Jazz

A sort of urban equivalent to the blues, jazz developed as the expressive music of urban African Americans in the South. It borrowed melody, harmony and rhythm from African roots and instrumentation from European roots as well as American folk. Jazz spread northward along the Mississippi River from New Orleans and then quickly across the entire nation. In the first half of the 20th century, jazz dominated most of the pop music scene, from Broadway musicals to big band swing to crooning vocalists. Curators: Philip Mohr and Patrick Voneshhttps://thekeep.eiu.edu/americas_music_exhibits/1021/thumbnail.jp