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Different Types of Jazz Music

The term “jazz” refers to a wide range of music. Jazz is a broad genre with several different styles. Its roots were in spontaneity, which naturally drove its ongoing evolution throughout its illustrious history.

Jazz music has been a hugely significant component of American society since it developed from African musical history just at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Discover some of the different forms of jazz music style that changed over the years:

What influenced jazz music?

Jazz is a distinctly American musical style that emerged in the early years of the twentieth century. Numerous African traditional music styles, like spirituals, work songs, and blues, are rooted in it. It also drew on 19th-century music and the uptempo keyboard style.

How did jazz impact culture?

Jazz infiltrated practically every corner of American culture during the 1920s. It impacted anything from clothing and literature to the Rights Movement.

What is the future of jazz?

Traditional, straight-ahead, modern popular, and acoustic jazz will thrive in the coming years. Up-and-coming young jazz performers will continue to push the creative boundaries within the conventional acoustic jazz combo setup, influenced by hard bop, blues, bebop, and swing.

10. New Orleans jazz or the Early Jazz 

The New Orleans Rhythm Kings
The New Orleans Rhythm Kings

New Orleans music takes on a variety of styles, many of which are inherited from earlier traditions. Dixieland, often known as traditional jazz, was the first type of jazz.

New Orleans has been a notable hub of funk, with some of the early funk acts. It is best recognized for its strong ties to jazz music and is widely regarded as the genre’s birthplace.

Typical New Orleans jazz is music group music characterized by a front line of cornet (or trumpet), clarinet, and trombone performing polyphony with various extents of improvisation and driven by a rhythm section of piano, guitar (or, subsequently, banjo), bass (or tuba), and drums providing syncopated rhythms for dancing.

While a New Orleans jazz ensemble’s instrumentation typically spans from five to seven musicians, bands were willing to experiment with formations that suited the market’s needs in the early years.

Jazz reshaped leadership responsibilities in the older New Orleans dance band tradition. For most of the twentieth century, the cornet played the lead melody, followed by the trumpet.

Solo improvisation did not become common in New Orleans jazz ensembles until the mid-1920s, as seen by songs of the New Orleans Rhythm Kings, King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band, Clarence Williams’ Blue Five, and Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five.

9. Big Band Swing Jazz

Benny Goodman and Peggy Lee
Benny Goodman and Peggy Lee

A big band is a jazz orchestra of ten or more players. Big bands rose to prominence in the 1910s and overshadowed jazz in the 1930s and 1940s.

They depended on written compositions and orchestration and gave bandleaders, arrangers, and instrument groups more prominence. The distinctions between composer, arranger, and leader are sometimes blurred.

Composers create original music, whereas arrangers adjust the work of composers for performing or recording. In rehearsals, bandleaders mold dynamics, phrasing, expression, and performance; they lead the group.

The first chorus of an arrangement is occasionally followed by an introduction, which can be as short as several measures or as long as a hook of its own.

Many arrangements include an interlude, which is frequently identical in content to the introduction and is placed between most or all choruses.

Big bands often consist of four segments: trumpets, trombones, saxophones, and a rhythm section comprised of guitar, piano, double bass, and drums. Duke Ellington once used six trumpets.

Swing music originated in the 1930s and was marked by a suppler feel than early jazz. Many bands had strong instrumentalists whose tones dominated, such as Benny Goodman’s and Artie Shaw’s clarinets.

Louis Armstrong and Earl Hines were at the forefront, while Jelly Roll Morton and King Oliver faded away. Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw, Stan Kenton, and Woody Herman were big band stars of the 1930s.

Coleman Hawkins established the tenor saxophone as an essential jazz instrument. Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald first appeared singing with big bands.

