What it is, what to hear first, and what sits next to it.
Vocal jazz is a popular song style that emerged in the USA in the early 20th century. The primary focus and main "instrument" is the voice, with an emphasis on song-based forms and the intimacy and passion of the lead delivery rather than avant-garde structures and extended instrumental improvisation. The Jazz backing is generally intended to complement the singing and to set the mood to the singer's story. The union of jazz music and singing has origins in Blues and Standards singers in the late 1910s and throughout the 1920s .