modern jazz

American  

noun

1. any of various styles of jazz that have evolved since the early 1940s and are marked generally by harmonic and rhythmic complexity, emphasis on chord progressions rather than melody, a tendency to draw on classical forms and styles, and eclectic, allusive melodic tags in improvisation.

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modern jazz British  

noun

1. any of the styles of jazz that evolved between the early 1940s and the later emergence of avant-garde jazz, characterized by a greater harmonic and rhythmic complexity than hitherto

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Etymology

Origin of modern jazz

First recorded in 1950–55

Example Sentences

“He made me 20 and it was every major statement of modern jazz. I spent an entire tour with headphones on, listening to and falling in love with this music.”

From Los Angeles Times

Through a career spanning more than 60 years, Mr. Lloyd has created as buoyant and searching a body of music as modern jazz knows.

From The Wall Street Journal

I’d begun working with friends of mine across all artistic disciplines, so my movement language is diverse — hip-hop, modern jazz, blues, new style hustle.

From Los Angeles Times

Monk once famously asserted that there were no wrong notes on the piano, a statement that was, by extension, a defense of his considerable body of compositions — now an essential lexicon for modern jazz.

From Los Angeles Times

Early influences included Bach and Debussy — whom he once called “the door to all 20th century music” — and he discovered modern jazz as he fell in with a crowd of hipster rebels as a teenager.

From New York Times