Unique New Orleans

New Orleans is one of the most unique cities in our nation and is a combination between the Old World and modern times. There is a blend of several different cultures here. This is where American, European and Caribbean influences blend together to make New Orleans a colorful and vibrant city. Also known as the Big Easy it is home to jazz and the blues and spicy Cajun delicacies.

This is home to the delicious and ultimate Creole dish called gumbo. Gumbo is a spicy mix of ingredients that complement each other and is based on an African traditional soup. There are several variations of the thick soup. The main ingredients are local seafood, okra, Creole tomatoes, onions, garlic and green peppers. A variety of spices are added to the dish to give it its unique flavor.

There is so much to see and do here including walking, listening to music and eating. A beautiful place to just walk and browse through is the Uptown and the Garden District. The area is just simply beautiful and is something everyone should experience while visiting here. There are also a variety of historic churches to explore and admire here.

If you are into contemporary art you should visit the Contemporary Arts Center that was redesigned in the early 90's. It is the foundation of the city's young arts districts. They are always exhibiting influential and groundbreaking art by regional and international artists. The exhibits are always changing so you can see something new each time you visit. You can also see different forms of the arts here including theater, music concerts and performance art.

New Orleans is known for its celebrations and it parties, such as Mardi Gras, New Years, Jazz Fest and Halloween, just to name a few. If you are a history or architecture buff you will be amazed at all of the different styles and stories that make this city so unique. The best way to get a feel of this historic city is to take a walking tour. If you like visiting haunted houses or famous cemeteries you have come to the right place.

The Aquarium of the Americas has over 7,000 fish and other marine life. You can also watch sea otters at play. There is a rainforest exhibit and a sea lion pool outside the aquarium. This is a fascinating place for the entire family. You should also visit the Audubon Park which is the permanent home of over 2,000 animals and is rated one of the best zoos in the nation. It has a wide variety of exhibits including White Tigers, Komodo Dragon and Monkey Hill. There are also elephant and sea lion shows to entertain you.

New Orleans is a colorful and bustling city that has something to offer everyone. There is so much to do and see here you will have a hard decision deciding what to do first. This is a multi culture diverse city that is fun for all ages.

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Jazz and Blues Steeped in Down-Home Tennessee Heritage

In addition to its beautiful, mountainous terrain and friendly, Southern appeal, Tennessee is well-known for its thriving music scene, particularly in the jazz and blues genre. From Nashville to Memphis, some of the greatest minds in the music industry have recorded, lived or played in the state, taking advantage of its musical heritage and deep-rooted fan base. Both the jazz and blues genres have their roots in African-American communities; however, over time, the genres have evolved to reflect and include all cultures and faces.

Jazz Roots

Tennessee blues is rooted in piano, guitar and vocal chord progressions and raw, gritty lyrics that reflect the struggles of everyday life. No topic is taboo when it comes to the blues, with songs relating to racism, love, loss, finances and more - all meant to reflect the pain and emotion of society at the time. Meanwhile, jazz is a bit more upbeat, incorporating blue notes and vocal improvisation to a melodious sound. Jazz is generally a bit more polished and includes more instruments than blues, which is usually more dependent on percussion, guitar and vocals.

Founding Father of Blues

When it comes to great artists, W.C. Handy is known as the Father of Memphis Blues and is credited with writing one of the first Memphis blues songs, appropriately titled "Memphis Blues." He also was the author of "Beale Street Blues," aptly written to describe one of the main thoroughfares through the heart of Memphis. Many people credit Handy with the entire inception of the Memphis blues genre and for bringing it to the forefront of the music industry.

Tennessee Music Festivals

Since music is such a large part of Tennessee's history, there are several festivals and celebrations centered around music annually. Two of the biggest festivals held in Memphis, both of which are well-attended by residents and tourists alike, are the Memphis in May music festival and the International Blues Challenge. Both of these festivals draw large crowds and feature some of the best performers in the industry.

