Jelly Roll Morton claimed to be the inventor of Jazz in 1902, an absurd claim to be sure. What is even more absurd is that there is ample evidence to support his claim. There is no doubt that Morton had music not covered by the blues or ragtime and that he applied a swinging to a variety of music. He also may have introduced the 2 bar break, scat singing and other improvisational ideas. Jazz was quite simple; involving application of a strong underlying 4/4 beat to 2/4 beat ragtime (Weinstock 2002).

The origin of the word “jazz” is most often traced back to a vulgar term used for sexual acts. Some of the early sounds of jazz where associated with whore ho

The standard legend about jazz is that it was conceived in New Orleans and moved up to the Mississippi River to Memphis, St. Louis and finally Chicago. Of course that seems to be the history of what we now refer to as jazz, however, the influences of what led to those early New Orleans sounds goes way back to tribal African drum beats and European musical structures.

For Gershwin’s concert work he was acclaimed to have made a respectable art form out of jazz. Somewhat similarly, Paul Whiteman. Playing jazz influenced dance music, was billed as the King of Jazz (History of Jazz 2001).

The early jazz bands usually included one or two cornets, a trombone, a clarinet, a banjo or guitar, a tuba or string bass, and drums. Early jazz could be identified by the introduction of the mournful “blue note”. Another characteristic of jazz, which has survived from its earliest days, is syncopation, the musician shifts the accent to a normally unaccented beat (World Book 1986).

The cornet player, Buddy Bolden is generally considered to be the first real Jazz musician. Other early players included Freddie Keppard, Bunk Johnson, and Clarence Williams. Although these musicians’ names are unknown to most people, then and now, their ideas are still b

Some topics in this essay:
Roll Morton, World Book, St Louis, Clarence Williams, JAZZ Jazz, George Gershwin, Louis Armstrong, Oliver Nelson, Swing” Soon, Jazz History, book 1986, music jazz, world book 1986, world book, beat world book, music called, cornet player, jazz musicians, music played, called jazz, jazz simple, jelly roll morton, beat world,