Jazz is an improvisational form of music that originated in the southern United States after the Civil War. Althoughits origins and history are somewhat vague, we know that it began as the musical expression of black people who hadformerly been slaves, combining hymns, spirituals, and traditional work songs into something quite new. The style was ablend of the rhythms brought to America by the Africans who were imported as slave labor and the popular music of theera that featured the ragtime piano. The term jazz itself is of obscure and possible nonmusical origin, but it was first used todescribe this particular kind of musical expression in about 1915.A jazz band commonly includes four to twelve musicians with a relatively large proportion of the group in therhythm section. Customarily, there are a drummer, a bass player, and a pianist. Often there is also a banjo player orguitarist. In traditional jazz, the clarinet, trumpet, and trombone carry the melody. In more modern jazz, the saxophone,violin, and flute may also be included in the melody section. Some jazz bands employ a blues singer. Most jazz is premisedon the principle that an almost infinite number of variations can accommodate themselves to a progression of chords thatcan be repeated indefinitely to feature an improvisation by solo instruments or vocalists. For example, while the trumpetplays the melody, the clarinet might embellish and invent compatible melodies around the original theme. Suchimprovisation is a test of the jazz musician's skill and is referred to as tone color.Jazz first became popular outside the United States in the 1920s when jazz bands began to record, distribute, andeven export their recordings to Europe. Since jazz is improvisational, it does not exist in the form of printed scores, andrecorded performances were and still are the best way of preserving the music. A very basic library of recorded jazz wouldinclude work by such classic artists as Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and BillieHoliday. Theirs is probably America's most unique and most important contribution to the musical world, although there area few contemporary artists who are keeping the tradition alive
đang được dịch, vui lòng đợi..