The Velvet Underground - Send No Letter

The word Jazz means pep or energy. This style was born in the taverns of New Orleans at much the same time and with the same influences as blues and ragtime. But jazz had an added element of Cuban/Spanish culture. Habanera rhythms, blues forms and ragtime drive blended together to form something new. Eventually the rigid rhythms of the beat relaxed to allow a feeling we call swing. Swing is hard to define and difficult to notate... The prohibition of the 1920’s saw the rise of The Jazz Age in the U.S. cementing this style and sound into American culture.

Ragtime... style takes traditional march form, much like the music of John Philip Sousa, and adds the syncopated, or ragged, rhythms of African music. The style fell out of favor in the early 20th century with the rise of jazz but many compare the American rag to European minuets, mazurkas and waltzes... American orchestras and conservatories were slow to recognize these styles, but their European counterparts embraced them openly.

Source: Timeline: Blues, Ragtime and Jazzy by James Stewart

The Velvet Underground - Send No Letter

• Released in: February 1973
• Recorded in: 1971
• Genre: Rock

"The Velvet Underground lineup consisted of Doug Yule, vocals, guitar, Willie Alexander, keyboards, vocals, Walter Powers, bass guitar, and Maureen Tucker and Ian Paice, drums."

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