What Are the Basic Characteristics of Jazz?

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What Are the Basic Characteristics of Jazz?

The basic characteristics of jazz are swing and blue notes, complex chords, call-and-response vocals, polyrhythms, and improvisation. Jazz’s origins can be traced back to European harmony and African rhythmic rituals. As it spread around the world, it drew upon national, regional, and local musical cultures, thereby resulting in a variety of styles.

The rhythm itself and its use distinguish Jazz from the vast majority of classical pieces. The rhythmic device known as swing is a key distinguishing feature. Swing rhythm requires musicians to change the values of quaver or eight-notes from equal to a ratio close to 2/3—1/3. Swing rhythm notation is an approximation, but it is as close as it can get without requiring enormously complex and time-consuming sub-divisions of note values. The swing produces a sense of forward motion and rhythmic drive that propels jazz music forward in a way that was unprecedented in the early days of jazz. Swing became a sub-genre in the 1920s and 1930s, with clarinetist Benny Goodman earning the moniker the King Of Swing.

Swing jazz gains a compelling edge when combined with syncopation. When music is described as syncopated, this means that the emphasis within a given bar is placed on the weaker beats of the bar, rather than the stronger ones. The stronger beats are considered to be 1 and 3. In jazz, the emphasis is frequently placed on the second half of the second or fourth beat. This perfectly complements the swing feel and is a distinguishing feature of the genre.

When these two aspects of jazz are combined with jazz harmony, it offers limitless creative possibilities. Jazz, like classical music, can be both tonal and atonal, though the vast majority of jazz is tonally based—even if it appears otherwise at times. This is due in part to the type of harmony used by composers in their work.

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