What's the difference between Jazz music and other music...?

Jazz can be played spontaneously without notes with instruments going in all directions. Listen to some and you'll hear. P.S. There are many "types" of Jazz. Jazz on!

You have been given some good answers, but a quote that you might want to include in your story that explains what jazz is was given by Louis Armstrong (a great jazz trumpet player). "If you have to ask what jazz is, you'll never know." Meaning it is best to just listen to it.

Jazz music is unique among other idioms in that it relies heavily upon advanced 20th century rhythmic, melodic and harmonic developments that coalesce into some type of form, (or head) and ultimately serves as a spring board for further instrumental improvisation and exploration.

What other music? Rock Pop Rock & Roll Waltz Bolero It is younger than Waltz and Bolero, And older than Rock & Roll, Pop and Rock.

Rhythm - jazz has a free swing with a syncopation. Clap on beats 2 and 4 in the bar and then contrast that with clapping on beats 1 and 3 and you'll feel the swing. Improvisation - although jazz starts from the melody which may or may not be played from a score, it includes a greater or lesser amount of improvised passages where instrumentalists are free to make up melodic lines within the given harmonic structure. Repertoire - although any tune can be jazzed up, each style of jazz has a well-known set of tunes which define it, and differentiate it often from other music styles. History - jazz comes from the racial melting pot of New Orleans at the beginning of the 20th century and has mainly been developed by black musicians to become the most significant contribution of USA to world culture.