What kind of jazz

The term Avant garde jazz is often used interchangeably with free jazz, but it may also use more written material, often taking influence from contemporary classical music. Check our our round up of 10 of the great free jazz albums in history. In the late s jazz musicians began to use electric instruments and take on the influence of the rock music and funk that were popular at the time.

Miles Davis recorded Bitches Brew and In a Silent Way in , both of which were controversial with jazz purists, with long tunes and loose, improvised forms. This adding of other more commercial genres to jazz arguably led to the emergence of Smooth Jazz in the s too. Back in the s, for example, bebop was considered modern compared to the big band swing that came before it. From a musical perspective, modern jazz today can be highly demanding to play, often utilising non-functional harmony, intricate melodies and odd time signatures.

It might take influence from other genres, such as 20th Century classical music or sounds from non-western cultures. And while it can sometimes have a reputation for being rather challenging for the listener, a number of modern jazz artists have managed to create accessible and highly melodic material from relatively complex source materials. You can find our in-depth coverage of this style, along with videos of all the artists mentioned above, on our article entitled What is Modern Jazz?

Of course, there are many more sub-genres and niches of jazz music — as well as all sorts of twists and turns inside each of these — but we hope this article has given you a broad, chronological overview of some of the most famous or important types of jazz in its relatively short history. A jazz trio often contains a piano or other instrument to play the melody, with double bass and drums providing the rhythm.

Listen to the Soweto Kinch trio - comprising of saxophone, drum kit and double bass - perform the jazz standard 'A Night in Tunisia'. This track features improvisation and, although remaining in simple time throughout, alternates from a straight feel to a swing feel.

Listen out for when it changes from one to the other. Jazz band. It first surfaced between , and made a re-emergence around While this robust, invigorating style is generally performed by a group of at least pieces, it is not limited to large ensembles. Swing is popular as dance music, so this fostered an immediate connection from people to the music. Bebop was developed in the mids, and is a more complex version of New Orleans style and swing.

The intricate melodies and harmonic structure were the beginning of the earliest pop songs. Scat singing along with soloist improvisation is commonly used to accompany the rhythm of Bebop tunes. At first jazz was mostly for dancing. In later years, people would sit and listen to it. After the first recordings of jazz were made in , the music spread widely and developed rapidly. Jazz developed a series of different styles including traditional jazz, swing listen, for example, to Benny Carter, who got his start in swing music, in Benny's Music Class bebop, cool jazz, and jazz?

At the same time, jazz spread from the United States to many parts of the world, and today jazz musicians--and jazz festivals--can be found in dozens of nations.

Jazz is one of the United States's greatest exports to the world.