Jazz

Jazz

A style of music characterized by improvisation, syncopation, and usually a regular or forceful rhythm. It emerged at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions.

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Jazz

riff

Music; Jazz

(1) A relatively simple, catchy repeated phrase. May be played behind a soloist or as part of a head. Often in a bluesy style. Riff tunes are made up of riffs, characteristic of the black bands of ...

outer voice

Music; Jazz

The melody line or the bass, the top or bottom line.

diminished scale

Music; Jazz

A scale of 8 notes to the octave in alternating whole-steps and half-steps. There are just three different diminished scales. Quite a complicated system of voicings and motivic patterns for ...

pickup

Music; Jazz

A phrase beginning that comes before the beginning of the first bar. A pickup can be one note or a longer phrase.

solo

Music; Jazz

Any one player's improvisation over one or more choruses of the tune (occasionally, especially in ballads, less than one chorus). A sharp distinction is made between soloing, and playing the head.

meter

Music; Jazz

A basic music term, but sometimes not fully understood. The organization of the beats of time (or ground beat), moving at a certain rate (the tempo), into groupings which are heirarchical, that is, ...