Where Are The Best Places To Find Jazz

Jazz, that wonderfully free-form improvisational style of modern music has been around a long time. It has given the world some of the greatest music and musicians like Charlie Parker, Thelonius Monk, The Marsalis Brothers and Miles Davis. The US owes much to the origins of jazz which according to records began in the south where the music of Dixieland splintered into what was called "jazz".

The word "Jazz" was first used in the windy city of Chicago in 1910. In those early days of jazz, clubs popped up in Chicago, Atlanta and of course, New Orleans. Today jazz is an art form enjoyed in numerous genres such as jazz blues, jazz fusion, jazz modal and various reinterpretations of jazz by performers like Louis Armstrong, Art Blakey, Herbie Hancock and John Coltrane.

Where To Find The Best Jazz Music
For true jazz afficionados to find the best jazz, it requires several points on the jazz itinerary. Begin your jazz tour in Newport, Rhode Island. The Newport Jazz Festival, begun in 1954, offers days of relaxing scenery and the coolest jazz. Sit in a lawn chair in view of the mighty Atlantic Ocean with a gorgeous sun overhead. You'll have the New England version of a Jazz festival. The most prestigious names in jazz can be seen at the Newport Jazz Festival as well as a lot of well-recognized patrons from stage, screen, music and literary world.

Detour south to Harlem. Harlem by night has numerous jazz clubs that present the ultimate jazz music experience. Bright lights of New York City and jazz played hot and sweet. Head south to Atlanta where the coolest breezes blow jazz across gentle winds from Atlanta's best jazz clubs. Most are small, quiet and intimate settings until the hot jazz sound blows into the room with gusto. The thing about Atlanta's jazz clubs is that although they project an intimate setting, they offer the very best jazz talents of touring and homegrown musicians.

New Orleans - There's No Jazz Like New Orleans Jazz
It's just not possible to visit New Orleans without taking in New Orleans ultimate jazz experience. The entire city is like one huge G-clef with a jazz beat. Wander through famous Basin Street and you'll get an idea of just how important New Orleans is to jazz and how important jazz is to New Orleans. Hot, sweet and everything in between is what a jazz lover finds in this city. Sit at your table and enjoy a Sazerac while you sway to the hypnotic sound of a jazz beat.

Next Stop The Windy City - Chicago
Once jazz music blew northward to Chicago back in the early 1900's, it forever marked Chicago's place on the jazz map. The difference in Chicago jazz is simple expression of creative sounds. All of the very best in innovative styles of jazz erupt in Chicago. In this city, you can hear be-bop sounds ala Dizzy Gillespie one night and the next, enjoy Latin jazz in the style of Tito Puento or Xavier Cugat. In Chicago, you definitely will hear the rhythms of soul jazz instituted by artists like Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Jimmy McGriff or Stanley Turentine.

Finish Your Jazz Tour In Seattle
Seattle has made a name for itself as the music city of the USA. Nearly every type of music can be found in this city. It only makes sense that jazz would also be part of this reputation. The top place to be in Seattle is Jazz Alley where Nancy Wilson, The Kevin Eubanks Band and a host of other notable jazz stars come to play for Seattle's jazz lovers. There's also the Hop Vine Pub and Tula's Restaurant and Jazz Club where the world-class style of Seattle jazz provides the opportunity to hear Elaine Elias vocalize with a Brazilian jazz style or Sadao Watanabe, a unique Japanese jazz saxophonist. These are today's jazz stars who make the Seattle jazz music scene so popular among young and old alike.

Contemporary Jazz
When you add renowned musicians like Al di Meola, Chick Corea, Stan Getz and Wayne Shorter to the list of jazz greats who play internationally, you find more jazz in Los Angeles at the 2nd Street Jazz or the Valley Street Jazz Club, jazz lovers can be nearly anywhere in the country and find at least one jazz emporium that will fill their need for the sound of a guitar, bass, vibraphone, drums, trumpet and sax in a rendition of Charlie Parker's "Birdland".