Jazz vs Rock
Jazz and rock are two of the most widely celebrated musical genres of all time. While their popularity is certainly on equal terms, their style is very much different. And while they may have similar beginnings, they have branched so differently over the years.
Jazz
Jazz started with the African-American community in the early 20th century. It is a fusion of musical culture and tradition from Africa and Europe evidenced by its use of blue notes, improvisation of lyrics, polyrhythms, syncopation, and the swung note. From its humble beginnings in the slave communities, jazz has split into various subgenres like Dixieland, swing, Afro-Cuban and Brazilian jazz, jazz fusion, acid jazz and many others.
Rock
Rock music started in the 1960s as a fusion of elements from jazz, classical music, country and rhythm and blues. Its sound mostly revolves around the use of the electric guitar along with drums, bass guitars and sometimes, keyboards. Over the years, rock has evolved to include as subgenres the likes of alternative rock, punk, metal, indie and progressive rock, to name a few.
Difference between Jazz and Rock
Even if rock music had its roots in jazz, in most contemporary rock, the jazz influence have been greatly muted. Also, while jazz tend to include a greater array of instruments, like the guitar, saxophone, drums, and piano, rock tends to focus more on the sound created by string electric string instruments accompanied by drum beats. Contemporary jazz also has this air of sophistication and class due to their harmony while rock is somewhat wild, frantic and oftentimes loud. Regarding the difficulty in performance, most people tend to find rock easier to perform compared to jazz, even then it is seldom that you can find a truly great rock band.
Rock and jazz has been present in our musical culture in the past century. Although they may appeal to different people, they are great music to listen to in their own right.
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In brief: 1. Jazz started during the early part of the 20th century in the African-American communities. Since then, it has spread over the world and split into several subgenres. 2. Rock started in the 1960s and is a combination of jazz, country, and classical music primarily. 3. Jazz music can be orchestrated from sounds produced by a mixture of wind and string instruments and percussions. Rock is mostly from electric string instruments accompanied by drum beats. 4. Jazz has an air of sophistication and style and is considerably hard to perform. Rock is wild, frantic and loud but easier to perform. |