The swirling sounds of jazz

The smooth sound of the saxophone swirls and the trumpets blare to an elusive rhythm, crying out as if aching to be heard. The pizzicato of a bass and the beautiful crooning of a skilled voice have the power to give a person chills, especially when they're the sounds that come together in wonderful harmony to create the melodies of jazz. Enjoy these very sounds in the playlist included in this article to finish off Jazz Appreciation Month.

Jazz is considered one of few art forms that was truly born in America. It originated in New Orleans during the turn of the twentieth century with African Americans who brought together traits from classical music as well as from West African music.

Most jazz music is very rhythmic and follows a call and response pattern. Jazz is a fluid music; while some of it may be transcribed, one of the goals of many jazz musicians is to tell the story of their experiences through improvisation. Musicians such as Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday,and Louis Armstrong were some of the most influential musicians of their time period and they each created their own unique sound.

We celebrate April as Jazz Appreciation Month (JAM). JAM was created in 2002 to celebrate the heritage and history of jazz music. Classic jazz was the first type of its kind. This style soon turned into bebop which was developed in the 1940's and is a more modern version of classic jazz with a faster tempo. Bebop would later evolve into hard bop, another form of jazz.

There is also jazz hop, or jazz rap, which is another more modern version of rap thatwas developed in the 1980's. Jazz hop fused the older genre of jazz with the new up-and-coming rap movement. Artists such as A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul are some of the pioneers of this genre. There are also many jazz-fusions such as afro-jazz, latin-jazz, and jazz-funk.

Jazz has evolved greatly over the years. Though it started as an African American art form, it is a type of music that today inspires people of all races and nationalities . You can enjoy a small sample of some of the greatest jazz songs from some of the different subgroups mentioned in the attached playlist:

Jazz Appreciation Month Playlist from lauren-f-108801 on 8tracks Radio.