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Final Reflection

Jazz history is certainly very interesting. In its evolution since the 1920s with hot jazz, jazz has expanded into a whole universe of jazz genres that are so different from one another. In this Tumblr, we have learned twelve of these jazz genres: their characteristics, examples of them, and what changes have occurred within those jazz genres. From the research of these twelve jazz genres, an evaluation about how it has changed is made for each jazz genre. The jazz of genres we discussed—hot jazz, swing, bebop, cool jazz, hard bop, bossa nova, modal, free jazz, soul jazz, fusion jazz, acid jazz, and smooth jazz—sound different from one another; whether it be due to the playstyle, or the rhythm, or the melody, or the improvisation, these twelve jazz genres we talked about have their own set of characteristics, formed from change, that make it unique in jazz history. In this Tumblr, we analyzed these different characteristics in order to find out how each jazz genre, as it progresses through history, has changed.

However, going back to the first question we are asked when we first started this Tumblr: how can we see the continuity of “jazz” as a style in the midst of these changes? I can conclude after researching much about jazz’s history that jazz has continued as its own style in the midst of these changes because jazz is uniquely defined by its playstyle that has been influenced by syncopation and improvisation. The genre of jazz sounds unique to other styles of music, and even though it has evolved into other different-sounding jazz genres, jazz’s unique playstyle, affected much by syncopation and improvisation, could still be heard in these jazz genres regardless of these changes. The unique playstyle of jazz is what defines jazz and makes it distinguishably unique from other music genres.

Take free jazz for example. With its extremely complicated playstyle involving complex melodies and rhythms with no harmonic structure, free jazz undoubtedly is very different from the type of jazz we usually relate to. However, after hearing free jazz, we would categorize it as jazz; why is that? This is because jazz has its own unique playstyle that defines its subgenres. Even though free jazz does not sound like the type of jazz we listen to, we can hear those extensive improvisations and syncopations that has defined the playstyle of jazz in the playstyle of free jazz, which is why we categorize free jazz as part of the genre of jazz.

Having gained much more knowledge on jazz’s history and evolution, I can say that my perceptions on jazz have certainly been reshaped. First thing I have learned is that jazz is such a vast music genre full of hundreds of diverse subgenres. Each jazz genre has its own unique characteristics and playstyle, and I did not expect the jazz universe to be so vast and diverse. My thoughts on jazz have certainly been opened to a whole new world of discovery and exploration within jazz; I used to think of jazz as the type of music one might hear in a hotel elevator with its relaxed melodies and lazy-like playstyle (which is smooth jazz by the way), but now I have discovered that jazz is not limited to just smooth jazz. Oh, how my ears have opened to the harsh complexity of bebop, or to the unusual liberty of free jazz, or to the funkiness of soul jazz! The world of jazz is massive, and this is one of the first things I learned at the end of this Tumblr project. Relating to my initial post about the changes in jazz, my opinion about this topic has not changed. In the initial post, I believed that jazz has still continued as its own style because of its unique playstyle, and from the research, I believe so as well. The playstyle of jazz is unique due to improvisation and syncopation, introduced by ragtime and the blues, that has influenced jazz significantly. Jazz’s unique playstyle is what makes people distinguish jazz pieces from other genres of music, and because of this, jazz has still continued as its own style in the midst of change.

Some people believe that these changes in jazz genres have made it separate from jazz (take acid jazz or bossa nova for example). However, people are trying too hard to define jazz’s playstyle. Jazz should not be defined; it should be enjoyed as a genre that has expanded the world of music. One person said, “While Classical music introduces the essential fundamentals of music, and how it works together. Jazz made it into a language.” We should not try too hard in distinguishing jazz pieces because of change; rather, we should appreciate the fact that through these changes jazz has become a style that is extremely significant in music history.

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Smooth Jazz

As the final jazz genre I’m going to talk about, smooth jazz has changed much from traditional jazz. Smooth jazz does not rely on improvisation that traditional jazz uses extensively. Smooth jazz also focuses more on the instruments and play style as a whole rather than individual expressions practiced widely in traditional. Smooth jazz could be described as sedated pop music. The style is lazy-like but has a play style similar to pop. Because of the pop aspect, smooth jazz sounds slicker than traditional jazz and sounds more pleasant to Western ears.

What smooth jazz has in common with traditional jazz, however, is syncopation, which is extremely important for smooth jazz’s rhythm. Through all of jazz’s history, syncopation has stayed within the jazz genre and has defined jazz’s sophisticated rhythm.