8. Bebop 

Charlie Parker, Tommy Potter, Dizzy Gillespie, and Miles Davis at the Three Deuces club
Charlie Parker, Tommy Potter, Dizzy Gillespie, and Miles Davis at the Three Deuces club

Bebop, sometimes known as bop, is a jazz style that emerged in the early to mid-1940s within U. S. The swing era was mainly concerned with dance and entertainment music. 

Bebop emerged as a response to swinging music in the mid-1940s. Thelonious Monk, Kenny Clarke, and Charlie Christian initiated new sounds in all-night jam sessions.

Bebop was unique from the swing era’s direct compositions. Pieces in this style are defined by their fast tempo, complicated chord voicings with rapid chord progressions, frequent key, instrumental virtuosity, and improvisation based on the integration of harmonic framework, scales, and frequent references to the melody.

The typical bebop band consisted of saxophones (alto or tenor), trumpets, pianos, guitars, double basses, and drums. The ensemble accompanied the soloists.

Advanced harmonies, sophisticated syncopation, changed harmonics, extended chords, chord alterations, asymmetrical phrasing, and elaborate melodies were all explored by bebop musicians.

According to Gerhard Kubik, the harmonic evolution in bebop stemmed from blues and certain other African-related melodic senses instead of 20th-century Western classical music. The blues served as both the foundation and the driving force driving bebop.

7. Gypsy jazz

Django Reinhardt at the Aquarium jazz club, in New York
Django Reinhardt at the Aquarium jazz club, in New York

Jazz Yamanouchi, or hot club-style jazz, is another term for gypsy jazz. Django Reinhardt, who performed in musette groups featuring accordionists, popularized gypsy jazz. He became fascinated with jazz and integrated it into his style of playing. 

In 1934, Reinhardt encountered violinist Stéphane Grappelli and they performed casually at the Hôtel Claridge in Paris. They made numerous recordings until the onset of war in 1939, while the Quintette was on tour in England.

Following Django Reinhardt’s death in 1953, a younger generation of gypsy musicians became intrigued by the traditional hot-club approach and repertoire. Around the late 1990s, the term “gypsy jazz” became popular.

Before and after WW2, the style was popular in France and, through records and concerts by Reinhardt’s original Quintette, in other countries in Europe.

Even though gypsy jazz players occasionally utilized clarinet, saxophone, mandolin, and accordion, guitar and violin remain the primary solo instruments. 

The rhythm guitar is performed with a particular rhythmic approach known as “la Pompe,” which virtually replaces the drums. This percussion pattern is akin to the bluegrass “boom-chick.”

In gypsy jazz, the double bass is a low-pitched instrument. It is mainly plucked with the fingers, but on select tunes, the bow is utilized for staccato roots and fifths in “two-feel” or prolonged bass notes on a ballad.

Even when a song is in a primary key, gypsy reharmonization typically gives it a minor vibe. Chromatic runs are frequently performed in rapid succession spanning over one octave. Guitarists frequently intersperse lyrical playing with flamenco-Esque percussion chords to create a varied solo.

6. Cool Jazz

Chet Baker known as the Prince of Cool
Chet Baker known as the Prince of Cool

Cool jazz is a modern subgenre that emerged in the United States following World War 2. Its relaxed tempos and softer tone contrast with the quick and intricate bebop style. Cool jazz applies formal arrangements and integrates classical music influences.

When Capitol Records issued the record Cool and Quiet in 1953, the term “cool” was first used in this music. Lester Young’s playing style characterized cool jazz, emphasizing melodic development over phrasing or harmonic switches in his tenor saxophone solos.

Ted Gioia and Lee Konitz cite cornetist Bix Beiderbecke and saxophone Frankie Trumbauer as early founders of the cool aesthetic in jazz.

Miles Davis’s piano improvisation on Charlie Parker’s “Chasin’ the Bird” in 1947 and John Lewis’s piano solos on Dizzie Gillespie’s record of” ‘Round Midnight” in 1948 foreshadowed the Cool Era.

