The folk songs and plantation dance music of black Americans have much to say about the early jazz. These types of music came about all the way through the Southern United States at some point in the eighteen hundreds.

Ragtime, a musical technique that influenced early jazz, emerged from the St. Louis, Missouri, area in the late 1890's. It rapidly became the most popular music style in the United States. Ragtime was a vigorous and syncopated assortment of music, primarily for the piano, that give emphasis to a formal composition.

A conventional jazz band would consist of a front line of a trumpet, trombone and clarinet or the saxophone, and a rhythm section of drums, a bass, a piano, and often times a guitar or banjo. The blues is a type of music that has always been an imperative part of jazz. The blues was especially widespread in the American South. Its mournful scale and uncomplicated repeated harmonies helped shape the character of jazz. Jazz instrumentalists have long exploited the blues as a vehicle for improvisation.

Completely developed jazz music in all probability started off in New Orleans at the commencement of the nineteen hundredths. New Orleans style jazz came forward from the city's own musical customs of band music for black funeral processions and street parades. Today, this kind of jazz is occasionally known as classic jazz, traditional jazz, or Dixieland jazz. New Orleans was the musical home of the first distinguished players and originators of jazz. Jazz soon broaden from New Orleans to the other parts of the country.

The 1920's have been called the golden age of jazz it the jazz age. Commercial radio stations, which first appeared in the 1920's, featured live performances by the growing number of jazz musicians. New Orleans, Memphis, St. Louis, Kansas City, Chicago, Detroit, and The City of New York were all significant centers of jazz.

A group of Midwest youths developed a type of improvisation and arrangement that became known as Chicago style jazz. While in The City of New York, a musician named as James P. Johnson popularized a musical style from ragtime which is known as stride piano. In stride piano, the left hand plays alternating notes single notes and chords that move up and down the scale the scale while the right hand plays solo melodies, accompanying rhythms, and interesting chordal passages. Johnson strongly influenced other jazz pianists.

Fletcher Henderson was the first most important figure in big band jazz. In 1923, he became the first leader to arrange a jazz band into sections of brass, reed, and rhythm instruments. His arranger, Don Redman, was the first to master the modus operandi of scoring music for big bands.

Many people think that jazz is the music of the elite and well-established people. But, if you look into the roots of jazz, you will see the opposite. Jazz is an art of expression in the form of music. Jazz music is the fundamental music in human life.

Jazz tradition evolved from the lifestyle of black community in America who has been oppressed. Initially, the tradition began from the influence of tribal drums and gospel music, blues and field hollers (the shouts of cultivators). Its birth process has demonstrated that jazz was closely related to the life defense and expression of human life.

The interesting thing from jazz music was that the origin of the word "jazz" was derived from a vulgar term used for sexual acts. Most of rhythms in jazz were ever associated with the brothels and the women with an unfortunate reputation.

Then, in the journey of jazz, it eventually became an art form of jazz music, both in the specific composition and improvisation, which reflected the spontaneous melodies. Jazz musicians usually expressed their feelings that were uneasily explained because this music should be felt within the heart.

Jazz legend began in New Orleans and grew into the Mississippi River, Memphis, St. Louis, and finally Chicago. Of course, jazz was influenced by music in New Orleans, African tribal drums and the structure of European-style music. Jazz background could not be separated from the facts in which jazz was influenced by a variety of music such as spiritual music, cakewalks, ragtime and blues.

One of jazz legends who was believed was the legend around 1891. An owner of hair shaving shop in New Orleans, named Buddy Bolden blew his cornet and the time became the beginning of jazz music as a new breakthrough in the music world. Half a century later, American jazz music gave many contributions to the world of music. Jazz was also studied at university, and eventually became a serious music and was calculated by the world of music.

Jazz as a popular art began to spread to almost all of American society in the 1920s (known as the Jazz Age). Jazz was more widespread in the swing era in the late 1930s and it peaked in the late 1950s as a modern jazz. In the early 20s and 30s, "jazz" has become a common word.

The influence and development of blues music could not be left when discussing jazz music in the early years of its development. Expressions that shined when playing the blues were in line with the style of jazz. The ability to play the blues music became the standard for all jazz musicians, especially to be used in improvisation.

Blues music itself, which was originated from the southern region, had a very broad history. Blues players usually used guitar, piano, and harmonica, or played together in a group who played his own musical instruments.

Jazz music was born from the creative hands of black people who experienced oppression and slavery in America in the late 18th century. Expression of a resistance against the racist and oppressive political system was manifested in the way of black Americans to play their music.

History has recorded that slavery and racial discrimination in America gave birth precisely to the music of resistance, such as the Spiritual, gospel and blues. This phenomenon could be interpreted as a cultural resistance of black people to Westernization, in terms of religion, culture, politics, and how to make music. It was because before they were brought to America, they have a distinctive culture of Africa.

In the beginning, the spirit of jazz music or the ideology behind it was the liberation of African-Americans from the shackles of repressive socio-political structure as being outlined in the expression of tone, harmony, and style of playing music. For examples: ragtime was a starting point for the development of classic jazz (march, waltz and polka), swing was a modification of ragtime, free jazz was a reinterpretation of bebop and world music was the deconstruction of mainstream jazz.

In a further development of the spirit of jazz was interpreted not only limited to political resistance, but also the liberalization movement or musical deconstruction in order to find room to move, an alternative way, and other styles of playing music.

As a result of the spirit of Jazz that was dialectical, liberal and deconstructive, an old style of playing music was negated by the ideas of new music. Then, the ideas led into the new styles of playing music. In this case, the chronology of the development of jazz was divided in three time periods where each period gave birth to a specific style of playing music.

The first period was traditional jazz period (1890-1940) that gave birth to Ragtime, New Orleans, Dixieland, New Orleans in Chicago and Kansas City, and Swing. The second one is modern jazz period (1940-1980) that gave birth to New Orleans and Dixieland Revival, Bebop, Cool, Hardbop, Free, Mainstream, and Fusion. Meanwhile, the third period was postmodern jazz period (1980-until now) that gave birth to Neobop, free Funk, Classicism, Neo-Classicism, No Wave and World Music.

The peak of deconstruction in jazz took place in 1965 which marked by the presence of free jazz. This style was a milestone in the development of postmodern jazz with its main characters. The main characters included free tonality, disintegration on the meter, beat and symmetry, the inclusion of ethnic music (world music), cult of intensity, and the inclusion of natural sounds, especially from the jungle (jungle sound).

In the decade of 80s and 90s, free jazz became the foundation of the development of fusion and neo-Classicism. Meanwhile, the mainstream of jazz was transformed into the style of Classicism. Therefore, jazz was no longer defined solely as the style of swing, bebop or mainstream, but as a musical culture that was more sophisticated and pluralistic.