Doing the research

The New Penguin Dictionary of Music: Exercise

You are writing an essay on the influence of jazz on classical music. Look at the following extract from the New Penguin Dictionary of Music. Answer the questions that follow:

 

jazz, term used at least from 1914 for a type of American popular music originating among Negroes of New Orleans and taken over also by whites; also used generally for various types of dance music indebted to this (though purists reserve the term for such music as retains the original flavour and the original basis of improvisation). The jazz idiom, characterized by certain syncopations over strongly reiterated rhythms, influenced e.g. Stravinsky, Walton, and Milhaud, as well as many American composers. Cp. BLUE NOTE, BLUES, RAGTIME.

 
  1. How old is the term "jazz"?
  2. Where did it originate?
  3. Which composers did it influence?
  4. Where might you look next for more information?

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