Jazz has been called America's classical music, and for good reason. Along with the blues, its forefather, it is one of the first truly indigenous musics to develop in America, yet its unpredictable, risky ventures into improvisation gave it critical cache with scholars that the blues lacked. At the outset, jazz was dance music, performed by swinging big bands. Soon, the dance elements faded into the background and improvisation became the key element of the music. As the genre evolved, the music split into a number of different styles, from the speedy, hard-hitting rhythms of be-bop and the laid-back, mellow harmonies of cool jazz to the jittery, atonal forays of free jazz and the earthy grooves of soul jazz. What tied it all together was a foundation in the blues, a reliance on group interplay and unpredictable improvisation. Throughout the years, and in all the different styles, those are the qualities that defined jazz.

Top Jazz Albums:

Top Jazz Artists:

Buddy Rich Rahsaan Roland Kirk Gene Krupa Charlie Parker Max Roach Chico Hamilton Roscoe Mitchell Roy Eldridge Billy May John McLaughlin

Randy Weston Henry "Red" Allen Sonny Stitt Cedar Walton Buck Clayton Quincy Jones Jan Garbarek Dave Brubeck Bobby Hutcherson Johnny Hodges

Benny Carter Red Norvo Illinois Jacquet Jaco Pastorius Sonny Greer Bud Shank Stanley Turrentine Bubber Miley Eric Dolphy George Russell

Featured Style: Hard Bop

Top Hard Bop Artists:

Oliver Nelson Kenny Burrell Lou Donaldson Phil Woods Bobby Hutcherson Curtis Fuller Wayne Shorter Art Pepper Miles Davis Randy Weston

Dexter Gordon Cannonball Adderley Benny Golson Milt Jackson Yusef Lateef Max Roach Tony Williams Grant Green Chico Hamilton Bud Shank

Herbie Hancock Donald Byrd Lee Morgan Lucky Thompson Les McCann Sonny Rollins Clifford Jordan Art Farmer Wes Montgomery Thelonious Monk

More Styles Of Jazz :

Jazz-Funk

Soul Jazz

Hard Bop

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