Jazz vs Blues
Jazz and blues are genres or musical styles that can also be considered as two different American musical traditions. They are interrelated most likely due to the fact that they originated in the southern United States. The confusion in the discernment of the two genres is probably due to the numerous music crossings that the artists make these days.
Coming from New Orleans, jazz music was first known as “jass” and then dropped the two “ss” into “zz”, which means “great”. During the latter part of the nineteenth century, jazz took form in several bands. The style of jazz was dominated by the use of saxophone, piano, cornet and trombone.
Particularly from the southern part of Mississippi, blues was born with its first blues music recorded in the 1920s. Around that time, blues was generally played as a solo compared to ensembles of jazz music. Although blues music has grown a long time ago to use intricate bands, the first blues soloist only used a sliding guitar as his main musical instrument.
The penetration of jazz music since its inception has moved north towards Chicago and New York. Having an interracial feel in jazz music, many from the north embraced jazz music making it popular music throughout the country. Contrary to the rise in popularity of jazz, the blues had a penetration into Texas and Chicago. And so, the blues found its own range of followers which made it a more urban style of music before the rock ‘n’ roll revolution of the 1950s.
Technically speaking, there is more syncopation (rhythmic deviations from regular rhythms) in jazz music than in blues. Jazz was mainly more instrumental compared to the blues, which was mainly a bit more vocal.
In terms of notable artists, the pioneering jazz album came from Edward Ory along with the Creole Orchestra. Other popular and notable jazz musicians on the scene were George Lewis and Louis Armstrong just to name a few. However, it was not until the 1960s that jazz icons such as John Coltrane and Miles Davis became extraordinarily remarkable hits. On the other hand, Blind Lemon Jefferson and Robert Johnson were the first in the line of blues music. BB King with his electric blues also became a great influence for the modern blues musicians of today.
Summary:
1.Jazz originally came from New Orleans, while blue originated in Mississippi.
2.Jazz enjoyed national penetration in the United States compared to the popularity of blues music during his early years.
3.Jazz has more syncopation than blues, so it’s a more complicated music style.
4.Blues was ordinarily a more vocal form of music unlike more instrumental jazz music.