Jazz
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 types of music to develop in America. Yet its unpredictable, risky ventures into improvisation gave it the critical cache with scholars that the blues lacked. At the outset, jazz was dance music performed by swinging big bands. However, the dance elements soon faded into the background and improvisation became the key essence 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.
| The Music | communal spirit between musicians; fat warm sound; solos-duos-trios-quartets-quintets-big band.you name it; luscious harmonies; contrapuntal, modal, and often mellow improvisation; soothing vocals; lots of solos in the round; often complicated song structures; and, staggering technical ability.
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| The Lyrics | most topics including altered reality (not necessarily drug induced) such as falling in and out of love. The lyrical content is sometimes not as important as the musical content.
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| The Guitar solo | beautiful sweeping melodies turning into free style improvisation; technically demanding, stretching the player to their maximum; an emphasis on the vocal like quality of solos; a huge contrast in dynamics and rhythm; technically difficult; blinding ability to use various modes/atonal harmonies; the apparent ability to hear the notes before they are played!
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| The Equipment | guild semi acoustics; valve amps; wash of reverb; sexy sax; brushed snare and cymbals; mellow piano; double bass and just about every combination of instruments imaginable.
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| The Image | cool, shades, walk with a shuffle, café bars, cappuccino, laid back, the feeling that 'surely music cannot evolve any further than this!'
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| The Bands | Alan Holdsworth, Martin Taylor, Bill Bruford, Nat King Cole, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Wes Montgomery, Charlie Parker |