> When jazz music appeared, there were no conservatories or theory for it. The first jazz conservatories emerged fifty years later.
Yes, to study the tropes and patterns of theory applied by the great jazz musicians, who certainly knew what they were doing with theory, even if "the theory of jazz" didn't exist. You don't have to know "jazz theory" in order to use theory to create a new genre of music that became known as "jazz". There were a community of performing musicians who had at least some formal theory knowledge (if not to a rigorous Berklee standard), who shared ideas and patterns and tropes, which eventually became a recognised genre, and later on an academic field of study.
It's funny, because out of all the niche subgenres of music out there today, jazz is almost certainly one of the most "theory influenced" genres of the last century.
Yes, to study the tropes and patterns of theory applied by the great jazz musicians, who certainly knew what they were doing with theory, even if "the theory of jazz" didn't exist. You don't have to know "jazz theory" in order to use theory to create a new genre of music that became known as "jazz". There were a community of performing musicians who had at least some formal theory knowledge (if not to a rigorous Berklee standard), who shared ideas and patterns and tropes, which eventually became a recognised genre, and later on an academic field of study.
It's funny, because out of all the niche subgenres of music out there today, jazz is almost certainly one of the most "theory influenced" genres of the last century.