LJS 91: Understanding African Music and the Origins of Jazz (feat. Joe Agu)

Welcome to episode 91 of the LJS Podcast where today we are talking with Afro percussion maker and musicologist Joe Agu all about African music and the origins of jazz. Jazz is African American music, but it didn't just start in New Orleans. It's roots go way back into African music and culture. It's important to understand where this music comes from. Listen in!
Listen to episode 91







Today's episode is a little bit different than the regular stuff we talk about. Usually we are digging deep into music theory, jazz improvisation, learning repertoire and all kinds of other lessons. But today's episode is of equal importance.
If we want to truly understand jazz, we have to explore its roots. Jazz is African American music, and the genre as we know it formed in New Orleans. But the origins of jazz started way before then with it's roots in Africa.
On today's episode, I have on special guest Joe Agu to talk about African music and how it completely changed everything when it came over to the New World. Most notably, Joe talks about how important it is for us as musicians to understand where different kinds of music come from.
Joe lives in the Silicon Valley out in California, but he's originally from Nigeria. He truly understands African music, the culture, the rich language and tradition.
If we don't understand the culture behind jazz and African music, we are missing out an a really important part of the picture.
Here are some of the things we talk about:

*
The characteristics of African music.

*
The African slave trade and how the music spread.

*
European music vs. African music.

*
How jazz emerged in New Orleans.

*
The oral tradition of African music.


This is a really important episode, so be sure to listen in! I learned so much from Joe and I'm sure you will to. Even though we just barely scratch the surface on this topic, this serves as an excellent introduction into understanding African music and how music like jazz emerged from it.
Important links
Afrorhythms.com







Read the Transcript
Brent: Hey, hey. What's up? My name is Brent. I am the jazz musician behind the website LearnJazzStandards.com, which is a blog and a podcast all geared towards helping you become a better jazz musician. Welcome back if you are a regular listener. If this is your first time ever listening, thank you so much for being here.
Now on today's episode, I have a very special guest joining us today. And this episode is a lot different from other episodes that we normally do on this show and that excites me, actually, because this is a really important topic. Normally, we talk about music theory, we're talking about jazz improvisation, tips, tricks, lesson, all this stuff. But today, we're going to talk about something really important that we've never talked about on this show before, but it really deserves a lot of attention. And that is the history of African music and how that relates to jazz. Where did jazz actually come from? As we know, jazz is African American music. But a lot of people like to start the story at New Orleans, as the origin place, but truly, it starts way before then with its roots in Africa.
So joining me on the show today is a very special guest. He is an Afro-percussion maker and a musicologist. His name is Joe Agu. And it's actually really cool how I got in touch with Joe. He follows my newsletter, Learn Jazz Standards, and he sent me an email and started up a conversation with me about this, and I just really enjoy talking to Joe. He's a really nice guy, really cool dude, knows so much about this topic of African music and the history of it,