Jazz A style of music characterized by a strong but flexible rhythmic understructure with solo and ensemble improvisations on basic tunes and chord patterns and, more recently, a highly sophisticated harmonic idiom. Big band dance music. Blues A style of music that evolved from southern African-American secular songs and is usually distinguished by a strong 4/4 rhythm, flatted thirds and sevenths, a 12-bar structure, and lyrics in a three-line stanza in which the second line repeats the first Funk A type of popular music combining elements of jazz, blues, and soul and characterized by syncopated rhythm and a heavy, repetitive bass line. Soul A style of popular music developed by African Americans, combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues A lot of these genre have elements of each other, Its not uncommon for people to be confused and your right to ask the question if you’re trying to understand these genres better.