As part of the musical education of my daughters, I am making certain that they are exposed to music that I believe is essential to understanding modern music.  In that, I have taken some time to compile three musical play lists so far for jazz, I thought it might be interesting and fun to others to have a ready set of playlists of what might be considered quintessential jazz standards as well.

For those who may not know, the musical genre generally known as jazz is said to have originated in the African American community in and around New Orleans, Louisiana, of the United States.  Although this is generally accepted, I would argue that the form might be traced back to the golliwogs and cakewalks found throughout the plantations of southern United States.  Still earlier, obviously, there are connections to musical forms from Africa as it blended with Western European styles as well.

Regardless of the ultimate roots of jazz, it is certain that it has its roots in both blues and ragtime.  By the 1920s, this music form was so predominant that a moniker for the 1920s was the Jazz Age.  After some continuing refinement, this format metamorphosed into the popular standards prevalent among those tunes that would become known as the Great American Songbook.

Although, Jazz is a distinct American voice, as it spread around the globe it merged with other voicings and styles found in multiple localities.     Distinguishing marks of this genre common found throughout the blended sounds are that its characteristic swing and use of semi-tones that are the bent or blue notes, call and response vocals, polyrhythms and a typically some or a lot of improvisation.

This is a continuously evolving form of music.    The 1930s and 1940s might be said to be dominated by heavy arrangements that were dance orientated;  the bluesy Kansas City Jazz; and Gypsy Jazz.

Into the 1940s, Bebop emerged shifting jazz toward faster tempos and chord based improvisation that was less orientated toward dance and more toward being a musician’s music.   This lasted for the better part of the decade.  At the end of the 1940s, Cool Jazz  introduced a calmer more smooth sound with longer, more linear melodic lines.

Never being a music to settle down into a given format Free Jazz was born in the 1950s.  This is a sort of jazz that explored irregular meter and beat with a fairly loose structure.  But the 1950s also saw influences from other popular music in part such as blues, rhythm and blues and gospel. this was known as Hard Bop.  This too continued to evolve using musical scales and modes to develop better structure and reincorporated improvisation.

The form of jazz that I particularly enjoyed learning about and then playing is a blend of jazz and rock called Fusion.  This combined improvisation with rock’s rhythms, electric instrumentation  and was highly amplified.