WHAT IS JAZZ MUSIC? THE TRUE VALUE AND MEANING BEHIND JAZZ

If you’re reading this, it’s probably because you love jazz. Many of us know why we love jazz, even if we can’t always put it into words. Though we might be jazz fans for different reasons, most of us can relate to first discovering and falling in love with jazz music.

We won’t agree on the best jazz record or best jazz musician (and sometimes, we can’t even agree on what jazz is and isn’t). However, we are still a community with many shared values, and we agree that jazz is an important musical art form with as rich a tradition as classical music (or any music).

Since jazz is important to us, we should try to recognize what it is about jazz that makes it so infectious and enticing. In this article, we’ll discuss jazz music and try to answer the question, “What is jazz music?” The answer isn’t as straightforward as you might think.

This question raises more questions about jazz’s relevance, value, and meaning. It doesn’t matter if you’re a seasoned pro, a young musician just starting, or a passionate hobbyist – we all owe it to ourselves, to the music, and to others to ask some important questions:

Why do we play jazz music?
What makes jazz music special?
What does jazz music represent?

What do we want to take away from this music (emotionally, intellectually, spiritually, etc.)?
How do we want our audiences to be changed, moved, inspired, or affected by our music?

In other words, what does jazz mean for us and society?

I can’t stress enough how important these concerns truly are.
If we don’t think about and at least attempt some meaningful answers to these questions, then why are we making this music in the first place?

Though I don’t claim to have the first or last word on the topic (and I certainly don’t have all of the answers), I want to try to tackle some of these issues in this post. I hope, at the very least, you’ll be inspired to think more deeply about the broader context, meaning, value, significance, and purpose of your music-making.

If you love thinking about big questions like these and want to join like-minded jazz musicians working toward being the best jazz players they can be, then you should check out the Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle.

The Inner Circle has everything you need to bust through practice plateaus and grow into a more well-rounded jazz musician. From courses, classes, workshops, and jazz standard deep dives to our thriving community of jazz lovers, the Inner Circle has just what you need to take it to the next level.

Jazz as Art Music: Bebop, Hard Bop, Post Bop, and Beyond

After the big band swing era, which jump started the careers of jazz musicians like Duke Ellington, the meaning of jazz began to change again. The emphasis was less on creating dance music and moved more toward artistic expression.

Early jazz always had big personalities—think Louis Armstrong and Jelly-Roll Morton. However, jazz musicians began to make music as a means of personal expression and not as a means of popular entertainment (though any popular attention was appreciated).

This was the birth of the bebop style, which not only featured complex harmonies and lightning-fast improvisation but also an emphasis on the artistic identities of the jazz performer. It was a rebellion against the jazz of earlier eras, which was seen as artistically restrictive.

Saxophonist Charlie Parker and Trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie are iconic Bebop jazz musicians who would redirect the course of jazz history by turning jazz tunes into vehicles of artistic expression rather than bandstand numbers for the youth to dance to.

After the bebop era, various movements within jazz sought to push jazz in one direction or another. However, jazz music would forever be about personal artistic expression and identity.

Whether you listen to free jazz, modern jazz, Latin jazz, or any jazz, the purpose of the music is to express the artistic vision of the artists. This is what has unified jazz music since the bebop era.

Musical Elements of Jazz That Give It A Distinct Sound

Improvisation: Jazz is about personal identity. That’s why a key feature of jazz is improvisation, where musicians spontaneously create melodic solos over the underlying chord progressions. You wouldn’t have the rock guitar solo without Louis Armstrong first taking a trumpet solo.

Swing Feel: The first jazz recordings reveal that swing rhythm was always a part of the genre. Swing is a distinctive groove or shuffle from playing eighth notes in a long-short pattern. This creates a feeling of syncopation and forward motion. Though early jazz always swung, modern jazz doesn’t necessarily have to swing.

Blue Notes: Jazz is also microtonal, meaning it often features pitches outside of the rigid twelve-tone system of pitches used in Western Music. These ‘blue notes’ are played at a slightly lower pitch than those of the standard major scale.

Seventh Chords and Complex Harmonies: Jazz harmony is more complex than pop music or rock music. Where popular music tends to use triads to convey harmony, jazz often uses a variety of seventh chords with extensions and alterations to create a rich sonic environment.

Polyrhythms and Syncopated Rhythms: Jazz usually features overlapping rhythms and beat accents that are typically weak in other genres. Jazz artists might utilize polyrhythms to produce a rich rhythmic environment.

Interaction and Collaboration: Jazz involves a high level of interaction between musicians, where they listen, respond, and react to each other. The collective co-creation of music practiced by modern jazz ensembles makes each jazz performance unique.