Describe the main characteristics of a specific style or period in jazz since World War II

Illustrate your answer with reference to recordings by a key artist. Discuss briefly how this style relates to previous developments in jazz and/or other contemporaneous movements in jazz, and show, as appropriate, how the discussed style relates to the broader social and/or cultural environment.

Jazz is a form of music originated around the beginning of the twentieth century in the Southern United States within the African American communities, combining African and European music traditions. It was in 1880, when the Atlantic slave trade brought Africans to the United States and we began to see music starting to cross boundaries. It is from this movement in history that jazz began to develop. With the African community came their music; composed of a single line melody and a call and response pattern, but without the Western concept of harmony. Their rhythms reflected African speech patterns and used the pentatonic scale which then led to blue notes found in blues and jazz.

English: "Bebop-rebop" early bop phrase.

[Portrait of Coleman Hawkins and Miles Davis, Thre...

Sheet music cover: The 'Jelly Roll' Blues, by Ferd...

In the early nineteenth century numerous black musicians learned to play Western instruments and in turn European American minstrel show performers combined syncopation with European harmonic accompaniment, it was this movement that lead to internationally popularising the music, merging syncopation with European harmonic accompaniment. 'The present stylistic study focuses upon the dance-orientated piano ragtime published between 1897 and 1920. Some consideration is given to earlier pieces exhibiting ragtime characteristics and to post 1919 rags and "novelty Piano," but the detailed examination is concerned with music that can most reasonably be viewed as ragtime: music that is labelled "rag" or "ragtime".' (Berlin, 2002. Pg72). In 1897 the first written ragtime piece occurred, composed for the piano by William Krell entitled "Mississippi Rag". Following in Krell's footsteps Scott Joplin, a classical pianist went on to compose many rags including an international hit Maple...