Jazz (Definition)

Jazz is hard to define, but let's define it.

jazz

Jazz is any piece of music that has these 4 properties:

  1. Improvisation
  2. Swing-Feel (note it doesn't mean the rhythm is exactly swing though)
  3. Blue Notes (ie: scales that go outside the conventional scales, think b3 and #4 in blues scale)
  4. Outside-Feel (not doing what's expected)

It's interesting since even the older generations could improvise (Bach was a notorious example).