By Quentin Walston
What is jazz?
Jazz is a paradox:
Jazz must have improvisation. Unless it doesn’t.
Jazz must swing. Unless it doesn’t.
Jazz is American. Unless it isn’t.
Jazz must be danceable. Unless you can’t dance to it.
Jazz must be rooted in the blues. Unless it’s not.
Whatever it is, jazz must come from the heart.
All the descriptors above were critical elements jazz needed to have, until the creative and brilliant performers and composers created a version of the music that went against the norm. Jazz has always called on its musicians to be creative – to invent something new. In the smallest sense, a jazz musician is called to improvise. To never play the same tune the same way twice. If you want to hear Miles Davis play the same solo again, you’ll have to buy his record, otherwise you’re getting something new each time. On a large scale, jazz musicians are expected to be something new. Why should a trumpeter be an exact replica of Miles Davis when we can just listen to Miles Davis? Rather, we want someone with a new sound, with a new take on the music.
This is why jazz is so hard to define; it’s always changing.
It is true, that for the most part, jazz contains improvisation (for more on how that works, check out the Jazz Unlocked course). But jazz can be written out note for note.
It is true that for the first 50+ years of jazz history, jazz had a swing beat. The drums would swing, the solos would swing, everything would swing. In fact, swing became synonymous with jazz! But after the Bossa Nova craze and Fusion movements of the 60s and 70s, it became clear jazz can be outstanding without a single swung eighth note.
It is true that jazz was born in the United States. Around 1900, a beautiful amalgamation of blues, ragtime, gospel, marching band music, and southern string band music, combined with daring improvisation to produce what we call jazz. It occurred mostly in New Orleans, but also popped up in the piano music of Eubie Blake and Luckey Roberts around cities like New York, Chicago, Kansas City, and Washington DC. But jazz didn’t stay there. Jazz moved to Paris, London, Japan, Germany, South Africa and is now adored worldwide.
For decades, jazz was danceable. It had to be danceable. A band that couldn’t provide guests with enjoyable music for dancing would be booed off stage. A jazz record bought in the 20s or 30s would say “foxtrot” right on the label, letting the purchasing music fan know exactly what dance move should accompany the tune. But then bebop happened. Then free jazz happened. Jazz can be just for listening, or for expressing emotions far away from the spectrum of dance. Jazz changed again.
Jazz must be rooted in the blues. Buddy Bolden, Louis Armstrong, Cootie Williams, Dizzy Gillespie, Lee Morgan, Wynton Marsalis. All trumpet players, all from various periods of jazz history (from the start to now) that have used the blues to inform their playing. They’ve used it as a foundation, a springboard, or maybe a backdrop, but it is there. But what do we say about the ECM records of Europe that don’t hold on as tightly to the blues? Is it still there? Is it enough?
A simple question like what is jazz can leave jazz musicians, jazz historians, and jazz teachers perplexed. An innocent question like “What is jazz” has good company with “what is art?” and “what is beauty?” We recognize art when we see it, we are stunned by radiant beauty, we can identify, describe, or attribute common characteristics jazz, but mustering up a clear definition is nearly impossible!
But “what is jazz?” is still a question we want to answer. Jazz is a distinct musical artform with strong roots in blues, ragtime, and Western Classical traditions. Nearly all of jazz utilizes improvisation, and the players are experts in this craft. Jazz functions as a language: it evolves and is handed down between players and generations, learning from another and recordings. Despite ever widening and changing approaches to the music, there always remains a greater or lesser connectivity in style and form.
To understand “what is jazz”, we can learn and love a plethora of music and the innumerable artists that created it along the way. We dive into the history, the growth, the theory, the expression, the intricacy to the blunt impact of this crazy yet amazing music called jazz. What is jazz? Let’s set surface-level definitions aside and dive in deep. Let’s do it together.
Quentin Walston
Ready to start learning?
Learn the building block of jazz with our Jazz Unlocked courses
Learn jazz history with our Jazz Piano History Course
Start teaching your students to play jazz & improvise (even without prior experience) with our How to Teach Jazz & Improvisation course!