Jazz is a combination of African, Latin and European music styles. In 18th-century New Orleans, according to the National Park Service, African American slaves gathered in the market on Sundays to play music and dance. It didn't take much time before white Americans observed this, liked the music and started listening to it, playing it and adapting it, which added a European feel to the music. In the 1940s and 1950s Cuban musicians started playing with jazz musicians in New York and added a Latin feel to Jazz music, according to Scholastic. "By combining the musical traditions of North, South, and Central America, Latin jazz celebrates our musical differences and helps us to find a common ground," Scholastic states.
According to the Red Hot Jazz Archive, the first recognized jazz musician was Buddy Bolden who was a cornet player. The next set of recognized, famous jazz musicians were King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Kid Ory and Jelly Roll Morton. Joe Oliver, otherwise known as King Oliver or Joe King Oliver, started playing jazz in New Orleans in 1908. Oliver worked with and also instructed several of the famous historical jazz musicians. Oliver was a mentor to Louis Armstrong. Armstrong was given his first cornet by Oliver when he was just a boy. Oliver also instructed Armstrong how to play it. According to Scholastic, Louis Armstrong "perfected the improvised jazz solo." Before Armstrong, every musician would improvise a solo at the same time.
Jelly Roll Morton was the first piano player and composer of jazz music, according to Red Hot Jazz Archive. Duke Ellington started playing jazz music as a teenager and played until he died in 1974, Scholastic stated. Dizzy Gillepsie practiced jazz music with his father until he started his own band. All of these famous and historical jazz musicians have been listened to well after their deaths by jazz enthusiasts. Their music inspired other jazz musicians of modern time.
Brass instruments such as cornets, clarinets, trombones and others were popular during the time that jazz was developing because of the popularity of marching bands and orchestras. According to the National Park Service, stringed instruments such as violins, guitars and bass were used to soften up the sound of the brass instruments. The drum set was actually invented for jazz and by jazz musicians, according to Scholastic. Jelly Roll Martin introduced the piano to the collection of jazz music instruments.
Jazz styles include dixieland, swing, bebop, ragtime and avant-garde. Dixieland was the first jazz style and consisted of improvisation solos blended together by several band members. Ragtime was an adaptation of this inspired by the brass instruments and was developed in the 1890s. Swing, also known as "big band music" was developed during the Great Depression in order to lighten hearts and moods. A faster style of jazz called bebop developed in the early 1940s. Avant-garde is a structured adaptation of jazz with a modern feel that was developed in the 1960s.
American jazz started in New Orleans. In 1907, Jelly Roll Morton moved outside of New Orleans and began his traveling jazz career. Many other New Orleans jazz musicians traveled outside the United States and joined Vaudeville shows, riverboat bands, minstrel tours and other touring shows. Because of these shows' popularity, jazz was introduced on a mainstream level.