Cultural meaning of jazz (through Theodor Adorno's conception)

The article examines the patterns of development of one of the important musical trends in the XX and the XXI centuries in terms of its socio-cultural and socio-philosophical characteristics. The analysis takes into account Russian and Western (European and American) trends and assessments. The article captures the methodology of Theodor Adorno’s position, his political and musicological views. Attention is paid to the mechanisms of development of spiritual culture in a post-industrial society. The author substantiates the hypothesis and elaborates the idea of the great potential of jazz as a productive form of development and improvement of culture. The musical trends of the mid-twentieth century demonstrated radical transformations of jazz and rock music under the influence of commercialization, which demanded the simplification of the figurative system and language, active use of technical achievements, and mediation of musical space. The transformation of music and musical space contributed to the restructuring of society’s existence and consciousness, which in turn influenced the change of musical aesthetics and consumerized it.