What is “jazz,” exactly? I sure as hell don’t know. And neither, I would suggest, does anyone else.
Sure, everybody knows what they think jazz is, and which particular elements music has to contain to qualify as jazz — swing, the blues, improvisation, etc. But put to the test, it turns out the word is extremely subjective.
Read more of AAJ contributor and host of The Jazz Session Jason Crane's thoughts on the meaning of this much-discussed word: