In the turn of the century on history of jazz music around 1920, many artists made their mark by playing in the discreet underground nightclubs known as “Speakeasies” which are high class, “Blind pig” lower class or “Smokeasy” for smokers.

The United States once prohibited the sale of alcoholic beverages and smoking tobacco in clubs as a constitutional amendment. One could usually find an underground nightclub by the doors without a sign to indicate that there was such as establishment inside.

Those dives also had a secret door that lead out to a passageway or alley in case the police came to investigate. The police had the power to arrest everyone in the place due to the fact that they were broke the law by being there.

History of jazz music:

However, thing were beginning to look up for Jazz Music once the invention of the record player or phonograph was made to play jazz albums. In addition, history of jazz music was promoted by radio stations and made it popular among the public.

There are many styles of jazz, but the most popular styles of jazz are here.

Bebop-These styles of jazz dance elements gradually faded away into a true art of real music by the musicians Miles Davis, Bud Powell, Clifford Brown, Thelonious Monk, Sonny Stitt, and Ray Brown who wanted to steer away from the commercial type music.

These musicians sought to use examples of the Jazz musicians of the past such as Lester young, Coleman Hawkins, Earl Hines and Art Tatum to expand Jazz music to another level.

At this time, the style of Jazz music moved away from the basic melodic element of the piece to produce a more abstract chordal sound of dissonant tones, and chromatic patterns.

The dissonant tones in Jazz music can be heard when two tones are played simultaneously in a clashing manner that can either sound strange or terrible depending on how the tones of the chord fit together as melody notes from a particular key. Clashing sounds can also occur from the use of lowered fifths and raised fourths.

The essence of the sound of Jazz music is so versatile due to the origins from which it first began. In fact, New Orleans, Louisiana is the place where the origins of Jazz music first began between 1850 and 1900 by African slaves as well as the freed people of color.

The first style of Jazz music was known as Dixieland.

Origins Of Jazz Music in west:

In Africa from the Middle to Central to the West, one can hear the intricate rhythmic improvisation of the percussive instruments that is often heard with Jazz Music. These rhythms combined with the American Spirituals, Hymns, Blues, and the blue grass hillbilly musical sounds created a type of sound thus origins of Jazz music.

However, the origins of jazz music was just a peculiar sound without a particular title to call it fifteen years later in 1915. The great pianist Earl Hines born in 1903 played this type of music before the title Jazz became an official style of music.

The word “Jazz” which was formerly spelled as “Jass” has it’s origins as a type of American slang used to describe the sound of Jazz music.

The New York Voices are a vocal jazz group that have learned from other vocal jazz groups such as Take 6, The Manhattan Transfer, Lionel Hampton and have taken jazz music to higher levels which have earned them Grammy Awards.

The sound of New York voices is definite jazz sound with classical, pop, Brazilian and R&B immersed in.

The formation of New York Voices:

In 1987, Peter Eldridge, Darmon Meader, Kim Nazarian, Caprice Fox and Sara Krieger formed the group. Darmon, Peter, Caprice and Kim went to Ithaca College, in upstate New York. They were able to go and tour the European jazz festivals in 1986.

In 1989 they were signed to GRP Records and their first album New York Voices was released. In no time at all it seemed they became popular in the jazz music world. Four albums were done with GRP.

The entrance of Lauren kinhan:

The Collection, Hearts of Fire and What’s Inside. During this time, some changes were made. Sara left, and they auditioned more than sixty vocalists in the United States before they settled on Lauren Kinhan.

There are many excellent jazz schools colleges across the country as well as all over the world.

Here is my list of some of the best jazz school colleges for young people who want to get the finest education that jazz music has to offer.

The famous jazz schools colleges:

Ithaca Jazz College, Ithaca, NY:

At Ithaca jazz College, you can get a Bachelor’s of Music in Jazz Studies. The Jazz Studies program will get students to perform at many places-on campuses as well as off. Some courses that students will take are: Jazz arranging, jazz improvisation and jazz history.

Ithaca jazz college teaches jazz music in both avenues, for instance, if you are a vocal jazz major or a major in any instrument, your private lessons will be done in the traditional classical style.

If your major subject in jazz college is jazz guitar, you can study electric guitar, but still know how to perform on classical guitar. Guest artists visit Ithaca and perform giving master classes for students, and they also coach them.

Some artists that have performed there are: Jaime Laredo, Rhythm and Brass, the Bach Aria Group and Vladimir Feltsman.

Anyone who loves jazz music must know about the amazing vocal group The Manhattan Transfer. What some may not know is that the Manhattan Transfer comes from the Name of Two different groups.

The first group made one album and then broke up in 1969- the other group is the one, which is the basis for this article. They began in 1972 and still sing today. The Manhattan Transfer does an exquisite job of blending jazz music, popular music and big band together.

