Jazz Bands

Introduction to Jazz Bands
Jazz music is one of the many forms of music that is usually played at parties, quiet kickback pubs and dedicated jazz venues. Most people like jazz music because it is not too loud and noisy, has minimal instruments, and is extremely pleasant. A Jazz band doesn't always need a singer as it is very interesting to listen to, even as simple instrumental pieces. Jazz music, many people say, got its birth in New Orleans. The Kid Ory's were the very first jazz band that began playing their music in New Orleans and recorded it. They became extremely popular and the people's love for jazz grew rapidly. The dynamic city of Chicago soon took over and gave birth to numerous jazz musicians and bands.

A Jazz band is a group of musicians that usually comprise of a drummer to provide the beat and tempo to the piece and a bass guitar which plays single or flowing bass notes. The piano or guitar is also included in a jazz combo. In most places in the world, the saxophone is one of the most important instruments of the jazz group along with the trumpet.

In the present day, with the rapid growth of fusion music, jazz bands are incorporating other forms of music too. Many jazz bands include a light touch of Indian string instruments like the sitar and also the Indian violin. Although this kind of music is still not very well known, it seems to be rapidly growing and will catch up to other genres in the years to come.

The most special feature of a jazz musician, when compared to any other musician, is his ability and talent to improvise and update his style of playing. A jazz musician will rarely play a tune in the same way each time. There is always a slight change in the way he plays the tune, or in the repetitions of notes.

Perhaps the greatest jazz musician the world has known would be Louis Armstrong, whose legacy peaked during the 1950's. As time went by, jazz music gave birth to many derivatives and they came to be called different forms of jazz music itself like modal jazz, Latin jazz, African jazz, soul jazz, modern jazz, fusion jazz etc. To this day jazz music is played all over the world at parties, weddings, clubs and pubs. With the growth of hard rock and freestyle rap, the love for jazz, country and other old western styles is also morphing into new directions.

Jazz Music

Jazz: The Growth of Contemporary Jazz Music
Born in the early 20th century in African American cultures, jazz is a musical style that has developed and evolved all different genres of music. Dating from early 1910s to the 1990s, jazz has contributed to the growth of music. Sparking a rise to a variety of music styles, the spread of jazz across the world influenced trends from early New Orleans Dixieland styles to Latin Afro-Cuban even playing a part in the development of funk and hip hop in the 1990s.

Aside from playing a part in the growth of subgenres, jazz within itself has been influenced by a variety of musical genres. Most commonly the trends of R&B, funk, rock, and pop music styles helped shape jazz fusion into what we know to be smooth jazz. With tracks of encoded rhythms and down tempo beats, smooth jazz is often confused with styling of contemporary jazz music. A modern growth is urban contemporary jazz, which slot in aspects of hip-hop; which is intended for listeners who would normally listen to radio stations that play an assortment of hip-hop and R&B. While smooth jazz is soft and mellow is content; contemporary jazz music is blunter and grabs the attention of its listeners.

Among the players who commonly perform free jazz are Dave Koz, Boney James, Paul Jackson Jr., Nick Colionne, Bobby Perry, Urban Jazz Coalition, Streetwize, and Tha' Hot Club. As well as other free jazz artists such as Bob Baldwin, Michael Lington, Brian Bromberg, David Lanz, Bobby Ricketts, Kim Waters, Daniele Caprelli, Ken Navarro, Walter Beasley, and Peter White. As popularity for late night radio airplay throughout the years grew; doors where open for contemporary jazz music artist like Kenny G, David Sanborn, the late George Howard, George Benson, Marc Antoine, Bradley Joseph and contemporary jazz flautist Najee. These modern jazz musicians had a tendency to play their instruments in at such a harmonious frequency that it was rare for the measures to go un-noticeable.

The free jazz radio arrangement, which commonly played fifteen-minute sets involving instrumentals wrapping a vocal song or two continued to grow and flourish over the 1990s and early 2000s. In the late 2000s, most markets began losing jazz stations and in a variety of media markets, this arrangement does no longer exist over the air except online or on HD Radio.

By 2009, as contemporary jazz remained on its persistent decline on the syndicated radio airwaves, an increasing number of non-commercial stations have grown an interest in the music and began to add it to their programming.