Jazz

Steely Dan is a perfect example of how jazz shapes rock music. From the 1970s onward, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker infused their rock songs with complex jazz harmonies, sophisticated chord progressions, and tight, syncopated rhythms.

Jazz and rock are always borrowing and always inspiring each other. Here are a few rock songs shaped by jazz, where improvisation, rhythm, and harmony push the music beyond boundaries.

Jazz left an indelible mark on rock music. Take Van Morrison’s “Moondance," a jazz waltz turned pop hit, complete with swing feel, walking bass, and jazz-inspired solos, blending sophistication with accessibility.

Jazz has left its fingerprints all over popular music. From the swing era forward, jazz rhythms, harmonies, and improvisation have shaped the sound of pop.

During the Civil Rights Movement, jazz was a voice for freedom.

Jazz has had a profound influence on the Broadway stage. In the 1920s and ’30s, jazz rhythms and harmonies began to reshape the sound of the American musical, giving it a freshness and vitality audiences hadn’t heard before.

Lily Pearl Woodard, better known as Pearl Woods, was born in Saint Matthews, South Carolina, in 1933 and moved to New York City in 1951.

Webster Young was born in Columbia, South Carolina, on December 3, 1932. Though he left South Carolina as a toddler, the musical seeds planted there would flourish elsewhere.

Composer, singer, and percussionist Nick Ashford was born in 1941 in South Carolina. As an infant, he moved north to Michigan, eventually settling in New York City, where he dreamed of becoming a dancer.

Mac Arnold, born in 1942 in Ware Place, South Carolina, is a powerhouse in jazz and blues whose career spans decades and coasts.