The History of Guitar and Jazz Music and the Role of Guitar to Jazz Music

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The History of Guitar in Jazz Music
At the beginning of the 20th century, Jazz guitar asserted a significant influence on jazz music. Although the earlier versions were acoustic, most jazz guitarists have performed on electrically amplified guitars since the 1940s. This makes it a recent addition to the jazz idiom. Its design gives it immense potential for different styles, textures, and sounds within the jazz expression. Nonetheless, jazz guitar’s development has not been steady. Jazz developed as a combination of blues and ragtime styles. Its various components include intricate melodies, improvisation, and extended harmony, among others. Jazz started in New Orleans and, due to its glitz and glamour, swiftly expanded its impact to various parts of the world, including New York City. NY is thus currently referred to as the Jazz Capital of America. According to Collins, Louisiana being a port city, provided an assortment of cultures to musicians. A blend of American blues, European traditional music, and South American songs and rhythms consolidated to form jazz. This consolidation led to the development of the jazz guitar. Many musicians, alongside their fans, promoted its popularity, which centered around its multi-dimensional utility in New York City. While honkytonks, restaurants, and bars provided avenues for jazz musicians to practice their talents, neighborhoods, and local events in downtown, NY, and Brooklyn and offered platforms for the rise and development of this genre. In a way, jazz was a way of guarding the identity of local communities at the time when racial bigotry was rife. Indisputably, within the perfect multicultural locale that jazz and guitar materialized, jazz expanded due to the emergence of brass band repertoires, minstrel shows, string band songs, and marching music. The result was a spontaneous sound fashioned by guitar players and jazz musicians that would rise in the 1920s and decline in the 1950s. The objective of this paper is to underscore the history of jazz and guitar while exploring the role of social dynamics and jazz icons like Mary Halvorson in the growth of the jazz genre.
One of the essential social constructs that promoted the growth of Jazz is New York’s “joints” of the 1920s-1950s. Great joints that led to the popularity of Jazz across New York include Cotton Club, Royal Roost, and Five Spot. These platforms gave the opportunity of celebrated jazz bands and orchestras like Max Roach, Ellington, and Miles to rise in the entertainment world of that time. As noted by Shipton, the social order of the 1920s has morphed through years. However, one thing seems to be immutable regarding jazz music: musicians must first make it in the clubs of New York City before debuting in grand uptown theaters or the big festival stages. During the early years of the twentieth century, social rules were being rewritten. Dancehalls and night clubs began providing entertainment that romanticized acculturation. In the 1940s, the 52nd Street sowed seeds for modern jazz. Clubs such as Three Deuces, Onyx Club, and Minton’s Playhouse provided an evolving ground for jazz music and its musicians. 
Jazz Music Genre and G...