“Jazz Music emerged as as a recognizable musical form around the turn of the 20the century. The roots of jazz, however, extend backward over several centuries. Jazz music represents the “synthesis of many cultural influences...that was achieved through the institution of slavery.” Jazz music combines elements of African music with elements of Western European music.”
This from http://library.thinkquest.org/18602/history/beginnings/beginningstart.html
Your post is short so I’m not sure quite what you are implying I missed here? From another web-site “As a musical language of communication, jazz is the first indigenous American style to affect music in the rest of the World.”
I believe both of these statements back up the simple point I made, which was that Jazz evolved in the US from multiple cultural influences, including the Black American experience.
As for Jazz history - well I’m not a professional musician - having explicitly chosen to be an engineer instead of a Trumpet player. So the majority of my music education involved technicalities involved with playing classical music on the trumpet.
That being said - I listened to a fair amount of Jazz growing up in the 60s, and performed some of it while in school. I don’t claim to be an expert on music histor, just someone who enjoys the art form. From my own reading - and having listened to people like Al Hurt, Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Benny Goodman, Stan Kenton, Harry James, etc. So I do mix the big-bands in with Jazz as far as what I enjoyed.. and to answer the basic question, to me the 30’s-early 50’s would maybe be Jazz’s hay-day.
Not really trying to imply much of anything. I am just making a reading recommendation that may increase your understanding of how the music came to be. It’s a nice read.
As for my inquiry as to jazz’s heyday, it was just to pinpoint your frame of reference. The times I’m talking about were what led up to the 30s, when the music form was being “invented”, out of the dust of the blues, dixieland (not the revival), field hollers, and yes, western (white)harmony.
Thanks for the clarification - and I’ll possibly look up the book. I’m a little battered and blue from a recent flame war with someone who took my statements beyond what they were...and maybe I over-reacted here. If so - please accept my apologies!
Have a great day!