Jazz is one of the most exciting genres of music ever created. It is a music that emphasizes self-expression without overlooking teamwork, creativity and chance taking, and breaking the rules once the rules have been mastered. Unlike classical music which is written out, or pop music whose goal is often to recreate recordings at concerts, jazz is about spontaneity and improvisation; making up ideas on the spot.

During the era of slavery, for many African Americans, running away was one of the most powerful expressions of the desire for freedom. Historians have estimated that over 100,000 blacks were able to successfully abscond to a freer North. For others, their dreams of freedom through mobility were tempered by the vigilance of their slave masters as much as by their ties to family. While it is difficult to know how many African Americans actually ran away or even attempted to do so, the constant flurry of runaway notices in southern newspapers and the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 suggest the frequency with which African Americans attempted to escape slavery, no matter their success. Whether African Americans fled with the hope of leaving the South for good or of only securing a few days of respite, mobility and migration remained powerful symbols of their desires for freedom. Indeed, the large number of African Americans who abandoned their former lives on plantations and households throughout the South during the Civil War to join Union lines, if not the army itself, demonstrates the willingness of southern blacks to act upon any opportunity to move. Yet in 1861, 91 percent of all African Americans lived in the South, representing nearly 36 percent of the southern population.