Jazz is a musical style that originated in the early 20th century from the Afro-American communities in the southern United States. It originated by mixing African and European music traditions. Since the early beginnings until today, jazz drew inspiration from American popular music of the 19th and 20th century. West African influence can be discerned in the use of blue notes, improvisation, polyrhythmic, syncopation, the scheme of "call and response" and shattered notes. The word "jazz" (in early years called Jess) was originally a term used on the west coast to denote the music in Chicago around 1915. - http://www.allmusic.com/profile/yoelgoldenberg/55c87a1ede3c3e6c63d5ecd5/the-yoel-goldenberg-shortist
