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music and the United States monopolizes this art. Jazz’s wild rhythms, corrupted lyrics expose the decadence and dark life of Americans, and truly reflect American society and culture. Jazz has a connection to the essence of America in a much more fundamental way. It is an expression of the African roots of American culture, the treasure of American culture, a musical medium that exemplifies the culture of the Africans whose culture came to dominate much of what is American. Actually, in many aspects America’s roots are in Africa. In fact, this is a factor for Jazz’s first transmission to America. Ralph Ellison perceptively describes the transformation of separate African and European cultures are at the hand of the slaves: “…the dancing of those slaves who, looking through the windows of a plantation manor house from the yard, imitated the steps so gravely performed by the masters within and then added to them their own special flair, burlesquing the white folks and then going on to force the steps into choreography uniquely their own. The whites, looking out at the activity in the yard, thought that they were being flattered by imitation and were amused by the incongruity of tattered blacks dancing courtly steps, while missing completely the fact that before their eyes a European cultural form was becoming Americanized, undergoing a metamorphosis through the mocking activity of a people partially sprung from America.” (Townsend 78) Out of this fusion of African elements comes an idea that Americans believe central to their identity, namely tolerance. Both cultures come to realize each other’s value. In the heart of Americans, diversity is their strength. Americans learn every day that other cultures and peoples may make valuable contributions to their way of life. This great fusion makes Jazz a distinctly American music. Jazz reflects two contradictory facets of American life. On the one hand the band features a soloist who is an individual at the extreme. On the other hand it is a team effort, where every musician is completely immersed in what these groups does together, listening to each of other players and building on their contributions to create the music whole. In the same sense, American life is also a combination of teamwork and individualism, a combination of individual brilliance with the ability to work with others. In a word, Jazz, as an important part of American culture, is based on real peoples and things, and is the music from life. Through it, something more about America is known to the world. In the 1920s, Jazz gets its primary development, and this distinctly American music quickly finds its way to the whole America. Its wild rhythm, improvisational performing and changeable tone give listeners a fresh feeling, and it abandons traditional music forms and outdated performing ways to separate itself with other music. In this period, Ragtime, Dixieland as a branch of New Orleans impresses every American and the young man indulge them in it completely. Jazz’s every note makes them crazy, and then the word “JAZZMAD” comes into being in America. Its rhythm sometimes sounds like howling for escaping the tightened rope and sometimes is so grave like a weak patient. The changeable rhythm seems to expose the contradictory sides of their inner heart. Louis Armstrong, the king of Jazz, expresses the sad mood in his songs, like Lonesome Road, On the Sunny Side of the Street, Hotter than That, Snake Rag and etc. For exam