What are its most notable characteristics of jazz music?

Answer 1

Syncopated beat, notes that aren't in the normal major or minor key, improvisation, swing beat, 9th chords, etc. Actually

it is hard to say what it is. Mainly it varies depending on tone and beat.

Answer 2

Jazz is a genre of music that is comprised of a number of individual styles. It involves a lot of improvisation, and typical instruments include Saxophone, Clarinet, and Trombone. Some of the greatest jazz musicians include Django Reinhardt, Dave Brubeck, and Chet Baker.

Answer 3

1.Roots

the roots are from many musical culture..west africans, american and european too..so thats why it emphasize on improvisation, drumming and complex rhythm. and there are call and response which derived from africans whereby a phrase will be repeated or embelished by another instrument or player following the initial player.

2.Tone Color

elements..its diverse and complex..but lets start with tone color.jazz is generally played by a small group(combo) of 3 to 8 players, or by a big band of 10 to 15. the backbone is the rhythm section.it is usually made up of piano,double bass(which acts like basso continuo in baroque especially in jazz swing), and drums/percussion.sumtimes Guitars too too maintain the harmonic and rhythmic structure.the tone color is more towards individuality rather than ideal group sound.

3.Improvisation

u can say as the heart of jazz..jazz musicians create and perform and making decisions at that very moment. of course not all are being improvised but it is an important element of jazz of being spontaneous and fresh..thats what makes jazz cool :p improvisation is most likely to be compared to theme and variation.

4.Rhytm, Melody & Harmony

in the ryhtmic sense, syncopation and rhytmic swing are the 2 most distinctive.we always say swing when they combine a steady beat with a feeling of precision and relaxed vitality.the beat will be provided by the drums and bass. accents come on weak beats or backbeats.for example, in 4/4, the 2nd and 4th beat will be accented instead of normal hard beat of 1 and 3. the quavers also is treated differently. for example, the first quaver drops on the beat but the second quaver is like a 3rd quaver in quaver triplets.so it is not played evenly.

the melodies are flexible in pitch and rhythm.mostly they use bent or blue notes which derived from the blues scale.1,b3,b5 and b7. nowadays there also modal jazz which is based on modes and series of scale like synthetic and altered.

harmony wise,normally its the usual progression from the tonal system of minor and major. but like its rhythms,it has now become far more complicated since it has to support the new types of melody which is taken from modal and synthetic and altered scales.

so,these are the main characteristics of jazz and a few explanation of it.. ..

Source(s):

im a music student..passion in Jazz Music..

Answer 4

It's not really characteristics that you need, it's more of a role you have to take on. But it depends on what tipe of jazz it is. If it's like broadway jazz you need to have sassyness and attitude. If it's contemparary jazz then you need to have emotion. Because if you have a very emotional peice and you have no emotion it will not be recieved by the audience.

Answer 5

improvisation, 'swing feeling,' and a bunch of crazy techniiques to make instruments sound different, slides, plungers, mutes, bends, etc.

Answer 6

The main features of jazz are the instruments such as trumpets and saxophones and maybe clarinets.

Answer 7

jazz is a type of music it has many characteristics smarty

Answer 8

The sexy sax ^_^, guys wearing dark sunglasses while playing inside and the trumpets