Diaries from 19th century New Orleans recount fascinating anecdotes of a new form of music and dance that took place in the market squares – of throbbing, pulsating sounds being created from strange-looking percussion and string instruments, and hundreds of chanting voices. These public slave dances, called the ‘ring shout’ were, essentially, a transfer of pure African sound and rituals into the New World.
This is the pre-history of jazz music as we know it today. But the collective memory of the African-American’s oral history and their self-image is what shaped generations of jazz, that are chronicled in this infographic.
A Brief History of Jazz:
Infographic by – Milkwhale