1920s: The Jazz Age In New Orleans

New Orleans jazz is an early jazz style that emerged in New Orleans as small ensembles blended African-American musical practices with European instrumentation. It is characterized by collective improvisation, where multiple frontline instruments (typically cornet/trumpet, clarinet, and trombone) improvise simultaneously around the melody. Rhythm is driven by a steady, marching-band-derived pulse and syncopation, often supported by tuba (or string bass), banjo (or guitar), drums, and sometimes piano. The repertoire commonly draws on blues, ragtime, marches, quadrilles, hymns, and popular songs, with frequent use of call-and-response phrasing and a strong sense of swing that predates later big-band styles. In many catalogs this tradition overlaps with what is later called Dixieland, though historically it includes both African-American New Orleans styles and subsequent revival interpretations.