Jazz Music is an original American art form that incorporates music from many different cultures. It has become an international music, that can be heard in most countries around the world, performed

Jazz Music is an original American art form that incorporates music from many different cultures.  It has become an international music, that can be heard in most countries around the world, performed by musicians from those countries as well as American musicians. This assignment is a research and writing assignment that asks you to write about:

1. a contemporary International Jazz musician/group (a musician or group that comes from a country other than the USA) 

OR

2.  a place (outside of the USA) where Jazz music is an important part of the culture, such as a famous International jazz festival like the Umbria Jazz Festival in Italy, or the jazz scene in Paris, London, Cape Town or Tokyo – writing about the history of how Jazz music came to be an important part of the culture in those places, the important venues: jazz clubs, concert houses, jazz societies, and important musicians from that place/ jazz “scene”.

There are many interesting topics that fall under this umbrella.You can explore an area of the world you have connections to, or want to know more about, or take the opportunity to learn more about an international artist you already know. There are many international jazz "scenes" to research, and important international jazz musicians can be found in almost every country or region. Many international jazz musicians combine music from their own country or region with existing jazz musical ideas to create a new jazz sound.  Other international jazz musicians are dedicated to playing very traditional styles of jazz.  Many came to the US to study jazz music and apprentice with American jazz masters. Some will have established residencies in the US and others will have established their careers outside the US, often in their home countries or regions. Many important international jazz artists

It is important that the topic you choose has enough information about the international aspects of the musician/group or jazz scene to support a research paper.  The assignment is about a “contemporary” artist or scene – meaning that the artists or scene is currently active, with the paper including recent activity – recordings, concerts, etc..  Historical background is important, but the focus of the paper is about an artist or jazz scene going on right now.  

For instance, if you write about the jazz scene in Paris, you need to mention the history of Jazz in Paris (this is very important to this topic) and then write about the scene today, where the musicians are playing Jazz in Paris, who the important Parisian Jazz musicians are and how Jazz is integrated into modern Parisian society.

The USF Library has created a Course Guide for this class with useful information on how to conduct online searches and what materials are available in the USF Library that could be useful to this assignment. 

http://guides.lib.usf.edu/SurveyJazz (Links to an external site.)

Requirements:

1. Write a 1000-1500 word paper (this is the body of the paper, not including the discography and references, etc..)

NOTE: word count is the least important part of the grading of this paper. Any paper that covers all of the requirements will be at least 1000 words, this is just a suggestion so that you don't feel like you have to write a LONG paper.  The content, quality of writing, inclusion of required information and following the writing style guidelines are the most important part of this paper. The paper should be well written, following general rules and formatting for a Research Paper in MLA or APA format. You can get help and information about writing a Research Paper from the USF Writing Center.

1. Research your topic well. It is important that you find lots of good information to base your paper on.
2. Find and listen to musical examples of the artist(s)/group(s) you are writing about. If you are writing about a jazz “scene”, find and listen to some of the important artists from that scene. Find reviews of their music, and include your own description of what you hear in the music.
3. If you are writing about an artist/group, Include a general description of the artist/group, what they are known for and other relevant projects/recordings they have produced. Include a selected discography as part of your reference citations.
4. Include information about the recordings you write about:
   1. Date released
   2. Record label
   3. Musicians on the recording
   4. How readers can find this music (purchase, listen, etc)