Jazz

Jazz

THE ORIGINS

The term jazz indicates a type of music that has been developed in the United States between thousands the eight hundred and thousands the nine hundred from the encounter between the musical shapes elaborated from the black slaves deport to you from Africa and the culture of the white men. The word is of uncertain origin: some make it to come from a dialectal expression "jazz them boys" in use near the tavern of New Orleans towards where the black slaves were exhibited; other think that the term can derive from the French "jaser" (to converse). Also this second hypothesis is not lacking in foundation, because the jazz, much more than other musical kinds it's based on a continuous converse between musicians. However is sure that the jazz it's a cultural phenomenon between the more important of our century.

But the true history of jazz begins when the black people have the possibility to use old instruments discard from the white men: such as old bugles, drums and much more that after the civil war they did not serve more to the army. Nobody taught they like playing these instruments: the black ones learned alone therefore, not knowing read or write music, playing to ear and improvising. Gradually through the free musical expression, a new style, a new way was developed to play, rich of other sounds does not contemplate in other musical kinds: the jazz. The centre of it's birth is New Orleans a city of the Louisiana to the outlet of Mississippi. After the official abolition of the slavery in eighteen sixty-five , many black men left the plantations was settled down here in order to find some humble job. Their condition was better regarding the first times: they had a sure freedom and the possibility to gather in warehouses abandons, many found just in music means in order to earn a little money and that happened for of three factors:

• In the plantations from which they come they had acquired much experience in the within of music
• The New Orleans music was a lot above all appreciate to the frequent visitors of several the premises publics
• the musical field was the only one, to that time, in which it was allowed to a black one to emerge.                                                                                                            

In the jazz they met the particular characteristic of the way to sing "black" and with the musical instruments it was attempted to reproduce that sound "dirty" just of the vocal expression of the vocal expression of the spiritual and the blues.

This first expression of the jazz strongly and based on a way to play sour and full of unexpected tears was said "ragtime". The characteristics of ragtime are:

fast and syncopate course

continuous present of the piano

collective and simultaneous improvisation of the instruments.

The ragtime it's asserted to the end thousands eight hundred thanks to a black pianist that affected is compositions the seams perforates of the automatic keyboard: Scott Joplin  and it's first large one happening was "Maple leaf rag"