My Love of Jazz

One often hears the expression, “Let’s jazz it up,” which means to add color and vivacity to a particular subject. Jazz has become such a phenomenon that it has advanced from a music genre to a verb in the English Language.

That is the essence and beauty of Jazz; the concept of free expression, individuality and mutual respect. It is the music from the soul where the melody, rhythmic pattern, harmonies and even metric patterns can be personalized to create such beautiful sounds. Jazz’s underlying philosophy of breaking away from confined rules and metrics and creating a subtle individual style has made it such an appealing genre. Italian jazz group Fragmentorchestra’s Luca Pernici puts it beautifully, “A musician, in the moment at which improvisation occurs, is irrationally set free from any approach, creating a philosophy of composition without any given time or place.”

From the New Orleans Dixieland in the 1910s to today’s Nu Jazz, Jazz music has certainly come a long way. Lucky for us we can now also find all the best classic and contemporary Jazz online and at our fingertips at the best music downloads sites ever to exist. Within a mere century jazz has traveled from its African American roots in the south of United States and flourished to all corners of the globe. Its elements have been merged and assimilated with myriads of musical styles and instruments. Certainly this chain of event started with the birth of Jazz fusion in the 1970s when jazz improvisation is mixed with rock rhythms and electric instruments. This was the start of a convergence of styles where jazz elements have been exported to incorporate a newer and broader style and scope.

After that there was no stopping the incorporation of jazz elements in almost every genre of music. As for jazz music, it has proliferated into subgenres such as free jazz, acid jazz, smooth jazz, soul jazz, nu jazz, jazz rap and punk jazz. Each contains distinctive individualistic and creative energy to express, motivate and entertain.

Jazz music is such a great outlet for human expression and totally unique as a work of immense individualistic style and originality. The versatility of Jazz with its improvisatory and polyrhythmic nature has given jazz music a unique ‘communicative’ element not found in other music genres. Jazz has the ability to reach and communicate to an audience in a way no other music can. For example, the great collaboration between Chick Corea and Bela Fleck’s ‘The Enchantment’ was absolutely fascinating and mesmerizing.

The most captivating feature about Jazz music is the freedom it grants the performer in inscribing his or her originality into the composition. No two performances are the same; each is a unique experience and a meaningful interaction between the performer and the audience. Jazz music is the legitimate form of musical expression that so vividly reflects the free and individualistic spirits of the 21st century.