4 days ago · Jazz is a musical form, often improvisational, that was developed by African Americans and influenced by both European harmonic structure and African rhythms. It is often characterized by …

Jazz music, which was developed by African Americans and was influenced by both African rhythms and European harmonic structure, first appeared at the turn of the 20th century and has since …

jazz, Musical form, often improvisational, developed by African Americans and influenced by both European harmonic structure and African rhythms.

4 days ago · Jazz - Orchestral, Improvisation, Swing: It was in the 1920s that the first forms of true orchestral jazz were developed, most significantly by Fletcher Henderson and Duke Ellington.

Jan 12, 2026 · Jazz - Swing, Soloists, Improvisation: Major swing soloists also emerged in the 1930s—most notably tenor saxophonists Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, and Ben Webster; …

Jan 12, 2026 · Jazz - Ragtime, Blues, Swing: In the early 1930s two bands made important contributions to jazz: Bennie Moten’s, with the recordings of “Toby,” “Lafayette,” and “Prince of Wails,” and the …

Jan 12, 2026 · Jazz - Fusion, Improvisation, Swing: The first signs of these fresh musical sounds could be heard as early as 1941, particularly in works by such composer-arrangers as Buster Harding, …

Jazz, in fact, is not—and never has been—an entirely composed, predetermined music, nor is it an entirely extemporized one. For almost all of its history it has employed both creative approaches in …

4 days ago · Jazz - Cool, Bebop, Swing: Perhaps in reaction to the hot, more strident, more frenetic expressions of the postwar bands, or perhaps as a direct influence of the Thornhill-Evans approach, …

Jan 20, 2026 · Duke Ellington, American pianist who was the greatest jazz composer and bandleader of his time. One of the originators of big-band jazz, Ellington led his band for more than half a century, …