Jazz blues is a musical style that combines jazz and blues.
The term also refers to any tune that follows the standard 12-bar blues chord progression, whilst being played in the jazz style, rather than the traditional blues style. Blues music was a major influence in the development of jazz, and such tunes — «jazz blueses» — are extremely common in the jazz repertiore. (In addition to the chord progression, jazz players borrowed many other stylistic devices from the blues, such as blue notes, blues-like phrasing of melodies, and blues riffs.) A jazz blues will usually feature a more sophisticated — or at any rate a different — treatment of the harmony than a traditional, «blues» blues would, but the underlying features of the standard 12-bar progression remain discernable. One of the main ways the jazz musician accomplishes this is through the use of chord substitutions: a chord in the original progression is replaced by one or more chords which have the same general «sense», or function, but which add a different color, or add some secondary, shorter-term, harmonic movement within the span of the existing overall harmonic movement. An important example of this occurs in the 9th and 10th bars, where the usual blues progression, V –> IV, is almost always replaced by the typical jazz cycle-of-fifths progression ii minor –> V. The 12-bar blues form, in Bb, often becomes Bb7 / F7 / Bb7 / Bb7 / Eb7 / Edim7 / Bb7 / Dm7-G7 / Cm7 / F7 / Bb7 / Bb7, where each slash represents a new measure, in the jazz blues. The significant changes include the Edim7, which creates movement, and the iii-VI-ii-V turnaround, a jazz staple.
- 441 Records – Jazz, blues, R&B and Electronica music. Artist profiles, news, tour dates, online store.
- CyberMusic Surplus – Outlet store for classical, jazz pop, world, new age and blues.
- Bourbon Street Jazz Band – Das Septett aus Luzern spielt New Orleans Jazz, Dixie und Blues in eigenständigen Arrangements der Kompositionen von Duke Ellington bis King Oliver. CDs, Hörproben, Konzertdaten.
- 125th Street: Apollo History – Information about the development of jazz and blues in Harlem from the 1920s to 1970s. Available as either a flash or non-flash presentation.
- InfoUSA: Musical Genres – Links organized by genre such as blues and jazz, classical and opera, folk and country, and early American music.
- Armadillo Music – UK Blues, Jazz, and Roots music label. Artists include Larry Johnson, Daryl Davis, and Out of the Blue. Catalog, mailing list, tour dates, online ordering, artist pages.
- BuyMusic.com – CDs, music videos, and band recordings. Alternative music, blues, heavy metal, jazz, pop, rock, soundtracks, and soul.
