African Influence on Jazz

Type :

Presentation

Pages :

3 pages

Format :

.doc

Published date :

06/16/2008

Category :

Political science

Sub category :

Social sciences

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Summary :

African music brought a unique form off beats, rhythms, and a harmonic interpretation of color that was never experienced to such an extent in the United States before.
Improvisation also developed from the African slaves as they worked and later became part of jazz and the music world.
It was in New Orleans that Ragtime and the Blues merged to form a jazz revolution, naming the city the birthplace of jazz.
New Orleans musicians and musical styles continued to influence jazz nationally as the music went through a rapid series of stylistic changes. Jazz became the unchallenged popular music of America during the Swing era of the 1930s and 1940s.

Abstract

The most significant musical influences occurred in the south before the Civil War by african slaves at work. It was the migration of slaves to the south that brought a culture to America based on beats and rhythm as an expression of life. The black tradition moved to America during the course of a century from the end of the 1700s to the end of the 1800s. During this time over 4 million slaves became American citizens and thus integrating their culture with that of American culture. These musical traditions that came to the states were dependent on oral transmission, represented by work songs, spirituals, and field hollers. "jazz is the art of expression set to music! jazz is said to be the fundamental rhythms of human life and man's contemporary reassessment of his traditional values. Volumes have been written on the origins of jazz based on black American life-styles. The early influences of tribal drums and the development of gospel, blues and field hollers seems to point out that jazz has to do with human survival and the expression of life" ("jazz Music"). What was unknown at the time was that these work chants would influence one of the most significant music genres of the 20th century