Il jazz

The jazz Jazz The most famous American music is, without a doubt, jazz. The roots of jazz can be traced back to African rhythms which were brought to the New World by slaves. These rhythms met with traditional Christian hymns on the plantations of the American South. The slaves sang as they worked in the fields and these worksongs, known as spirituals, expressed their simple but fervent faith and their desire for freedom. These solful laments eventually took a variety of forms and towards the end of the 19th century a new improvised rhythm called ragtime devenloped into what was later termed jazz. The birthplace of these tipically black music was New Orleans which was a particulary permissive city at the time when the rest of the U.S. was solidly Victorian. It was also a mayor port and a military base, full of sailors, soldiers and trvellers from all over the world, and in a specific area near the French Quarter, prostitution was permitted and grew into a thriving business. To attract customers, it was decided to offer musica entertainmente as well, and soon the best jazz, blues and ragtime players were employed there, until 1917 when the district was shut down by the U.S.Navy. The out-of-work musicians thene headed up the Mississippi River taking their music to northern cities like Chicago and Detroit and eventually throughout the country. Jazz was played at wedding parties and funerals and later becam popular in dance halls, bars and clubs. One of the most traditional form of jazz is called the blues and expresses sadness and melancholy. “I've got the blues” means “I'm unhappy” and these songs described what it was like to be poor and black in America. Singers sang about their lives, their loves and the hard world they lived in. Jazz musicians like Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington have been loved and imitated every where. 1