What I like about Jazz and its History!

I've been enrolled in college for a little under a month now and the most interesting class I'm taking is the American History of Jazz. This has been my very fist exposure to jazz in the literal term of sitting down and listening to the genre of jazz. The funny thing about jazz and what I think makes it so interesting is that the people involved in its creation like Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith didn't know they were making a new genre. The tactics and practices they created have shaped all types of music beyond just jazz. Modern day pop, rock & roll and so much more have been influenced by those same practices that shaped the genre of jazz. The definition of jazz itself isn't so clear cut it flows through many different eras of music from its beginnings in rag time and to the combination of Creole, Latino musical styles and the New Orleans culture.

Maple Leaf Rag by James Reese Joplin has been my favorite song so far. How he handles the piano and the sound he makes it produce is unlike anything I've really heard prior and definitely recommend giving it a listen to. The video below is said to be the actual playing of James Reese Joplin himself from a Pianola roll (a storage device for a self playing piano)that was found in the wrong box on eBay which is amazing in it's own right.

I hope you have enjoyed my article and I hope I may have peeked your interest in jazz and it's history!