[ Home | Contents | Search | Next | Previous | Up ]
From:
Date: October 16, 2003
I think I understand where you're coming from. But doesn't your argument lead to the conclusion that most blues is jazz? Musical genres are hard to define. That's why the radio business has coined terms that on their face mean nothing, such as "middle of the road." When the word first was used, it referred to a dance, but broadened to a genre, and ultimately lost its dance association. The first use according to the Oxford English Dictionary was on a phonograph record:
"1909 C. Stewart Uncle Josh in Society (gramophone-record), One lady asked me if I danced the jazz."
Defining jazz the way you have is useful to describe the musical creation and performance process, but then what word do we use to describe the genre played by Thelonius Monk and Dave Brubeck?