The members of the Manhattan Transfer group are: Alan Paul, Janis Siegel, Laurel Masse and Tim Hauser.

Manhattan Transfer Albums:

Their first album entitled, The Manhattan Transfer brought them a hit single, a gospel song called “Operator“. In 1971 an album was made with only one of the members, Tim Hauser.

The album Jukin’ was really considered to be released by a different group. This vocal group did a spectacular job performing in Europe.

The next two albums, Pastiche and Coming Out had a number of top ten hit singles. “Chanson D’Amour” went to number one in the United Kingdom in 1977, but didn’t make the charts in the U.S.

One great jazz musician was Lionel Hampton. Lionel Hampton was a bandleader, actor, jazz vibraphonist and percussionist.

He has worked with other famous jazz musicians such as Buddy Rich, Quincy Jones and Charlie Parker.

Lionel Hampton was raised by his grandmother in the south before he relocated to Chicago. In the 1920’s he started playing the xylophone and drums. His first instrument was the fife drum.

When he was a teenager he played drums for the Chicago Defender Newsboy’s band. When he lived in California, he played for the Dixieland Blue-Blowers.

Lionel Hampton band:

The first band that he recorded with was The Quality Serenaders and then he left again to go play with another band, Les Hite band. It was here that he began studying the vibraphone. Louis Armstrong asked Lionel Hampton to play the vibraphones on two songs.

That is when he made the vibraphone a popular instrument.

While still with the Les Hite band, Lionel Hampton went to the University of Southern California taking music. He also worked with the Nat Shilkrer orchestra.

In 1936 he was in the film Pennies From Heaven, starring Bing Crosby. He was next to Louis Armstrong, but hid himself by wearing a mask when he was playing the drums.

Lena Horne is one of the most popular African-American jazz legend singers. She was born in 1917 Lena Mary Calhoun Horne in New York City.

She performed with the greatest jazz musicians such as Duke Ellington and Artie Shaw.

She lives in New York City today and does not appear in the public eye anymore. Lena is most famous for the movie Stormy Weather, in which she sung the title song, in the 1940’s.

Contrary to how music careers usually begin, Lena grew up in an elite family. She lived in a black bourgeois area in Brooklyn, New York.

Lena Horne personal life:

Her father Edwin Horne left them when she was three-years-old. Her mother Edna Scottron, daughter of an inventor, was an actress with a black theater group and traveled a lot.

Lena’s grandparents raised her. Though, she was said to have been a part of the Black elite, racial discrimination still existed. Lena Horne and her friend Paul Robeson embarked on a lifelong effort to fight for Civil Rights.

Lena Horne civil rights:

In fact, she took the civil rights movement so seriously to the point of rejecting the offer to perform to a segregated audience or to an audience where the black people were there only to serve white people.

Jazz music made its mark in the hearts of Americans ever since the 20th century when people embraced the musicians of the time.

However, when the singers came on the scene strong with skills in the art of scatting that is a vocal form of Jazz improvisation as vocal jazz, the ability to articulate music expressively, and have that pizzazz to swing to the rhythms effectively makes a Jazz virtuoso.

Jazz music bore another gift of vocal jazz on the American public to spread to the world during the 1940’s when singers came together to form groups. The sound of acapella harmony of many voices like in a church choir using a juxtaposition of Jazz harmony is ethereal and divine.

Vocal jazz:

In fact, due to the success of such groups as the Mills Brothers, Boswell Sisters, Andrews’s sisters, and Modernaires during the 1930’s 1940’s made Jazz fans of vocal Jazz music seek more.

As a result, record stores stocked up on the music of vocal Jazz music, and it became a tremendous success that made quartets like Manhattan Transfer a household name today.

The essence of the appeal of Jazz music has expanded and became reinvented from the use of elements found in African drumming, spiritual and hymn music, bluegrass hillbilly music, blues, impressionist, and classical traits to newer sounds.

Jazz music became popular from radio and underground clubs that influenced other parts of the world. For instance, Europe’s French Jazz scene created Gypsy Jazz and South America’s Brazilian and Afro-Cuban Jazz sounds.

Not only did make it’s mark on the world, but it also found its way back to its roots through urban contemporary gospel music of percussion as well as brass instruments.

Today’s jazz styles:

Today the contemporary jazz styles gospel music uses guitars, keyboard, piano, drums and brass instruments for their sound. One can usually tell during the ballads how Jazz chord harmonies are used in the keyboard and piano.

The harmony in Barbershop music Jazz styles came from the African American Black gospel church community which use close four part harmony without accompaniment. This particular style of music without accompaniment is known as Acapella. The Mills Brothers were popular Jazz musicians who learned how this harmonization in the barbershop owned by their father.