The Many Types of Jazz

A person who looks at the history of jazz will be able to draw a timeline to see how the style of music changed over time. Within this history, there are several major types of jazz that happened during different periods. As with other forms of music, the jazz music is a reflection of the times that the performers lived and the general atmosphere of life is often found in the types of jazz that were being played. One of the earliest forms was New Orleans jazz, also called Dixieland. Beginning in the city that bears the name of the style, New Orleans jazz came from brass bands that played the music during marches and celebrations.

Coming from these early beginnings at the turn of the twentieth century, the next progression of jazz music was to the big band era. Also called swing, big band was largely different from other types of jazz in that there was less improvisation and the bands largely played music directly from sheet notations. As the United States was in a very prosperous period during the 1920s, the history of jazz features an enthusiasm and energy during the big band era. Bandleaders like Duke Ellington and Count Basie were national icons and the music was found everywhere across the nation.

As the country went into the Great Depression, jazz music also took on a more somber tone. The emerging types of jazz did not share the same unbridled optimism as earlier versions. The bebop style was the next major advancement, coming into place during the early 1940s. The music of this period had much more improvisation and musicians were more willing to experiment with unorthodox structures and rhythms, epitomized by the bebop name. The bebop era splintered into many subgenres, including hard bop and cool jazz.