What is Jazz?

Improvisation

Good jazz demands tremendous technical and creative ability because its players invent at least half of the music spontaneously. Famous jazz tunes have familiar melodies set to consistent chord changes, but legendary jazz players from trumpeter Louis Armstrong to saxophonist Lester Young made their mark with their phenomenal ability to improvise. The melody and change (the chords) of a jazz tune are just a framework and starting point for exploring the possibilities of a song.

Blues is the most basic structure for improvisation in jazz. A basic blues song is made of 12 measures, or bars. (Blues that most people can instantly recognize is commonly called 12 - Bar Blues, each bar, or measure, containing four beats). Here's a basic blues song, invented on the spot.

Wait … before you sing, start tapping your foot slowly and steadily: 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4. Each line gets one measure, or group of four beats.

"Well, I woke up this morning …
took own my jazz records
(pause)
(pause)
"Well, I woke up this morning …
took own my jazz records
(pause)
(pause)
"Put on some Coltrane …
man my soul was shook."
(pause)
(pause - and back to the beginning!)

Congratulation! You have now completed a basic seminar in improvisation. And while 12 - Bar blues is just one simple structure used in jazz, you are starting to get a feel for hoe jazz players invent music within a framework.

Distinct Voices

Additionally, most great modern jazz has another key feature. Because jazz is so heavily dependent on improvisation, it is often distinguished by the individual voices of its players: their selection of notes, their tone, their rhythmic sense. Miles Davis played trumpet in a muted whisper. Charlie Parker's saxophone had a sharp edge, and he soloed with phenomenal speed and variety on drums. On drums Jo Jones could invent a symphony of sounds just by using his cymbals.

With a little listening experience, one can easily begin to recognize these distinctive voices of various players. A performer is not only a musician, he is also by definition a composer whose personal style and preferences affect his performance just as much as the structure of the song.

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