Past artists in attendance at these festivals have included BB King, Ray Charles, Jerry Lee Lewis, the North Mississippi All Stars, James Brown and many others. The Blues Challenge is a competition that draws more than 100 acts from around the world, all of them competing for cash, industry recognition, record deals and other prizes. The Challenge is put on by the Blues Foundation in an effort to continue the tradition of showcasing new talent to keep the genre from being eclipsed by more popular musical trends.

Another great festival is the Memphis in May music festival, which spans an entire month and incorporates the Beale Street Music Festival as one of its events. For visitors looking to hear some real, down home jazz and blues, the Beale Street Music Festival is the place to be. It most represents what Tennessee music is all about and boasts an unlimited amount of raw, real talent in one place.

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The Evolution of Jazz

Jazz is an American form of music that has come from an interesting background and evolved into a worldwide genre. It roots are in blues and other African-American styles of music combined with the classical European musical system, and it largely started in the southern United States. While the term jazz may refer to many different things in the beginning it eventually evolved into a style comprised of improvisation, syncopation, swing, and blue notes. This base of jazz has constantly evolved over time to where we find it today.

Jazz improvisation originally started out as slight modifications and embellishments to the melodies of standard tunes. This changed into a harmonically based improvisation style where the soloist uses notes based on the harmony of the tune to construct a sometimes completely new solo line. With this development, jazz improvisation started on a course towards some of the most technically proficient and impressive improvisation of all time in the bebop era, characterized by lightning fast runs of notes over highly complex and frequent chord changes. Once this style had reached its zenith, the jazz world reacted by moving in a new direction; minimal chord changes and slower tempos of the modal jazz era, started by Miles Davis.

From here, jazz has evolved more in instrumentation and overall style rather than in improvisational philosophy. Miles Davis also helped bring about new forms of fusion and experimental jazz. In the 70s and 80s, bands got started mixing jazz with the funk and popular music of the time. All of these developments have spread jazz to new listeners and new places.

Today you find too many different types of jazz to mention. There are neo-traditionalists, modern players who use traditional arrangement but play with new harmonic and structural elements, a huge number of different types of fusion, and finally, the widespread addition of electronic music elements to jazz. Electronic jazz represents a new direction and ability for jazz to appeal to different music lovers and increase the ability to jazz musicians to arrange and compose their music. A new era of jazz should be provided by the addition of electronic music and modern recording technology. Look for this new style of electronic jazz to have an impact soon.

There are already many jazz musicians who have redefined themselves with electronic jazz, which enables them to make use of more types of sounds in their recordings and enables them to craft more precise compositions.

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A Quick History of Blues and Jazz

Jazz first appeared in the early 1900s, taking root in the south where black musicians were combining African beats with gospel singing. From the very beginning, improvisation was one of the major themes of jazz.

As it evolved, it moved past the three chord structures and started spreading to other major cities. Also during this time, instruments started changing and the string bass became very popular instead of the tuba. Due to this change, there was more versatility in the music and jazz became even greater.

The growth could not be contained and reflecting that growth, the size of the jazz orchestra typically became larger. The first large band was formed by Duke Ellington and he not only required the players to know how to read music, but they also had to be good at improvising. Bands grew even larger in the coming years!

Throughout the following years, jazz continue to evolve. In the 40's, there was swing and then after the war, it changed to more of a be-bop type of music. The music became not only faster, but the beats were odd and it took great skill to play this new jazz. It eventually evolved to a have a more rock feel and today, there has been a return to the more traditional feel.

Jazz has a great history and has definitely changed over the years to fit the era. It is a rather difficult style of music to play, with some of the greatest musicians emerging from this style of music. Although its sound has evolved, it will always be a mainstay on the music scene.

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A Little Bit Of My Own Jazz History!

Well, I'm finally selling my old piano that I have been playing for 55 years!

It's been in my family for about 100 years! My grandfather brought the piano from new, it's first home was, westbury Avenue, Wood Green, London, from there it went to Aberdeen, Scotland, finally it came to Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, England and its been here ever since.

I love this old piano, but it's gotta go.

