“If you have to ask what jazz is, you'll never know.”
• Louis Armstrong
Jazz is not just a genre of music, it is a feeling, an emotion that takes your senses and soul to a whole new level. Legends like Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, and many others have made us experience some of the most magnificent and sensational music ever created. Whether you had a stressful day or just want to relax, jazz can lift up your mood and turn your evening into a special one. These divine and melodic harmonies are a pleasure to the human ears. So today we’re going to take a trip back in time and see how Jazz music originated and evolved to what it is today.
The word “Jazz” itself is believed to have originated from the word “Jasm”, a slang term dating back to 1860 meaning “pep or energy”. This form of music originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans back in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Since the 1920s “Jazz Age”, it has been recognized as a major genre of music. Jazz started with its roots in blues and ragtime. It is hard to categorize it into a single style or genre because it encompasses a wide range of music spanning over a hundred years, from ragtime to the rock-infused fusion. Jazz is like one of those dazzling diamonds of creativity which helps us humans make sense out of life.
With time, this genre of music has transformed and evolved. The Jazz of the nineties and the Jazz we hear today have changed drastically. The mid-1950s saw the emergence of a new sub-genre of jazz known as Hard bop. It had incorporated influences from rhythm and blues, gospel music, and especially with instruments like the saxophone and piano. With time many more sub-genres of jazz started emerging like jazz fusion and smooth jazz. But the heart and core of this genre of music remained the same. Just imagine, if legendary artists like Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and others had not created this marvelous genre of music, then how would our world of music be today? Jazz music started a revolution, a change, it was a new type of melody that nobody had heard before, but once people did so they got addicted to it! We, humans, have the ability to create amazing wonders, and music is one of them. With creative, inspiring, and incredible artists from all around the world, we have new and melodious tracks made every day. And with our ability to access and share music with digital technology, we are living in an incredible time! Jazz music has influenced and affected millions of lives positively. With spreading love to creating harmony, this music is truly divine. We have thousands of genres of music in today’s world, but the feeling and sensation Jazz creates is really of a whole another level. It is truly a soul-soothing form of music.
