writing-assignment-global-music-and-jazz

Jazz Music is an original American art form that incorporates music from many different cultures. It has become an international music, which can be heard in most countries around the world, performed by musicians from those countries as well as American musicians. This assignment is a research and writing assignment that asks you to write about a contemporary International Jazz musician/group (a musician or group that comes from a country other than the USA) or an International jazz “scene” such as a famous International jazz festival like the Umbria Jazz Festival in Italy, or the jazz scene found in a specific country or an international metropolitan area such as Paris, London, Cape Town or Tokyo – writing about how Jazz has become part of the “scene” in those places – important venues: jazz clubs, concert houses, jazz societies, and important musicians from the “scene”. This paper is to be about the current Jazz scene or artist/group, you need to document Jazz music that is going on NOW, within the last 5 years. Your paper can discuss important background issues to support your ideas, but your subject is an International Jazz artist OR the jazz scene (festival, city or country) that is currently active.

There are many interesting topics that fall under this umbrella. Many international jazz musicians combine music from their own country or region with existing jazz musical ideas to create a new jazz sound. Other international jazz musicians are dedicated to playing very traditional styles of jazz. Many came to the US to study jazz music and apprentice with American jazz masters. If you choose to write about an artist/group, you will need to find artists/groups that are living and practicing the music in an International location. Some will still perform in the United States, (and around the world) while basing their careers outside the US, often in their home countries or regions.