ABOUT JAZZ
A musical art form which started in African-American areas in the Southern part of the United States (at about the start of the 20th century) from a combination of African and European musical traditions, Jazz is one of the world’s most established musical forms today. The style’s West African source is obvious in its utility of blue notes, call-and-response, improvisation, polyrhythms, syncopation, and the swung note of ragtime. From its youth until now, jazz has also mixed music from 19th and 20th century American mainstream music, which is founded on European music traditions. The word jazz started as a West Coast term of a not-so-sure source and was first used to point to music in Chicago at around the year 19oo’s.