Expose Yourself to the Music. I was exposed to early jazz when I played accordion and piano in the Air Force Band and traveled with the USO. I met a lot of musicians that way, most notably Bill Berry, who played with Count Basie and Duke Ellington. He taught me a lot.

The easiest way to expose yourself to early jazz (which spanned approximately 1895–1926) is to listen to some of the greats, like Louis Armstrong. He’s an icon, a tremendous influence on the jazz trumpet. Listen to “High Society” or “When the Saints Come Marching In.” Another musician who would be a good introduction to early jazz is Bix Beiderbecke.

Early jazz is still played, especially by the many ragtime bands that appear at jazz festivals each year.

Listen for the Syncopation. Syncopation was one of the main elements of early jazz. Syncopation is a rhythmic interpretation of a regular beat. If a musician plays a note just before the regular beat and holds the note out during the time of the regular beat, this is syncopation. You can syncopate any melody, and when you do, it is said to make the music “swing.” Syncopation had been around for hundreds of years, but with early jazz, syncopation for the first time was used in a complete composition—not just in a measure or two. Listen to “The Entertainer" or “Maple Leaf Rag,” both by Scott Joplin, and you’ll hear the syncopation.

Imagine Yourself on a Night out in New Orleans in the Early 1900s. At home, you’d have to use candles to see, but if you went to the town square, it would be illuminated by gas lamps. There you could buy flavored ices, exchange pleasantries with your neighbors, walk in the moonlight—and listen and dance to the local band. There almost had to be music; a town without live music was a very dull place to be.

Understand Its Social Context. Early jazz was dance music, and dancing was the major social activity of the time. Musicians in New Orleans fell into three groups: Creoles, blacks, and whites. One place they met each other was at the lakefront camps (resorts) on the weekends, all playing together, listening to each other, and contributing to the evolution of the music. There was so much demand for live music that there was a continuous need for fresh material. This caused musicians to stretch styles. They blended, salvaged, and continuously revised odd assortments of approaches to material. This ultimately became jazz.

Learn Its History. Jazz had a powerful influence on all that would become American music. It’s an important part of American culture. Before the 1890s, most music in America was either European-influenced or folk music. But in the late ’90s, jazz, a “new” kind of music, with African and Creole roots, influenced by spirituals, cakewalks, minstrel music, and other forms, was coming together in New Orleans. It’s truly rare to have something new in art, but jazz was new, and once it started, it couldn’t be stopped.

Dr. Karl Koenig, a member of Walden’s first graduating class, is a musician, a jazz historian, and the founder of Basin Street Press (http://www.basinstreet.com/), which publishes musical arrangements and books about jazz. He is also a member of the Lake Arrowhead Early Jazz Band, based in Running Springs, Calif.

Listen to a sample of Koenig's band:

Cakewalk (.wma)