Write about the roots of Jazz in New Orleans. What was so special about New Orleans? What were the musical and cultural influences that made Jazz possible? What kind of music was popular before jazz? What distinguished jazz from the popular music that preceded it? Choose at least three key figures in the early history of jazz (before 1925) and describe their importance to the emergence of this new form of popular music? Discuss the role of race and racism in popular music in this era. What was the role of the recording industry in the transformation of Jazz from a regional music to a national music?