Gerry Mulligan and Chet Baker developed an unusual and successful piano-less quartet. Lennie Tristano and Lee Konitz created a more cerebral, atonal alternative to bop. The Dave Brubeck Quartet released Time Out in 1959, and it peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard “Pop Albums” chart.

The extraordinary impact extends into later creations like bossa nova, modal jazz, or even free jazz. According to some observers, the succeeding hard bop style was a reaction to cool or West Coast jazz.

5. Hard Bop & Soul Jazz

The Jazz Messengers in 1985
The Jazz Messengers in 1985

Hard bop is a jazz subgenre that expands on bebop music. In the 1950s, the word was coined to characterize a new jazz current that blended elements from rhythm and blues, gospel music, and blues.

Music reviewer John Mehegan coined hard bop in his 1957 liner notes for the Art Blakey Columbia LP Hard Bop. Some saw hard bop as a reaction to cool jazz and West Coast jazz, while others saw it as an attempt to reclaim jazz as an African American expression.

The Jazz Messengers, headed by pianist Horace Silver and drummer Art Blakey, are widely regarded as the style’s pioneers. Others interpret it as a reaction to bebop’s collapse or the rise of rhythm & blues.

The hard bop style peaked in popularity during the 1950s and 1960s. Horace Silver, Clifford Brown, Charles Mingus, Art Blakey, Cannonball Adderley, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Hank Mobley, Thelonious Monk, and Lee Morgan were notable hard bop players.

Soul jazz is a sub-genre of hard bop that describes music with “earthy, bluesy melodic concepts” and “repetitive, dance-like rhythms.” Soul jazz emerged in the late 1950s; while soul-jazz was most popular in the mid-to-late 1960s, many aspects of the music continue to be popular.

4. Modal jazz

Tommy Potter Charlie Parker Max Roach Miles Davis Duke Jordan in August 1947
Tommy Potter Charlie Parker Max Roach Miles Davis Duke Jordan in August 1947

Modal jazz employs musical modes, frequently modulating between them to accompany chords rather than relying on a single tonal center throughout the composition. Traditionally, Western harmony is based on a tonal key center with corresponding chords and cadences.

Composer George Russell developed the phrase “modal jazz” in his 1953 book Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization. Miles Davis’s “Milestones” and John Coltrane’s quartet were examples of its popularity in the 1950s and 1960s.

Performers use chords in bebop and hard bop to provide a background for solos. By the 1950s, improvisation over chords had become such an essential aspect of jazz that sidemen on recording sessions were sometimes given only a list of chords to work.

Miles Davis, Freddie Hubbard, Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, and Wayne Shorter used a modal approach to composition. Miles Davis created one of the finest jazz albums in this modal framework. Several of John Coltrane’s Albums are regarded as exemplary instances of modal jazz.

Chick Corea, Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, Joe Henderson, Bobby Hutcherson, Pharoah Sanders, Woody Shaw, Wayne Shorter, McCoy Tyner, and Larry Young are among the other artists who have performed modal music.

3.Latin jazz and Bossa nova

Brazilian percussionist Airto Moreira
Brazilian percussionist Airto Moreira

Latin jazz is a variation of jazz that includes Latin American beats.  Afro-Cuban jazz, which is rhythmically premised on Cuban dance music, and Afro Brazilian jazz, which includes samba and bossa nova, are the two main categories.

In the nineteenth century, African American musical elements include Afro-Cuban lyrical themes. The habanera (Cuban contradanza) was the first rhythmically built on an African motif.

The first known jazz musician, Buddy Bolden, was credited with inventing the big four, a Habanera-based sequence. Many pre-1940s jazz tunes have a Cuban influence, but they are all rhythmically based on single-celled themes such as tresillo.

Latin jazz players frequently utilized percussive instruments like the conga, timbale, güiro, bongos, and claves in place of the drum kit in Latin jazz. Early Latin jazz rarely used a backbeat, while modern styles combine the backbeat with the clave.