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The final jazz genre we’re going to talk about is smooth jazz. Smooth jazz is an evolution version of fusion jazz where it “fuses” with other music genres, dominantly pop music. In fact, smooth jazz could also be called pop jazz or contemporary jazz. Listen to many examples of smooth jazz through this YouTube to grasp what smooth jazz sounds like.

Smooth jazz is a simpler, easy-to-listen-to, and very commercial form of fusion. Just like acid jazz, smooth jazz relies more on its rhythm rather than improvisation. The music isn't cerebral, like hard bop, nor is it funky like soul jazz; it is unobtrusive, slick, and highly polished, where the overall sound matters more than the individual parts. Therefore, in smooth jazz, it is not about the individual solos playing their own improvisations that matter; the overall sound of the music is what is emphasized in smooth jazz. Because of this, there is little or no improvisation in smooth jazz.

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Acid Jazz

Acid jazz is different from traditional jazz through the fact that this genre did not evolve from traditional jazz in the first place. Acid jazz has a play style that is based on a rhythm derived from funk and soul with a little sophistication from jazz and hip-hop. This music style uses electronic instrumentation which differs from traditional jazz. Also, acid jazz uses little or no improvisation, which is one of the core elements of jazz and why some people do not consider acid jazz as part of jazz.

However, what acid jazz has is syncopation, which is very important, especially that acid jazz is heavily based on rhythm. Acid jazz certainly is very different from traditional jazz and adds these different aspects to the world of jazz.

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This video has 90-minute acid jazz. If you want a groovy music genre to listen to, check acid jazz out.

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The mid 1980s was when acid jazz began to emerge. This style of music is not a true style of jazz music because it does not evolve from the traditional roots of jazz. Instead, acid jazz incorporated four main music genres: jazz, funk, soul, and hip-hop. Although it is not a true style of jazz music, acid jazz is too significant to ignore as a member of the genre.

This article talks about acid jazz based on different opinions of different people. Acid jazz sounds very similar to soul jazz through the fact that it incorporates a funky, groovy rhythm. However, unlike soul jazz, acid jazz incorporates hip-hop, often manifesting in the rhythm and rap heard in most acid jazz pieces. Acid jazz is heavily based on percussion that has been adapted to fit the groovy beat from funk.

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Fusion Jazz

Fusion jazz has rock aspects that make it different from traditional jazz. Because rock affects almost every musical aspect of jazz, little improvisation could be heard, which I understand is why many jazz musicians and fans do not see fusion as part of jazz. However, much of jazz’s complexity is seen in fusion; syncopation and jazz’s sophisticated play style are still heard in fusion. Fusion could be seen as a huge change from traditional jazz, but these changes happen to suit the current audience. Because rock was so popular, fusion jazz emerged to suit the current audience, which is why fusion jazz has changed so much from traditional jazz.

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Weather Report’s “Birdland” is an excellent example of fusion jazz. Notice how rock has influenced this jazz genre through the instrumentation, rocky rhythm, etc.

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This article talks about the jazz genre fusion. In the late 1960s, fusion emerged as a jazz genre that incorporated the “fusing” together of jazz and rock musical elements:

From jazz, fusion got its sophistication and complexity: sophisticated improvisations and complex interplay among the musicians.

From rock, fusion got its power, rhythm, and simplicity: electronic instruments (i.e., electric guitars, basses, and keyboard synthesizers), rock rhythms (i.e., straight -- not swung -- eighth notes), and simple harmony (i.e., often just long one or two chord vamps).

Because rock was becoming so popular, jazz musicians began incorporating this style of music in jazz with the intention of capitalizing on the popular appeal of rock music. As a result, fusion jazz emerged, and it somewhat worked to a degree. Rock fans supported fusion musicians and were, in fact, more supportive than jazz fans due to the fact that many jazz musicians and fans did not consider fusion real jazz.

Fusion jazz added an interesting aspect into the jazz collection we learned. With its more rocky play style, fusion jazz showed that merging different genres of music into jazz is possible.

