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ALL THAT JAZZ
Robert D. Morritt
Availability
 Jazz began as an improvisation, a
mutation of styles and influences in an area. It was born out of
African-American experiences, traveling vaudeville shows, the sound of horns
and ecstatic responses to preachers' chants, and exposure to marching bands.
When Storyville closed in 1917 not all Ragtime or Jazz musicians took
steamboats up river to Chicago. Many musicians were out of work. Many
returned to the former occupations as laborers, or farmhands or part-time
employment. Jazz was a mix of African tribal rhythms, work songs of Southern
field hands, fused with Creole styles of African-American Brass Bands at
social gatherings together with Ragtime styles from Storyville parlors mixed
with ‘Blue notes’ combined with improvisation and syncopation gave birth to ‘Jazz’.
Later,as the music migrated north to Chicago it mutated again, influenced by
early ‘City’ Jazz Bands. Included is a discography sampling of early
recordings of 'Jazz' music.
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