Jazz poetry
A genre and a culture
New to America
Defining the older generations
Influencing many for one hundred years
Music from a diverse source
Spreading across the country
Humble beginnings in New Orleans
To stages in New York City
Born out of strife
Made great by a persecuted community
Jazz
New York, an idolized city
Once considered a center of American culture
Influenced by what was once high society
The city that never sleeps
Full of lights and noise
The Harlem Renaissance
A cultural revival
Full of music and writing
Elevating many to legendary status
Count Basie, duke ellington
People who changed music forever
Defining popular music for decades
Into the 40s
As the world war rages
Jazz continues
Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller
Swing and big bands
Dominating the scene
Throughout the war
In europe
And the rest of the world
A shift in the genre
Less pop
More of a musicians kind of music
Branching out into Latin
Progressive, and Bebop
New genres come up
And jazz struggles to continue
Finding new life
In a fusion of genres
Funk and rock fusion
A slight revival
But still not enough
Many of the great jazz artists are gone
Duke Ellington, Count Basie
And many more
As jazz has lost what it once had
Now changed greatly
So different from its roots