Jazz is a music based on improvisation, and evolution. Moving through Dixieland, swing, bebop, free jazz, fusion and beyond can make describing what jazz is a difficult proposition. KNKX jazz host Abe Beeson spoke to three generations of musicians to find a definition.
Michael Brockman, educator at the University of Washington and co-director of the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra, has seven criteria for music to qualify as jazz. Seattle-based composer and saxophonist Kate Olson notes that jazz evolution is based in tradition. School of Jazz alumnus Jahnvi Madan sees jazz as political.