PRESENTATION SPEECH

I chose to write my paper on the history of jazz. Through this research paper I want to present the
evolution and different styles of jazz, but also the impact of this genre of music in society. My choice was
influenced by my passion for music, the historic era that was dominated by this genre, the Jazz Age, as well
as the literature inspired by it.
Jazz is the most significant form of musical expression in American culture and outstanding
contribution to the art of music. From obscure origins in New Orleans over a century ago, the music and the
word we use for it are now familiar all over the world. Like the self-motivating energetic solos that
distinguish the genre, Jazz continues to evolve and seek new levels of artistic expression. In slightly over
one hundred years, this evolution has given birth to approximately two dozen distinct Jazz styles.
While it is true that New Orleans was the most important city in the genesis of jazz, it is false that it
was the only one. Similar ways of playing evolved in Memphis, Dallas, Kansas City, and in other cities of
the South and Midwest. Before New Orleans style developed, there was ragtime
Ragtimes capital was not New Orleans but Sedalia, Missouri, where leading ragtime composer and
pianist Scott Joplin had settled. Forms of ragtime also have African origins. In ragtime, European and
African music meting as equals for the first time in America. More than any other form of jazz, ragtime may
be described as white music, played black.
At the turn of the century, New Orleans was a witches cauldron of persons and races. All these
voluntary and involuntary immigrants loved first of all their own music, the sounds of their home. In New
Orleans, people sang British folk songs, danced Spanish dances and ballet, and marched to the strains of
brass bands based on Prussian or French models. New Orleans style is the first example of hot playing.
Hot connotes the emotional warmth and intensity of the music. The instrument is not so much played as
made to talk, to express the individual feelings of the musician.
There is a direct and concretely demonstrable connection between the different kinds, forms, and
styles of jazz on the one hand, and the periods and spaces of time of their creation on the other hand.
During the teens, we have Dixieland. One of the first uses of the term "Dixieland" with reference to
music was in the name of the Original Dixieland Jass Band (which shortly later changed the spelling of its
name to "Original Dixieland Jazz Band"). Their 1917 recordings fostered popular awareness of this new
style of music. At that time, there was no issue of subgenres of jazz, so "Dixieland" referred to the band and
not the music. With Ragtime, New Orleans style, and Dixieland, the history of jazz begins.
In the twenties, Chicago style was created. The development of New Orleans jazz in Chicago is
generally connected with the entry of the United States into World War I. With Storyville closing by official
decree, the great exodus of New Orleans musicians to Chicago took place. It was in Chicago that the most
famous New Orleans jazz recordings were made. From this point on, the solo becomes increasingly
important in jazz. Chicago may be considered the second cool style of jazz (the first being piano ragtime).
In the thirties we have Swing. Although it was a collective sound, Swing offered individual
musicians a chance to improvise melodic, thematic solos which could at times be very complex. Derived
from New Orleans Jazz, Swing was robust and invigorating. Swing was also dance music, which served as
its immediate connection to the people. Due to this aspect, by the end of the thirties, Swing had become a
gigantic business enterprise.
In the forties Bebop developed. To the listener of that time, the sounds characteristic of bebop
seemed to be racing, nervous phrases that occasionally appeared as melodic fragments. Every unnecessary
note was left out, everything being highly concentrated. Differing greatly from Swing, Bop divorced itself
early-on from dance music, establishing itself as an art form but severing its potential commercial value.
The fifties were marked by hard bop. In hard bop, something new was created without sacrificing
vitality. Hard Bop is an extension of Bebop that was somewhat interrupted by the Cool sounds of West
Coast Jazz. The melodies tend to be more "soulful" than Bebop.
As for the second half of the 20th century, this period of time represented for jazz a continuation of
the diversity in styles, such as: Latin Jazz, Afro-Cuban and Brazilian jazz and jazz-funk.
Jazz music was a propelling force in the Women's Liberation Movement in the United States during
the 1920s. This genre was rejected by the older generation, and therefore, jazz music and jazz dancing were
ideal ways for young women (and even men) to rebel against the society of their parents and grandparents.
Jazz music provided many new jobs for women during the 1920s. The evolution of jazz music and culture
into a societal revolution elevated aspects of African American popular culture for the first time in the
history of the United States. The culture of a minority became the desire of the majority.
Nearly one hundred years after it began, jazz is still what it was then: music of protest; that, too,
contributes to its aliveness. It cries out against social, racial and spiritual discrimination, against the
functional organization of modern mass society, and against the categorization of standards that leads to the
automatic passing of judgments wherever these standards are not met. Jazz music comes from life
experience and human emotion as the inspiration of the creative force and through this discourse is
chronicled the story of its people.
(Time: ~6:30)