What is Jazz?

We’ve never seen a strong need to define jazz. Part of the reason is that as soon as you mention a general rule, you can immediately find a dozen or more exceptions. The history of jazz spans Ragtime to fusion to acid jazz. Also, as result of jazz, soul, R&B, and Lounge developed. The fact that jazz is so individualistic means that the jazz greats each take the music in a new direction.

So, it’s easy to identify musicians who play jazz, but harder to exclude musicians who don’t play jazz. Is Norah Jones jazz? On the whole, yes. At least she started out that way. Alicia Keyes? Not really, but you can recognize a lot of jazz influence. Jamiroquai? Actually, yes, he comes from acid jazz. Duffy? Amy Winehouse? Actually they are soul, but soul music was a direct branch-out from jazz.

The best definition we can develop is that jazz music has the following points:

• Improvisation. Sometimes just a solo, sometimes the whole set

• Individualism. The musician deconstructs the music and then reconstructs it with the barest elements, the elements purposefully kept by the musician. A song isn’t just performed like karaoke, it’s stretched and molded to expose the emotion of the player.

• Musicianship. A lot of jazz pushes the limits of talent and ability.

• Freedom. Jazz is about self-expression and breaking borders