I'll conduct this as an informal discussion of jazz history, focusing on stylistic developments and major artists. Feel free to make comments and ask questions, but try to keep them relevant. I'll use this as a way to enhance jazz-consciousness around here, more and more often I encounter people with an unreasonable and unfounded hatred (read: fear) of jazz and improvisation. So, I'll try and help enlighten anyone who's interested.
Please bear in mind this is only my opinion/interpretation of who or what was important in the development of jazz. I'll try and provide a suitably broad overview, and encompass as much as possible, while maintaining some sense of direction. My own listening habits followed the same general development as jazz itself, and I'll tend to dwell on particular people or recordings that were important to me. Let me know if I start to ramble.
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What Jazz
is:
Jazz encompasses a broad spectrum of music, and something need only be remotely associated with the jazz tradition to be called 'jazz', or 'jazzy'. I'm
certainly not going to try and
define jazz for you - Louis Armstrong once remarked "if you gotta ask, you'll never know." For more, check out Billy Taylor's
lectures, or
this article.
Also, useful books include Mark Gridley's
Jazz Styles - History and Analysis; Ken Burns'
Jazz - A History; Ted Gioia's
The History of Jazz.
So, coming soon will be the first installment: Early Jazz - New Orleans/Swing. I'll try and provide audio examples where apropriate...
Stay tuned.