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

Diminished triad

Music; Jazz

Triad composed of two stacked minor thirds, root, minor third, and diminished fifth.

Walk

Music; Jazz

In bass playing, to play mostly one note per beat, making a smooth, continuous quarter-note line. A fulfilment of the time-keeping function of bass playing, which many bass players have transcended ...

Melodic minor

Music; Jazz

In Jazz, a scale with a minor 3rd but a major 6th and 7th (both up and down). This scale and its modes (Altered, Half-diminished and Lydian Dominant are the familiar ones) make up a realm called ...

Bridge

Music; Jazz

The contrasting middle section of a tune, especially the 'B' section of an AABA song form. Traditionally, the bridge goes into a different key, often a remote key. Thelonious Monk once remarked that ...

Chord

Music; Jazz

The harmony at a given moment. Loosely, a group of 3 or more notes played together. Strictly, a chord is the basic unit of harmony, regarded abstractly as having a given root and specifying some ...

Cadence

Music; Jazz

A key-establishing chord progression, generally following the circle of fifths. A turnaround is one example of a cadence. Sometimes a whole section of a tune can be an extended cadence. In ...