What is Jazz? Some people will tell you that jazz is a style of music that originated from
African-Americans here in America and was adopted by white people over the years. Other people will tell you that jazz is the heart and soul of Blues music and a spinoff of Ragtime and a way of loosely expressing yourself through music. Both of these interpretations are correct, but by dictionary definition, jazz is music originating from New Orleans around the beginning of the
20th century and subsequently developing through the various increasingly complex styles, generally marked by intricate, propulsive rhythms, polyphonic ensemble playing, improvisatory, virtuosic solos, melodic freedom, and a harmonic idiom ranging from simple diatonicism through chromaticism to atonality. Jazz music is all of this and yet so much more.
In order to play jazz, you have to take something and tweak it to make it your own. The biggest difference between jazz piano and regular classic piano is simply the style in which you play it. With classic piano, you stick to the rhythms and notes that are written on the pages. The music goes almost perfectly with the score and there is no room for relaxation between notes.
With jazz piano however, you move with the music. Within the rhythms, you get to swing to your own style. Jazz piano is much more lose and free. Also with jazz, a lot of the times, you improvise the music meaning that it’s not written down and the player comes up with the notes and rhythms in his or her head as he or she is playing.
As it might seem that all jazz is the same, it’s actually all very different. There’s an unlimited amount of the different kinds of jazz because everyday new types are being invented.
Some styles that are known to us today include: Dixieland, Big Band, Swing, Bebop, Cool or
West Coast, Hard Bop, Third Stream, Progressive Stream, Modal, Free Jazz, Bossa Nova,
Fusion, and Neo-Classical. Although it is nearly impossible to even begin to explain what each one is and how it differs from the next, it takes a true master to be able to listen and pick out which style of jazz an artist is using.
Our journey starts in the 1890’s where jazz first started. As stated earlier, jazz was an
American invention by African Americans. However, jazz didn’t become popular until after
World War 1 in the 1920’s. This is when white folks began to take an interest on this genre of music. The 1920’s were a rebellious era. Along with all the drama about women acting out and generation differences, white people had another thing to worry about. Jazz. This type of music was unappreciated and unacceptable. Certain kinds of dancing techniques came about such as
Fox Trot. As you can imagine, many people didn’t approve of this either. But as jazz became more popular throughout both Europe and the United States, more people started opening up toward it. Soon, everyone who was anyone was listening to jazz music. As jazz groups got larger, piano came into the scene and began introducing different kinds of jazz, opening up the eyes of many fans. Out of these jazz groups, many great stars and legends were born.
Growing up in New Orleans, Jelly Roll Morton quickly learned the secrets of piano at age
10. He quickly began his career and travelled around the country, picking up on black music and combining it all together. This combination closely resembled the style of music that today we call “Jazz”.
During the 1920’s, when jazz was first becoming very popular, jazz pianists began blending together different styles and the result was Stride piano. The left hand took the rhythm of Ragtime, but put more swing and complexity into it. The left hand had to “stride” up and

down the piano at intervals at quick speeds. The right hand was then free to play the melody, however; most of the time the right had improvised. Together, the two hands were a swinging beat. James P. Johnson (1894-1955) is known to some as the “father of stride piano”. He took
Ragtime and twisted it in his own way to create a type of jazz called Stride. Before Johnson was famous, he competed in “cutting contests”. Cutting contests are where a small jazz band gets together and goes to clubs and street corners to play in friendly competitions. A very well known piece by Johnson is “Carolina Shout” written in 1918. James P. Johnson’s footprint left a huge mark on jazz piano and inspired many other artists to start jazz piano.
Another great jazz pianist is Fats Waller. He has his own was of interpreting Stride.
Compared to James P. Johnson, Waller had a much faster and more powerful rhythm. By quickly becoming a professional at age 15, he went from playing the organ at his church to working and playing many solos at cabaret clubs and many other theaters during the 1920’s. Unfortunately, he died of pneumonia on a train at the age of 39.
Blind from birth, Art Tatum taught himself how to play piano and quickly switched over to jazz to start writing his own pieces of music. He began touring in 1932 by playing solos and trios with Tiny Grimes and Slam Stewart.
Boogie-Woogie is another style of jazz piano. It became a style when people had to hire a pianists instead of an orchestra. They would play on a piano called a “barrel house” which was often found in the south juke joints. This certain kind of piano tried to imitate the sound of three different guitars: one playing chords, one melody, and one bass. Boogie-Woogie is mainly a simple Blues chord progression repeated over and over. In the 1930’s, more Blues forms were used in jazz recording and all the tempos were speeding up. Just before 1940, boogie-woogie became the new craze. During the 40’s, Boogie-Woogie influenced many pieces with big bands.
Some people have credited Meade “Lux” Lewis for the newly popular style of jazz piano. Later on, boogie-woogie and stride piano collided to form the main line of development of jazz piano.
This form was led by Earl “Fatha” Hines and is called Bebop.
Bebop came into existence during the 1940’s. This type of music used small bands with
4-6 players instead of the typical 10 player big band group. With the smaller amount of players, it gave more opportunities for solos. Branching off of jazz, Bebop had more complex melodies and rhythms. The notes of the music were very irregular in length, which made Bebop interesting to listen to, but it was impossible to dance to.
A famous jazz pianist during the 60’s was Duke Ellington (1899-1974). One famous quote of his is, “Gray skies are just clouds passing over.” Throughout his life, Ellington has made such an influential impact on all of his listeners. He earned the President’s Gold Metal in 1966, the Metal of Freedom in 196, the French Legion of Honor in 1973, the Life Time Achievement
Award, the Pulitzer Award, and thirteen Grammy Awards.
Today, people listen to jazz music with ease and relaxation. They love the cool swing of the beat and the rhythm of the song. Jazz piano has evolved along with all of the jazz music.
Since the piano is basically a combination of all the instruments, jazz pianists went with the flow and played the new craze of that era.

Finding jazz music today is easier than ever. You can just simply go online and just download it. Back in the 1920’s, you had to go to a jazz club and listen for a one time thing.
There are, however, still many jazz clubs open now.
Throughout the ages, jazz piano has not only inspired the players, but captivated the listener’s ear. With the long and endless journey of jazz piano, it opened many doors and went down so many new paths. Some people believe that jazz is old news, washed out, oldies music.
But it isn’t. This isn’t where jazz ends. This is where it starts.