discussion , it can be concluded that the Jazz music although having
originated in the African American community, by the blacks, it has a unique characteristics that
can bring the entire world together in a single unit with its melody, rhythm and its improvisation.

3JAZZ STYLE– AFRICAN JAZZ
References:
Conyers Jr, J.L. ed., 2015. African American jazz and rap: social and philosophical examinations
of Black expressive behavior. McFarland.
Eppler, A., Männchen, A., Abeßer, J., Weiß, C. and Frieler, K., 2014, December. Automatic
style classification of jazz records with respect to rhythm, tempo, and tonality. In Proc. of the
Conference on Interdisciplinary Musicology (CIM).
Finkelstein, S.W., 2018. Jazz: A People’s Music. Pickle Partners Publishing.
Malik, I. and Ek, C.H., 2017. Neural translation of musical style. arXiv preprint
arXiv:1708.03535.