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Soul Jazz

How has soul jazz changed? From free jazz, soul jazz is considerably simpler with repetitive funkily simple rhythms and melodies unlike the pure randomness and complexities of free jazz. From traditional jazz, soul jazz has taken a more blues approach, but nonetheless still incorporates syncopation and some improvisation that has lived on in all jazz genres. Soul jazz was more into the catchiness of its pieces, which is similar to the aims of traditional jazz. However, soul jazz relied a lot on the bass to do this, which was not extensively used in traditional jazz or in any jazz genres previous soul jazz. Soul jazz introduced the importance of a strong bass line played by the bass to create a groovy rhythm in jazz.

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The 1960s gave birth to the jazz genre of soul jazz. Soul jazz is almost always blues based and is closely related to R&B and gospel styles. It is the new groovy, funky style of jazz that incorporates strong, infectious rhythms as well as melodic and rhythmic ostinato (repeated figures or phrases). Unlike the previous style of free jazz, soul jazz in contrast is considerably simpler, so simple in fact that it was even used as dance music.

Noticeable musicians of soul jazz are Horace Silver, Cannonball Adderley, Freddie Hubbard, Ramsey Lewis, Jimmy Smith, Wes Montgomery, and others.

This article has a brief description of soul jazz as well as five excellent examples of soul jazz. Make sure you check out the five examples and notice the funky characteristics of soul jazz.

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Free Jazz

Jazz has come a long way: from traditional jazz all the way to free jazz. So much has changed in these 40 years of jazz evolution. Almost everything about free jazz has changed from traditional jazz. There are no fixed meter, rhythm, tempo, harmony, melody, and instruments in free jazz, unlike in traditional jazz. Also, free jazz incorporates atonality, which is different from traditional jazz’s tonal system. Even the scale that free jazz has, which is undefinable because of the atonality, is different from the diatonic scale traditional jazz uses. However, what makes free jazz still part of jazz is the fact that it incorporates improvisation and syncopation. These two aspects are what bind jazz genres together, no matter how free or complicated they are.

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An excellent example of free jazz is Cecil Taylor’s “Enter, Evening.” Notice how unusual sounding it is because of the unlimited freedom the musicians have in their improvisations. Notice also how the musicians make all kinds of sounds from their instruments.

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If you thought modal jazz was a free type of jazz, think again because from the late 1950s to the 1960s there emerged an even freer type of jazz called free jazz. Just as its name suggests, free jazz has no rules in its play style. Free jazz musicians are not limited by a fixed harmonic structure, nor by meter, nor by rhythm, nor by tempo, nor by instrument, not even by the scale they are playing in! Free jazz is based on sound and what the musician wants it to sound like. Because of this, free jazz musicians experimented with making all kinds of sounds on their instruments, including squeaks and squawks. The improvisation in free jazz is 100% free, using no fixed instrumental roles or harmonic, rhythmic, or melodic structures and abandoning composition altogether.

Because of this, free jazz is atonal and not based on a “tonal system” like most other music (pop, rock, other styles of jazz, classical music, etc.). Atonality is used to define music that seems to lack a clear tonal center, or the first note of the major or minor scale in use as the pitch collection. As a result of this, many find free jazz unusual and difficult to listen to. “However, if you approach listening to the music without any preconceived notions of how music is ‘supposed’ to sound, free jazz is very artistic and expresses deep emotions.”

Without having to worry about what chord they were on and what chord comes next, free jazz musicians were free to experiment with sound and explore emotions with their music.

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Modal Jazz

We can see much change from traditional jazz all the way to modal jazz. First off, modal jazz has adopted the chromatic scale from bop. However, it now incorporates different modes into the improvisations rather than only the fixed scale of major and minor. As a result of this, improvisations are much freer and less bound by chord progressions. This also means that more emotions could be displayed through modal jazz.

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An example of modal jazz is heard in John Coltrane’s “Impressions.” Try to notice the difference in the chords used in the piece. Because modal jazz uses modes, the chords would be more or less derived from the prevailing mode, thus sounding less familiar to Western ears.

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Modal jazz emerged in the late 1950s to 1960s as a style of jazz that focuses more on the emotional aspect of music. Just as its name suggests, modal jazz is based on modes rather than chords. A mode basically means scale, but rather than only being the major and minor scales we normally hear, modal jazz incorporates other types of scales as well. This is because jazz musicians wanted to be freer in their improvisations, especially on the emotional content, and modes allowed them to do just that. “By de-emphasizing the role of chords, a modal approach forces the improviser to create interest by other means: melody, rhythm, timbre, and emotion.”

Simply said, modal jazz was developed because jazz musicians wanted to freestyle with their improvisations without being handicapped by chord progressions, which resulted in a modal approach.