Although it sounds and looks good, I have been advised to get an digital keyboard, because I'm about to produce my own jazz piano improvisation video tutorials and the sound quality is perfect.

The new piano may not have the character of my hold piano, but hopefully I can attach myself to the digital piano, in the same way I did my old jazz piano.

Yours In Jazz
Haydn Huckle

PS Check the video Below and have a listen to my old faithful jazz piano
PPS CLICK HERE For My Ebay Piano Listing

Jazz Music History

Jazz has roots in the combination of West African and Western music traditions, including spirituals, blues and ragtime, stemming from West Africa, western Sahel, and New England's religious hymns, hillbilly music, and European military band music.

After originating in African American communities near the beginning of the 20th century, jazz styles spread in the 1920s, influencing other musical styles. The origins of the word jazz are uncertain. The word is rooted in American slang, and various derivations have been suggested.

Jazz is rooted in the blues, the folk music of former enslaved Africans in the U.S. South and their
descendants, which is influenced by West African cultural and musical traditions that evolved as black musicians migrated to the cities. Jazz musicianWynton Marsalis states that "Jazz is something Negroes invented...the nobility of the race put into sound ... Jazz music has all the elements, from the spare and penetrating to the complex and enveloping.

The instruments used in marching bands and dance band music at the turn of century became the basic instruments of jazz: brass, reeds, and drums, using the Western 12-tone scale. A "...black musical spirit (involving rhythm and melody) was bursting out of the confines of European musical tradition [ of the marching bands], even though the performers were using European styled instruments."

Small bands of black musicians, mostly self taught, who led funeral processions in New Orleans played a seminal role in the articulation and dissemination of early jazz, traveling throughout black communities in the Deep South and to northern cities.

The postbellum network of black-established schools, as well as civic societies and widening mainstream opportunities for education, produced more formally trained African-American musicians. Lorenzo Tio and Scott Joplin were schooled in classical European musical forms. Joplin, the son of a former slave and a free-born woman of color, was largely self-taught until age 11, when he received lessons in the fundamentals of music theory. Black musicians with formal music skills helped to preserve and disseminate the essentially
improvisational musical styles of jazz.

Jazz History

Picture of trumpeter and singer Louis Armstrong, a well-known jazz musician.

Jazz History

jazzhas roots in the combination of West African and Western music traditions, including spirituals, blues and ragtime, stemming from West Africa, western Sahel, and New England's religious hymns, hillbilly music, and European military band music. After originating in African American communities near the beginning of the 20th century, jazz styles spread in the 1920s, influencing other musical styles. The origins of the word jazz are uncertain. The word is rooted in American slang, and various derivations have been suggested. For the origin and history of the word jazz, see Origin of the word jazz.

Jazz musicis rooted in the blues, the folk music of former enslaved Africans in the U.S. South and their descendants, which is influenced by West African cultural and musical traditions that evolved as black musicians migrated to the cities. Jazz musician Wynton Marsalis states that "Jazz is something Negroes invented...the nobility of the race put into sound ... jazz has all the elements, from the spare and penetrating to the complex and enveloping.[1]

The instruments used in marching bands and dance band music at the turn of century became the basic instruments of jazz: brass, reeds, and drums, using the Western 12-tone scale. A "...black musical spirit (involving rhythm and melody) was bursting out of the confines of European musical tradition [of the marching bands], even though the performers were using European styled instruments."[2]

Small bands of black musicians, mostly self taught, who led funeral processions in New Orleans played a seminal role in the articulation and dissemination of early jazz, traveling throughout black communities in the Deep South and to northern cities.

The postbellum network of black-established schools, as well as civic societies and widening mainstream opportunities for education, produced more formally trained African-American musicians. Lorenzo Tio and Scott Joplin were schooled in classical European musical forms. Joplin, the son of a former slave and a free-born woman of color, was largely self-taught until age 11, when he received lessons in the fundamentals of music theory. Black musicians with formal music skills helped to preserve and disseminate the essentially improvisational musical styles of jazz.