Jazz is becoming a lost genre of music

In modern society, teenagers are more attracted to popular artists of today such as Taylor Swift, Morgan Wallen and Miley Cyrus rather than jazz artists like Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis and Billie Holiday. However, most teenagers fail to recognize the musical talents of musicians in the jazz genre. In fact, jazz has been slowly losing popularity among the general public since the 1990s. Jazz is often overlooked by teenagers that are more interested in genres like hip-hop, rap, pop and alternative. I am here to say that jazz should be more mainstream because of the relatability behind the actual music and lyrics.

Jazz was founded around the early 20th century, mainly in the New Orleans area, from a multitude of African-American communities. Jazz was used as an escape for adults in the United States during the highs and lows of the Great Depression. People used jazz for short-term entertainment to shut out their possible economic problems.

By Max Grant Staff Writer

to adopt it overseas. Europe has then pumped out great singers like Tomasz Stańko, Enrico Rava and Michael Bublé Jazz is a genre that allows you to feel free with the subtle lyrics that are developed from popular songwriters. Considered by many to be the best jazz songwriter there ever was to live, Duke Ellington used many different combinations of instruments to construct elegant music. The sweet combination of piano and saxophones opened the door for more creative ways to make swing music in the 1930’s, something that has not been featured in mainstream music media for quite some time. Arguably some of the most well known songs in the world are from the jazz genre as well. Frank Sinatra’s “Theme from New York, New York”, Etta James’ “At Last” and Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World. Sinatra’s “Theme from New York, New York” captivates many New the ranks of great songs like Beyonce’s “Halo”, Little Richard’s “Tutti Frutti”, Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep, and plenty more. The fluid lyrics and smooth, soft vocals by James makes the song such a great vocal performance. The lyrics she sang in the song, “life is like a song” did not translate to her actual life. James and her husband struggled with heroin addictions and both even had to serve ten years in prison for heroin possession. She also sang the lyrics, “my heart was wrapped in clover”. This is in reference to the four-leaf clover, a symbol of luck for many years. With the lyrics, she defines that she is lucky to be in love. The cleverness and creativity is what makes this song such a big hit and great vocal performance.

Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World” encapsulates the true meaning of jazz: slow, soft instruments playing and lyrics that suck you into the song. During Armstrong’s prime years as a musician, he had to experience eral tragedy going on around the world around him. The song is trying to prove his point that the world is a magnificent place and everyone needs to sit down to appreciate what we have and explore more than just what their future is. Jazz music has such a deeper meaning than just a song to make your head bop up and down. It provides a means to relate to lyrics with thoughts about the world around us. Jazz was a mainstream genre of music, but now has fallen down from grace and is not included in popular genres of today like rap, hip-hop and plenty of other genres of music. If you have not given jazz a chance, you might experiment with different songs and artists because it allows you to relate to music personally instead of having music in the background of an activity you are doing. I use jazz as an escape from reality. It allows me to explore a world that I thought was nonexistent. A world where your head feels the rhythm of a soft piano or a tender