Listen To Jazz

These days it is very rare to see younger people listen to jazz. The majority of kids who actually do listen to jazz are the kids who tend to play an instrument in their middle school, high school or college, or the kids who grew up with their parents listening to it. Most of the other kids don't really respect the music.

I personally think jazz is one of the most important aspects of music in American culture. It certainly is one of the first forms of music that is originally American. All other music before that, came primarily from other countries around the world. What makes Jazz so unique is that it would not exist if it wasn't for the diversity the America experienced. It was originated in the south. It started from the lower class people from different countries blending their musical backgrounds together to create something total new. It was a mixture mainly of African tribal music and European classical music. The Africans contributed their sense of rhythm and improvisation mainly with the percussion instruments and the Europeans contributed their sense of harmony and melody.

Arguably, improvisation is what makes jazz, jazz. Most people agree that you might hear something that sounds traditionally jazz, but if it wasn't improvised, and every melody line was pre-written then it is not jazz. The only thing that can be written is the Chord changes. Everything else has to generally be made up on the spot. This in my opinion is what makes jazz so unique and difficult.

It takes years of practice do be able to confidently play jazz and actually sound good. This is why I respect the art form so much. I think if people understood what goes on to makes jazz, then they would respect it also.