Starting our 1st in a hopefully long series of Beginner's Guides to precise genres is Yves Dube's intro to Jazz. Read Yves ' detailed look at the beginnings of jazz, from its youth up to the early 1960's. It is an article you will not need to miss, particularly if you're new to jazz, or a fusion fan looking to explore what came before. Over the next few months we intend to explore the jazz-fusion movement together with go detailed on such genres as early progressive rock, the beginnings of metal, the appearance of prog-metal, and lots more!

An intro to Jazz ( 1940s-1960s )
As frightening as jazz can appear to the uninitiated, it is obvious that every music fan can find one part of this class to his liking if correctly introduced to the music. Spanning over a hundred years and with numerous mythical performers, a total top level view of jazz would be too much for one staff writer to defeat. What I have tried to do here instead, is to target the first query of "what's jazz" and limit myself to exploring 3 major jazz fields which might be discussed or reviewed on this site most frequently, specifically : bop, hard bop, and avant / free jazz.

What's jazz ?- The most elementary definition would be that it's music that puts importance on improvisation and keeps a sense of the blues. It can be as diversified as a gigantic band swinging in unison or a soulful saxophonist yelling alone. It could be a vocalist crooning the standard or a quartet letting loose on a long improvised instrumental. It may on occasions borrow from other music but while it permits the musicians to express themselves unreservedly and take the music to exciting and new directions if galvanized to do that it is jazz.

Where did it originate?- The real beginnings of jazz are nebulous and can be discussed continually. One preferred widely held idea is that it originated from the New Orleans brass bands of the late 19th century. Untrained musicians, marching in long parades where they continually played the same tunes, would begin to improvise with different variances of the musical themes as a technique of relieving the boredom.

It grew slowly to begin with but started to truly take off with the arrival of recordings in the mid-20s. For a fifty year period afterward ( approximately 1925 to 1975 ) it developed from New Orleans jazz and Dixieland, to swing, to bop, to hard bop, to fashionable, while making subgenres ( Cool, West Coast, Soul jazz, to name a couple ) along the way. During its most creative period the music quickly dropped one style for another in a unceasing expansion and exploration of new avenues of expression. Today, revivalists have returned to all these styles and it may be said that just about all sorts of jazz are alive and being performed somewhere around the planet.

Where is jazz going ?- The future of the jazz is as random as the music itself. In the latter 50s many connoisseurs disagreed that jazz would somehow combine with classical music. Terms like 'free jazz ' and 'fusion ' weren't in anyone's language. Though some purists would like to see the music return to its roots and golden period, there'll always be a fringe movement pushing the bounds. Today's technology and plenitude of instruments and electronics may lead to totally exciting and new forms of jazz.

Where do I start exploring jazz ?- There are few fantastic books on the topic ( like the AMG All Music Guide To Jazz ), which has an overpowering quantity of info and reviews of all genres. Hopefully, this highly condensed history of jazz and the successive exploration of three of the most thrilling genres will open up your mind and your ears to the thrilling world that's jazz.