1911-1920
At the beginning of 1911, the majority of sheet music produced written by black composers was classified as ragtime, which originated from dance music played by African American bands in the late 19th century. The genre became immensely popular with the American public at the start of the 20th century. The music took influences from African Folk Music in the form of polyrhythms, and borrowed aspects of its tonality from contemporary orchestral music. Some of the most prolific African American composers of ragtime included Ernest Hogan, Jelly Roll Morton, and Scott Joplin. Ragtime enjoyed its position in popular music until 1917, when it fell out of favor to jazz.
The later half of the decade saw the evolution and popularization of jazz. Jazz directly evolved from ragtime, expanding upon the rhythmic and harmonic structures. The evolution of jazz was linked to blues, which is considered by many to be a subset of the jazz genre. W.C. Handy, pictured on the left, was considered to be the first composer of blues. Although the genre of blues was not largely popular in this era, jazz took many influences from blues.
The later half of the decade saw the evolution and popularization of jazz. Jazz directly evolved from ragtime, expanding upon the rhythmic and harmonic structures. The evolution of jazz was linked to blues, which is considered by many to be a subset of the jazz genre. W.C. Handy, pictured on the left, was considered to be the first composer of blues. Although the genre of blues was not largely popular in this era, jazz took many influences from blues.