What's 'traditional' jazz?

Northern Colorado Traditional Jazz Society

At the Northern Colorado Traditional Jazz Society, we're often asked what we mean by "traditional" jazz. Among jazz buffs, this term has a specific meaning. Traditional, or trad jazz as it's often called, is "hot" jazz, tracing its roots back to ragtime and the hot dance music of the 1920s, 1930s, and early 1940s (the "cool" strain of jazz began with bebop in the 1940s). Trad jazz includes forms like ragtime, blues, Dixieland, boogie-woogie, swing, and some big-band music (Duke Ellington and Count Basie, for instance).

This kind of music is far from dead. Some modern-day players of traditional jazz try to preserve the authentic sounds of the past, but most use it as a starting point to develop their own sounds. The result is a dynamic music scene that includes everything from honkytonk and ragtime to swing-dance revival. The common denominator is the dance beat – this is joyous music, intended for dancing and having a good time, and it continues to attract enthusiastic audiences.

At the Northern Colorado Traditional Jazz Society, we believe in this music, and the concerts we sponsor all represent some form of it. We concentrate on local and regional musicians, but that gives us a wide variety of high-quality music to choose from. Come to our concerts and see!