History of Blues & Jazz Music

The guitar has had an "instrumental" role. in the history of jazz and the blues.

The history of blues and jazz music are almost inextricable, as they share many of the same origins and similar characteristics. Since these types of music were developed in live performances, often in the shadowy venues of bars and brothels, and before the existence of modern recording technology, it is sometimes hard to separate truth, rumor and myth. Nevertheless, both music forms have major cultural importance in the United States, with musician Art Blakey, among others, calling jazz the country's most important art form.

Origins

The origins of jazz and blues music are traced to African-American ritual music in the Deep South. Throughout the 19th century, African-Americans were trained in European instruments, such as the precursors to the modern guitar, the violin and the piano. Today, most jazz and blues music shares the pentatonic scale, which is marked by five pitches for each octave and can be traced back to 18th and 19th century musical traditions.

Late 19th Century

During the last few decades of the 1800s, vaudeville and live ragtime performances provided the opportunity for musicians to refine a unique blend of African musical scales and European harmony. In New Orleans's Storyville district, cornetist Buddy Bolden (1877-1931) became the first acknowledged jazz musician, blending syncopation and improvisation in his live performances at bars and brothels. Bolden spent the final 20 years of his life in a mental institution, and no recordings of Bolden are known to exist.

Early 20th Century

In the 1920s and 1930s, known as the "Jazz Age," jazz music became increasingly popular across the country, especially in the Midwest and Northeast. By 1924, King Oliver and Louis Armstrong had become major jazz acts in Chicago, and singer Bessie Smith was recording successful blues albums. In the next year, George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue," an instrumental jazz standard, debuted in New York City. Improvisational jazz led to the development of swing in the 1930s, which was characterized by fast, uptempo dance music.

Late 20th Century

By mid-century, blues music became more indistinct from rock 'n' roll, with artists such as Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Little Richard and Chuck Berry moving freely between the two forms. On the other hand, jazz music in the late 1940s through the 1960s moved toward a less popular "bebop" style. Alto saxophonist Charlie Parker, pianist Thelonious Monk and trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie composed complicated, difficult music, with increasing dissonance and experimentalism.

Influences

In the final decades of the 20th century and the first decade of the 21st century, blues and jazz have moved stylistically toward fusion, world music and rock 'n' roll. The blues form has remained inextricable from jazz and other styles, including rock 'n' roll, through the ubiquitous twelve-bar blues chord progression. John Thomas, the author of Voice Leading for Guitar: Moving Through the Changes," has said that learning blues progressions are "critical elements for building a jazz repertoire."

References

• History of Rock: A Short Blues History
• All About Jazz: A Brief History of the Blues
• A History of Jazz