A Brief History of Jazz The very beginnings of jazz still remains unclear to historians. The dates of its creation range from 1895 to 1917. 1917 was the year that the word jazz seems to have become “mainstream’ and the year that the Original Dixieland Jazz Band made what is known as the first recordings of jazz. What historians do know is that jazz was created by obscure black musicians in the south around the turn of the century.
Jazz is the only native American musical form to have exerted an influence on musical development throughout the Western world, such as Rhythm and Blues and Rock N Roll. Although the origins of jazz remains a mystery, the development of jazz is very clear. In the popular view of jazz history, its development “is capsulized into three major geographic locations and correlated chronological periods.’ (Schuller, p 242) New Orleans is given the first two decades of the century, Chicago is given the t.
