Jazz is a mixture of many different kinds of music. Although jazz is now played nearly all over the world, its true ‘home’ is the United States of America. This is where jazz began almost 100 years ago. Early jazz was created by black-American people, the descendants of slaves who were brought from Africa. Their jazz was a combination of a kind of sad folk music called blues, mixed with melodies and rhythms from African music, church music, brass band music and from popular dances.

This early music is sometimes called Dixieland Jazz. ‘Dixie’ is an area of the southern states of the United States. A band playing this traditional jazz is often made up of brass instruments like a cornet and trombone, with perhaps a clarinet.

Improvised jazz

Jazz is different from most other kinds of music. It is mostly improvised. This means that musicians make up the music as they play.

Improvised music works best with small groups, where the musicians can easily follow each other. But large orchestras can play jazz, too. These big bands were a popular form of entertainment between the 1930s and the 1950s. One famous band leader was Duke Ellington. He wrote his own music for his band and arranged it so that each musician knew what to play. Then during the performance, certain musicians played improvised solos on their own. The sound of big-band music helped jazz become known to a larger audience and become popular in many countries outside the United States.

The saxophone

It was during the time of the big bands that the saxophone became such an important jazz instrument. Compared to other brass instruments, the saxophone is quite new. It is a single-reed instrument.

If you look at the picture of a saxophone on the right, you will see that it has a system of keys, like the keys of a concert flute. The saxophone, or sax as it’s often called, is a very expressive instrument. Players develop their own personal style of playing. You can oftent recognize a particular musician after hearing only a few notes. A saxophone player with a good technique can play loudly or softly.

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dodoBlues, Brass, Folk Music, Jazz, Saxophone1 Nov, 2008