It is not easy to define jazz because through the years, it was one of the music styles that has changed the most. People agree that jazz is a mixture of many different styles which came together in one new kind of performance, the New-Orleans-Jazz, named after the place of its origin. (cf.: "Jazz,"" Microsoft Encarta Enzyklopãdie 2000 Plus).
Already in the early 19th century, New Orleans was the major center of slave trade which means that people not only came to America to work there but they also brought their culture with them. Everything was new for them, they were not free, they did not speak the language and many were separated from their families. So they were forced to improvise which, of course found also expression in their music. Mostly based on only a few chords, black music leaves the player much space to develop his own style. .
In 1817, the slaves of New Orleans were permitted to meet at places where they could sing and dance and the whites who passed could get an authentic glimpse of African music and traditions. But the music of the blacks was of course not that kind of music that whites would have played in their living rooms and so they continued to looking down on their slaves. Finally at the end of the 19th century, two new music styles, ragtime and blues, reached New Orleans, and without them, no jazz could have been developed. According to the "Microsoft Encarta Enzyklopãdie 2000 Plus-, the first records of jazz music were not made by blacks but by whites. And that is a fact that can be seen very often in the history of Black Music. Blacks invented new styles or performances; then the whites adapted to it and commercialized "their- invention. .
Looking at it from this point of view, one can understand Adorno's thesis a little bit better. According to his essay, jazz is a kind of a merchandise product, that has nothing to do with spontaneity, and only a little with improvisation.
