one of the richest countries in the world.
#More to explore
Fuji, Mount • Hiroshima • Samurai
• Shinto • Tokyo •WorldWar II
Girls wear traditional clothing at a festival
in Kanazawa, Japan. Many Japanese cities,
towns, and temples hold local festivals.
Crowds of people cross a street in a busy
Japanese city. Japan has many large cities.
BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Japan 15
Jazz
Jazz is a type of music. It began among
African Americans. Today jazz is popular
all over the world.
Features
There are many different kinds of jazz
music. But most jazz is at least partly
improvised. This means that a jazz
musician composes (makes up) the
music while playing it, rather than
beforehand.
Jazz bands can have many different types
of instruments. They often feature
drums, piano, bass, trumpet, trombone,
and saxophone. Jazz often includes singers,
too.
History
In the 1700s and 1800s enslaved people
from Africa brought their music to the
United States. Jazz grew from a mix of
African and European music. Ragtime, a
form of piano music, and blues music
also influenced jazz.
New Orleans, Louisiana, is often called
the home of jazz. Many important early
jazz musicians, such as pianist Jelly Roll
Morton, were from New Orleans. In
1917 the Original Dixieland Jass Band,
a New Orleans band, made the first jazz
recording.
In about 1918 many musicians from
New Orleans began heading north. Chicago,
Illinois, quickly became the jazz
capital of the United States. New York
City became an important center for
jazz, too.
Louis Armstrong was an important jazz
musician from this time. Armstrong’s
style of jazz became known as swing. It
was popular throughout the 1930s and
1940s. Other famous swing musicians
included orchestra leader Benny Goodman
and singer Billie Holiday.
Another popular type of jazz music was
called big-band jazz. Large orchestras
with many musicians played this kind of
jazz. Duke Ellington was a famous jazz
musician, composer, and big-band
leader. Count Basie was another wellknown
bandleader.
Jazz music continued to grow and
change throughout the 1950s and
1960s. Some famous jazz musicians
from this time include saxophonist
Charlie Parker and trumpeter Miles
Davis.
During the 1970s and 1980s musicians
from many countries created new kinds
of jazz. The result was fusion music.
The Preservation Hall Jazz Band performs
in New Orleans, Louisiana.
16 Jazz BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA
This kind of music combined jazz, rock,
and Latin American music.
#More to explore
Armstrong, Louis • Blues • Music
Jefferson,
Thomas
Thomas Jefferson was the chief author
of the Declaration of Independence and
the third president of the United States.
Many people praise Jefferson as someone
who believed strongly in the ideas of
democracy, equality, and freedom. At
the same time, however, he owned
slaves, and that has caused some people
to question his beliefs.
Early Life
Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13,
1743, in Shadwell, Virginia. His parents
were Peter Jefferson, a land surveyor,
and Jane Randolph, a member of a rich
family. The Jeffersons lived on a plantation
with slaves. Jefferson studied at a
boarding school and atWilliam and
Mary College inWilliamsburg, Virginia.
In 1767 he became a lawyer. The next
year he designed his own home, named
Monticello, near Shadwell.
Jefferson married MarthaWayles Skelton
on New Year’s Day in 1772. They
had six children. Skelton died after 10
years of marriage, and Jefferson never
remarried.
Political Career
Jefferson was elected to the Virginia
legislature in 1769. He became a strong
supporter of American independence
from Great Britain. He served as Virginia’s
delegate to the Continental Congress
in 1775 and 1776. In 1776 he was
the main author of the Declaration of
Independence. He wrote the famous
lines that said “all men are created
equal” and have the rights of “life, liberty
and the pursuit of happiness.”
Jefferson then returned to the Virginia
legislature. There he proposed ending
the privileges of the wealthy, making
education available to all citizens, and
separating church and state. In 1779
Jefferson was elected governor of Virginia.
Many criticized him for not
defending the state from a British attack
in 1780. In 1782 Jefferson reentered the
Continental Congress. After the American
Revolution ended, he replaced Benjamin
Franklin as U.S. minister to
France.
Thomas Jefferson was the third president of
the United States.
Thomas
Jefferson and
John Adams
both died on
the same
day—the 50th
anniversary
of U.S.
independence.
BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Jefferson, Thomas 17
During 1790–93 Jefferson was the first
U.S. secretary of state, under President
George Washington. Jefferson clashed
with Alexander Hamilton, the secretary
of the treasury. Jefferson and his
supporters, called Republicans (or
Democratic-Republicans), believed that
the states should have the power to
make their own decisions in most
matters. Hamilton led the Federalists,
who believed in a powerful central
government. In 1796 Jefferson was
elected vice president under President
John Adams.
Presidency
In 1800 Jefferson and Aaron Burr ran
for president against President Adams.
