The Origin of Jazz

     Jazz music was a product of the melting pot known as the city of New Orleans at the turn of the 20th century. Jazz developed in part from both ragtime and blues music.  Many believe jazz is a continuation of blues music taking advantage of brass band instruments, some originally not home to the southern United States.  In 1898, the United States defeated Spain in the Caribbean acquiring Puerto Rico and liberating Cuba.  The returning troops landed in New Orleans and brought back European brass instruments soon to be sold on the black market; not long after, brass bands began to take over the sounds of the streets in New Orleans influencing instruments which would be later used in jazz bands.  Different instruments were taken from the other two contributors such as the piano from ragtime and the saxophone and trumpet from blues.  Ragtime also provided the syncopated rhythm in jazz while blues supplied the use of improvisation.  In Piero Scaruffi’s book A History of Jazz Music, Scaruffi asserts that the genre of jazz was, “born at the intersection of collective improvisation and heavy syncopation.” 
     The term “jass” was affiliated with trombonist Tom Brown, who moved from New Orleans to Chicago, a major ragtime center, in 1915.  Though he did not coin this term, he generated an immense following for the up-and-coming trend.  “Jass” was not accepted as a music genre but instead as a cultural location referring to an area in New Orleans.  The trend was not well respected because many believed there was a sexual connotation behind the word. 
     The word “jazz” possessed various meanings before being coined for the music genre; people used the word “jazz” negatively to describe a false or deceitful statement or positively as a synonym for “spunk” or “vigor.”  In the San Francisco area in 1914, the So Different Jazz Band was the first musical group to use the word “jazz” in their name although in 1913, Art Hickman, also a San Francisco native, was said to be playing “jazz” earlier.  In September of 1917, William Harvey released one of the first songs to contain the word “jazz” which he named, “Benton Overstreet’s Jazz Dance.” Even though New Orleans gave birth to jazz, the style did not hold its influence there.     
     During World War I, the “Great Migration” created a culture shift and brought many blacks up north.  The vacant industrial jobs of current soldiers created the pull, but the boll weevil infestation of cotton crops created the push.  The resulting spread of black culture brought with it the spread of jazz music across the country.