Born in New Orleans

Jazz emerged in New Orleans around 1900 from a collision of cultures: African rhythmic traditions, European harmonic language, blues from the Mississippi Delta, brass band marching music, and Caribbean syncopation. No other city had this exact combination of musical ingredients converging simultaneously.

What made jazz revolutionary was improvisation. Classical musicians played what was written. Jazz musicians used written melodies as launching points for spontaneous invention. A jazz solo is real-time composition — making musical decisions at the speed of thought while responding to the other players in the moment.