Born out of the same struggle, jazz and blues are literally one of a kind. So it’s not a shock when people confuse the two.
Both art forms have a way of tapping into the spirit of anyone listening and drawing out emotion like no other. Hearing both can put you into a feeling of euphoria.
Rooted in African American culture, the two differ only in small ways. According to Greg Tivis:
“By definition, blues is both a musical form and a music genre, while jazz is just defined as a music genre”
Blues becomes a musical form due to a certain type of chord progression. Jazz, like rap, is harder to define because of its free form.
Both were born in the South out of a need to find to voice. At the time, African Americans we’re moving away from Spirituals and looking for a musical style that was could be considered our own.
Around the early 20th century, the growing popularity of blues and jazz would start to migrate from the deep south to areas like New York, Kansas City, St. Louis and Chicago where they would both take off and become part of pop culture.
The combination of blues and jazz has been so intertwined that for years, blues singers would work with jazz bands and singers. They also had another thing in common.
Like jazz, blues artists had an open love affair with cannabis that would take center stage in the music occasionally.
To this day, both genres have inspired everything from rock to hip-hop. Learn more about the early days of jazz and blues here.
In honor of jazz appreciation month, CashColorCannabis.com teamed with Music2Smoke2 for the Jazz2Smoke2 playlist. Stream our playlist below