What is the difference between jazz music and modern jazz music?

What is the difference between Classical music and Jazz?

• Answer:

  It is often asserted that jazz is more free in its structure than classical music, but the reverse is true. Oscar Peterson has always refused to make any distinction between jazz and classical music. As a rule, jazz performers like to appear to be improvising; classical performers like to appear not to be improvising. Answer Differences among kinds of music are to be celebrated, and not thought of as embarrassments. Regarding classical and jazz, neither is inferior to the other in any way. Apart from the many similarities, the forms differ in terms of the materials and structure that they use. The standard Classical repertoire contains music that is completely notated; that is, all the notes are indicated in a score, along with many indications of what dynamics to use. For ensemble pieces (more than one performer and usually more than one instrument) there are many, many indications of the composer's specific intentions for a piece. There are several "forms" that compositions can take: Sonata Form, Fugue, Rondo, Symphony... some of these overlap, and it would take books to cover the basics. Classical musicians are required to study and memorize huge amounts of music, since it is the intention of the composer that usually interests them. Some may miss that this process can be extremely creative, since there are always newer and deeper insights into a composition's lines, tone, rhythms, etc. Many brilliantly creative performers can be criticized for going to far. An example would be the Bach performances by the late great Glenn Gould. Some "modern classical" or "avant garde" music takes great liberties with any and all of the above, exploring every possible way to produce and organize sound. Jazz, on the other hand, is usually much freer in its structure, materials and performance. That is not to say that it is chaotic. It is in some ways more 'cerebral' than classical, since the Jazz performer is often 'composing on the fly' (improvising) even if he is playing with other musicians. Harmony is an extremely complex and rich part of most Western musics, and Jazz musicians have incredible sensitivity to and skill with harmonic exploration and invention. Jazz improvisation also includes very complex melodic lines that are based on the Jazz scales of the underlying chord being played at any given moment. There are important fixed forms in Jazz too, having to do with the number of bars (measures) that certain elements of a song will contain. Songs are carefully structured, but this may never occur to the casual listener, who just enjoys a great tune. Jazz musicians will refer to "Rhythm Changes", and the uninitiated will not know that they are talking about the standard harmonic progressions (Chord Changes) and structure of Gershwin's "I've Got Rhythm". Jazz musicians are clearly not composing 'on the fly', every moment that they are performing. Many numbers are worked out well in advance. But the Jazz idiom remains much freer than classical music, whatever your opinions are of the similarities between them. So, if a classical performer wants to prepare a piece by Ravel, she/he will go to Ravel's score and dig in. If a Jazz musician wants to do an arrangement of "How High The Moon", listening to it will be enough. The harmonies and melody line will be the basis of the Jazz musician's work.