Beginning in the early 20 th century Jazz is believed to have originated in the Southern United States within the African American communities of New Orleans. Although the definition and exact origins of jazz are widely debated, there is no question that the genre of music we know now as Jazz was strongly influenced by two specific genres known as the Blues and Ragtime. Before formally taking on the name blues, the blues originated within the slave communities of the south as spritual songs and narrative ballads. As African and European musical cultures began to merge, the blues became a unique blend of both African and European musical traditions that did not exist anywhere else before its emergence in the United States. Eventually the blues
