Trad jazz, short for "traditional" jazz is a music genre popular in Britain and Australia from the 1940s onward through the 1950s and which still has enthusiasts today. It represented a recreation of the sounds and playing styles of New Orleans dixieland jazz. British and Australian bands of this genre copied the playing style of such artists as Sidney Bechet or King Oliver.
Opinions are divided about whether "trad jazz" is a valid name because one point of view would have it that jazz is a folk music tradition like any other, while the opposite point of view holds that jazz playing breaks loose from traditions and conventions so that, therefore, "traditional jazz" is a contradiction in terms.
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Last updated: 05-15-2005 06:41:12
