Genre |
Characteristics |
Era |
Acid jazz |
Combined elements of soul music, funk, disco, including looping beats and modal harmony |
1980s–90s |
Asian American jazz |
Asian-American jazz combines standard jazz instruments with Asian instruments (such as taiko, shamisen, erhu, suona, or kulintang), which are often performed by musicians from Asia. |
1950s -> |
Avant-garde jazz |
a style of music and improvisation that combines avant-garde art music and composition with jazz. It originated in the 1950s and developed through the 1960s. |
1950s -> |
Bebop |
Bebop or bop is a style of jazz characterized by a fast tempo, instrumental virtuosity, and improvisation based on a combination of harmonic structure and occasional references to the melody. |
1940s -> |
Bossa nova |
Brazilian melodic samba-like genre influential in Cool Jazz/West Coast Jazz |
1960s -> |
British dance band |
British dance band is a genre of popular jazz and dance music that developed in British dance halls and hotel ballrooms during the 1920s and 1930s |
1920s -> |
Cape jazz |
Cape jazz (more often written Cape Jazz) is a genre of jazz that is performed in the very southern part of Africa, the name being a reference to Cape Town, South Africa. |
1990s -> |
Chamber jazz |
Chamber jazz is a genre of jazz involving small, acoustic-based ensembles where group interplay is important |
1960s -> |
Continental Jazz |
Early jazz dance bands of Europe in the swing medium, to the exclusion of Great Britain. |
Cool jazz |
Contrasts with the hard, fast sound of Bebop. Based largely on Lester Young. |
1940s-1960s |
Crossover jazz |
where artists mix different styles of music into jazz |
1970s -> |
Cubop |
Afro-Cuban jazz is the earliest form of Latin jazz. It mixes Afro-Cuban clave-based rhythms with jazz harmonies and techniques of improvisation. |
1940s -> |
Dixieland |
Dixieland music or New Orleans jazz, sometimes referred to as hot jazz or early jazz, is a style of jazz music which developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century. Stylistically it is essentially a form of Ragtime, typically transposed for brass band, banjo and/or clarinet. |
1900s -> |
Ethno jazz |
Ethno Jazz, a form of Ethno Music, is sometimes equaled to World Music or is regarded as its successor, particularly before the 1990s. An independent meaning of "Ethno Jazz" emerged around 1990 |
1990s -> |
European free jazz |
European free jazz is a part of the global free jazz scene with its own development and characteristics. |
1960s -> |
Free funk |
A combination of avant-garde jazz with funk music |
1970s -> |
Free improvisation |
Free improvisation or free music is improvised music without any rules beyond the logic or inclination |
1960s -> |
Free jazz |
Free jazz musicians attempted to alter, extend, or break down jazz convention, often by discarding fixed chord changes or tempos. |
1950s -> |
Gypsy jazz |
style of jazz music often said to have been started by guitarist Jean "Django" Reinhardt in the 1930s |
1930s -> |
Hard bop |
incorporated influences from rhythm and blues, gospel music, and blues, especially in saxophone and piano playing. |
1950s -> |
Indo jazz |
Fusion of jazz with Indian music (see also Sitar in jazz and Jazz in India). |
1950s -> |
Jazz blues |
|
Jazz-funk |
Jazz-funk is a subgenre of jazz music characterized by a strong back beat (groove), electrified sounds[1] and an early prevalence of analog synthesizers. |
1970s -> |
Jazz fusion |
Combines elements of Jazz and Rock. Characterized by electronic instruments, riffs, and extended solos |
1970s -> |
Jazz rap |
Jazz rap is a fusion subgenre of hip hop music and jazz, developed in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The lyrics are often based on political consciousness, Afrocentrism, and general positivism. |
1980s -> |
Jazz rock |
The term "jazz-rock" (or "jazz/rock") is often used as a synonym for the term "jazz fusion". |
1960s -> |
Kansas City blues |
is a genre of blues music. It has spawned the Kansas City Blues & Jazz festival and the Kansas City Blues Society. |
1940s -> |
Kansas City jazz |
Kansas City jazz is a style of jazz that developed in Kansas City, Missouri and the surrounding Kansas City Metropolitan Area during the 1930s |
1930s -> |
Latin jazz |
Draws heavily on salsa and merengue influences. Heavy use of percussion, including congas, timbales, bongos, guiros, and others. |
|
M-Base |
|
1980s -> |
Mainstream jazz |
a genre of jazz music that was first used in reference to the playing styles around the 1950s |
1950s -> |
Modal jazz |
Pioneered by Miles Davis, others. Characterized by use of modes, such as dorian modes. |
|
Neo-bop jazz |
A comparatively accessible, 'retro' genre that emerged in the 1980s as a stylistic reaction against free jazz and jazz fusion. Notably associated with Wynton Marsalis |
1980s -> |
Neo-swing |
|
1990s -> |
Novelty ragtime |
|
1920s -> |
Nu jazz |
Music that blends jazz elements with other musical styles, such as funk, soul, electronic dance music, and free improvisation. |
1990s -> |
Orchestral jazz |
|
1920s -> |
Post-bop |
A genre of small-combo jazz that assimilates hard bop, modal jazz, avant-garde and free jazz without necessarily being immediately identifiable as any of those forms |
1960s -> |
Punk jazz |
|
1970s -> |
Ragtime |
A genre that uses a specific type of syncopation in which melodic accents occur between metrical beats. Particularly popular with pianists pre WWI, it is also the underlying stylistic form for most Dixieland jazz. |
1890s -> |
Shibuya-kei |
|
1950s -> |
Ska jazz |
|
1960s -> |
Smooth jazz |
In general a smooth jazz track is downtempo (the most widely played tracks are in the 90–105 BPM range), layering a lead, melody-playing instrument (saxophones – especially soprano and tenor – are the most popular, with guitars a close second) over a backdrop that typically consists of programmed rhythms and various synth pads and/or samples. |
1960s -> |
Soul jazz |
|
1950s -> |
Stride jazz |
|
1920s -> |
Straight-ahead jazz |
|
1960s -> |
Swing |
Big Band arrangements, always swung. Pioneered by Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Benny Goodman, others. |
1930s-1950s |
Third stream |
The fusion of the Jazz stream and Classical stream. |
1950s -> |
Trad jazz |
|
|
Vocal jazz |
|
1950s -> |
West Coast jazz |
A less frenetic, calmer style than hard bop, heavily arranged, and more often compositionally-based subgenre of cool jazz. |
1950s–60s |