Jazz is a specific musical direction that originated in the late 19th century in New Orleans (S.A.D.), with roots in African traditional music. Jazz was primarily the folk music of the enslaved black people in America, only to eventually gain art status and become the basis of blues and rock and roll music.

This direction is characterized by the use of blues notes, syncope, swing, polyrhythms and improvisation. Of the above characteristics, the most important for jazz is improvisation, which separates it from classical music. In classical music, the performers of a composition had to strictly adhere to the notes, while the jazz musicians were musically uneducated, but extremely talented, and thus the way of performing was personal and tied to the moment. Improvisations are rhythmically bold and unusual, with the obligatory use of syncope, which required maximum creativity of the performers.

The very meaning of the word "Jazz" is unknown, but it is assumed that it was a vulgar word.

The story of jazz begins with the discovery of the American continent and the enslavement of the African people who worked on plantations across America. By the end of the civil war in the United States and the ban on the enslavement of the black people, about eleven million blacks had been brought from Africa. The African people took their culture and tradition with them from their homeland, which is why we say that the very roots of jazz are in African traditional music.

In the period from 1890 to 1910, jazz music was created in a place called New Orleans. Why New Orleans? The answer is simple - New Orleans is a city located at the confluence of the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico. Due to its favorable geographical position, New Orleans was one of the largest ports in which ships carrying enslaved African people sailed. African traditional music, influenced by local folklore and music, performed on European instruments was called Jazz. This is how the first jazz styles, Regtime and New Orleans Jazz or Hot Jazz, came into being, and later became known as Dixieland. These two forms of music were the first forms of jazz and black music in general, which began to be heard among whites as well. The first jazz musicians were Scott Joplin - "Jelly Roll Morton", "Jelly Roll Morton", "Ma Rainey" and "WC Handy". - "Father Blues".