Like most genres of jazz music, Latin jazz music can be performed in small or big groups. Small groups, or combinations, frequently employ the bebop format, which became popular in America in the 1950s.

The musicians perform a standard tune, numerous musicians perform improvised solos, and everyone performs the song again.

Bossa nova is a hybrid musical style based on the samba beat but influenced by American and European music ranging from Debussy to US jazz. Bossa nova originated in Brazil in the mid-1950s, with performers such as Johnny Alf, Antonio Carlos Jobim, and Joo Gilberto credited with its invention.

The song “Dans mon île” by Henri Salvador, used in the 1957 Italian film Europa di Notte by Alessandro Blasetti, was an early influence on bossa nova.

2. Avant-garde

American jazz saxophonist Ornette Coleman
American jazz saxophonist Ornette Coleman

Avant-garde jazz, also known as Avant-jazz and experimental jazz, arose in the 1950s and 1960s, pushing jazz beyond the traditional swing genres, bebop, hard bop, and cool jazz.

 Avant-garde jazz was pioneered in Chicago in the 1960s and 1970s by saxophonist John Coltrane and drummer Billy Higgins.

Ornette Coleman and others encouraged his band-mates to improvise with tiny framework or regular chord changes.

Collective improvisation, unconventional harmonic notions, and even atonality are popular among musicians. Three key concepts define avant-garde jazz:

Rejection of traditional tonality: For most of jazz’s initial periods, the genre was centered on improvisations of tonal music or songs arranged around a core note. Avant-garde jazz music abandoned established tonal bounds in favor of unusual harmony and, in some cases, atonality.

Collaborative improvisation: Throughout many avant-garde ensembles, performers improvise simultaneously instead of circle time while others support a solo.

Classical music of the twentieth century served as inspiration: Contemporary avant-garde jazz artists like Anthony Braxton and Henry Threadgill aren’t just influenced by jazz legends like Duke Ellington and Miles Davis. They’ve also followed in the footsteps of 20th-century classical composers like Arnold Schoenberg, Pierre Boulez, and Witold Lutoslawski. 

1. Jazz Fusion

Spyro Gyra combines jazz with R&B funk and pop
Spyro Gyra combines jazz with R&B funk and pop

Jazz fusion emerged in the late 1960s when musicians fused jazz harmonies and improvisation with rock, funk, rhythm, and blues. Jazz performers began to incorporate electric guitars, amps, and keyboards that have been popular in rock & roll.

Fusion albums, even ones produced by the same band or artist, may consist of a variety of styles of music. The intricacy of jazz fusion arrangements varies. Some use groove-based vamps tied to a particular key or chord and have a simple, repeating melody.

Others employ intricate chord progressions, unusual time signatures, or tunes with counter-melodies. Whether basic or sophisticated, these arrangements generally feature improvised passages that can vary slightly, much like other kinds of jazz.

 As in jazz, trumpet and saxophone can be used in jazz fusion, but other instruments frequently take their place. A jazz fusion band is more inclined to use electric guitar, synths, and bass guitar instead of piano and double bass.

Conclusion 

There are far more sub-genres and subsets of jazz music – plus various remakes within each style, such as Acid Jazz, Trad Jazz, Punk Jazz, Nu Jazz, Jazz Rap, Crossover Jazz, etc.

However, this article may have provided a general, historical summary of some of the most prominent or noteworthy jazz varieties in its concise history.

What are the various forms of jazz?

There are around 40 sub-genres of jazz. It is categorized into three main subgenres: early jazz, modern jazz, and jazz-related. Each of these eras has a list of sub-genres, which totals roughly 40 and includes Bop, Swing, Vocal Jazz, Cool Jazz, World Fusion, Latin Jazz, and Funk.

The most popular jazz configuration is a piano trio. It’s said that it captures the spirit of jazz in its most concise yet appropriate way. Swing, interplay, and dynamics are all used to great effect in a piano trio.

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