Claude Debussy's usage of ragtime music in many of his piano compositions in the 1900s can be seen as a direct mirror of jazz music in the 1900s. Debussy was not only an influential artist, but very unique with his experimental techniques and style. His style later was a huge influence to the Jazz genre. Debussy really enjoyed writing with color chords - chords with many notes in them. Claude Debussy's piano music clearly delineated harmonic progressions, and melodies, and he was known for "cultivating an innovative style of musical impressionism. In the process, he laid the foundations for the extraordinary diversity in composition that characterizes twentieth-century music." Rhythms are purposely avoided to evoke mood and atmosphere rather than concrete images.
These points are all constant in both Debussy's music and jazz music created around the same time - the early 1900s. Debussy utilizes a compositional device known as parallel chords to dilute the sense of directed motion found in traditional progressions. It should be noted that it it took a while for the critics and the listening public to warm up to this new and bold experiment in harmonic freedom, but once they were, it was natural that jazz stars such as George Gershwin and Duke Ellington should look to music such as Debussy's when it came to writing jazz music of their own. Debussy's influence was obvious in the jazz music of the time, and it is said that both Duke Ellington and Gershwin took inspiration from Debussy's style of music and the unique manner in which he wrote his piano pieces. In this manner, ragtime directly influenced the beginnings of jazz music, and Debussy's stylistic manner was interwoven with jazz as an art form. Ragtime provided a muse for Debussy, who in turn contributed greatly to jazz music in the 1900s and jazz artists such as George Gershwin and Duke Ellington.
These points are all constant in both Debussy's music and jazz music created around the same time - the early 1900s. Debussy utilizes a compositional device known as parallel chords to dilute the sense of directed motion found in traditional progressions. It should be noted that it it took a while for the critics and the listening public to warm up to this new and bold experiment in harmonic freedom, but once they were, it was natural that jazz stars such as George Gershwin and Duke Ellington should look to music such as Debussy's when it came to writing jazz music of their own. Debussy's influence was obvious in the jazz music of the time, and it is said that both Duke Ellington and Gershwin took inspiration from Debussy's style of music and the unique manner in which he wrote his piano pieces. In this manner, ragtime directly influenced the beginnings of jazz music, and Debussy's stylistic manner was interwoven with jazz as an art form. Ragtime provided a muse for Debussy, who in turn contributed greatly to jazz music in the 1900s and jazz artists such as George Gershwin and Duke Ellington.