The Role of Jazz in Shaping Contemporary Music Trends

Simon Sammut
Dec 29, 2025
3 min read

How yesterday’s improvisers are still colouring today’s hits

Hi there,

If today’s hits don’t sound like jazz, does jazz still matter? I think it does, because what survives is the approach, that is, improviser habits, micro‑timing, and harmony choices that make even loop‑based music feel alive.

From New Orleans to now: the “DNA” that survived

Jazz began as hybrid music, African rhythm, blues sensibility, European harmony, performed by people who bent rules on purpose. The one strand of DNA that keeps surviving is improvisation, that is making something new in the moment.

Neuroscience studies on jazz players suggest that during improvisation, the brain’s self‑censoring quiets while expressive networks ramp up, a neural window into flow and fearless idea‑making. That’s the same mental gear many producers chase today when they leave the grid for a fresh take.

And that sense of feel, the tiny choices about playing just behind, on, or ahead of the beat, matters more than most listeners realise. Research on micro‑timing shows how these small placement shifts shape groove and listener perception. In short, how we place the note is as important as what the note is.

Where it shows up now

Neo‑soul / modern R&B. Extended chords, third‑related cycles, tasteful reharmonisations, colours that grew up in jazz and now live comfortably in mainstream tracks (think Robert Glasper’s world feeding back into pop/R&B).
Hip‑hop. Jazz and rap have been in dialogue for decades, live bands, sampling, and the whole jazz‑rap lineage. The flow, the harmony, the social voice, there’s a clear through‑line.
Pop and electronic. Even “rigid” productions borrow syncopation, chromatic side‑steps, and elastic phrasing that trace back to jazz grammar.

If you’re hearing Kendrick Lamar’s jazz‑infused productions (like the 2015 album To Pimp a Butterfly) or Jacob Collier stack unlikely chords that still resolve satisfyingly, that’s the jazz tool‑kit at work, reharm, modulation, improviser’s timing in modern clothes.

What we can borrow from jazz today

Improvise on purpose. Give yourself one chorus, live or in the DAW, where you must try something you didn’t plan. It reduces self‑censoring and lets ideas surface.
Listen like a bandmate. Jazz is collective; the skill is responding in real time. In any genre, practise reacting to the drums/lyrics/room, not just your part.
Expand the harmony (sparingly). Try a tasteful substitution (add9, 11, altered V) where the lyric can carry it. The goal is colour, not clutter.
Value the unexpected. A well‑timed rest, a behind‑the‑beat phrase, a reharm, small shocks that feel human.

The bassist’s connection (and why it still matters to me)

Jazz gave the bass a voice, dialogue with the drums, authority over harmony, soloing, and permission to shape time. That still drives how I approach groove in any context, note length before note choice, pocket before fireworks, space before speed.

Keeping jazz alive across genres

You don’t need a “jazz gig” to play with a jazz mindset. Musicians can steal the curiosity, the listening, the risk. Listeners can slow down and notice how a track breathes, not just what it is.

Over to you

Has a jazz‑tinged song ever changed how you hear a genre? Do you bring improviser habits into non‑jazz settings? Hit reply and tell me.

Stay curious, and keep it in the pocket.

This is my last post for 2025. Thank you for reading, sharing, and supporting the music this year, it means more than you know. Wishing you and yours a restful, music‑filled holiday season.

I’ll be back in January with news on some new and genuinely exciting projects lined up for 2026 and 2027. Can’t wait to share what’s coming.