Acid Jazz (1980’s – 90’s): Combined elements of soul music, funk, disco, including looping beats and modal harmony
Avant-garde Jazz (1950’s to present): A style of musica and improvisation that combines avant-garde art music and composition with jazz. It originated in the 1950s and developed through the 1960s.
Bebop (1940’s to present): Bebop or bop is a style of jazz characterized by a fast tempo, instrumental virtuosity, and improvisation based on a combination of harmonic structure and occasional references to the melody.
Bossa Nova (1960’s to present): Brazilian melodic samba-like genre influential in cool jazz/West Coast jazz
Dixieland (1900’s to present): Dixieland music or New Orleans jazz, sometimes referred to as hot jazz or early jazz, is a style of jazz music which developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century. Stylistically it is essentially a form of Ragtime, typically transposed for brass band, banjo and/or clarinet.
Free Jazz (1950’s to present): Free jazz musicians attempted to alter, extend, or break down jazz convention, often by discarding fixed chord changes or tempos.
Gypsy Jazz (1930’s to present): A style of jazz music often said to have been started by guitarist Jean “Django” Reinhardt in the 1930s. The style was originally called “hot club” or “hot jazz” and served an acoustic European interpretation of swing. The term “gypsy jazz” didn’t appear until after the 1970s, when Sinti people adapted their folk music to emulate that of Django’s.
Hard Bop (1950’s to present): Incorporated influences from rhythm and blues, gospel music, and blues, especially in saxophone and piano playing.
Jazz-funk (1970’s to present): Jazz-funk is a subgenre of jazz music characterized by a strong back beat (groove), electrified sounds, and an early prevalence of analog synthesizers.
Jazz Fusion (1970’s to present): Combines elements of jazz and rock. Characterized by electronic instruments, riffs, and extended solos.
Modal Jazz: Pioneered by Miles Davis, others. Characterized by use of modes, such as dorian modes.
Post-bop (1960’s to present): A genre of small-combo jazz that assimilates hard bop, modal jazz, avant-garde and free jazz without necessarily being immediately identifiable as any of those forms
Swing (1930’s – 1950’s): Big band arrangements, always swung. Pioneered by Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Benny Goodman.
Finding Cool 