Breakthroughs in American Jazz The backdrop was New Orleans in the late 19th century, a growing port city with a diverse population of African Americans, whites, displaced French settlers, and immigrants from the West Indies and South America. This hodgepodge of cultures mixed European influenced popular music, such as ragtime, with tradition African music creating the hybrid musical style known as jazz. Jazz, bold and beautiful, in its purest sense demands high instrumentation mastery, creativity, …showed first 75 words of 613 total…

…showed last 75 words of 613 total…of his contemporaries. Jazz, the only true American music, is difficult to master and wonderful to hear. So what is jazz? Jazz is a lone musician's constant improvisation over an original melody creating brand new melodies where there were none before accompanied by a trio, or greater, of instruments connected in rhythm and harmony. Jazz, like most American pastimes, has a worldly following not because it is authentic American but because it is authentically origin.