In Arabesque 2, which is a complex piece that requires intense technique, Debussy used a 7(#5) chord - and these were written over 120 years ago. In Arabesque 1, he interlaces some nice 9th voicings and a 9sus chord. Ragtime music is said to be the predecessor of jazz music, and Debussy helped this patronage come about by his unique usage of chords and rhythm that tied two musical eras together. Debussy was already experimenting with some lovely voicings using the extensions. Debussy, influenced by ragtime, influenced in turn the jazz era. The 'crisp clarity of the idiom' must have appealed to Debussy's growing sense of anti-romanticism, because it greatly influenced three piano pieces he produced later in his life. Pleasure is the law.' Debussy most likely heard ragtime for the first time when John Philip Sousa's band appeared at the 1900 Paris Exposition. In 1890 Debussy's professor at the Paris Conservatory commented on Debussy's use of parallel chords in the following way: 'I am not saying that what you do isn't beautiful, but it's theoretically absurd.' Debussy replied: 'There is no theory. The colorful harmonies suggests Debussy was guided simply by that which he found pleasing to the ear rather than some 'rule' of traditional harmonic practice. He developed a highly original system of harmony and musical structure that expressed in many respects the ideals to which the Impressionist and Symbolist painters and writers of his time aspired.

French composer whose works were a seminal force in the music of the 20th century. Debussy used advanced Jazz Harmonies in many of his piano compositions, using the 7th, 9th and 11th chords in conventional ways. It is an early and uncharacteristic work by the 28-year-old Debussy, but we can hear many hints of things to come in regards to how he begins including more and more aspects of what people now classify as jazz music. (Debussy's Fantaisie) It alludes to the future style of jazz, and Debussy's stylistic writing rather paved the way and prepared the public for jazz music. The Debussy Fantaisie is quite a nice work on the whole. It can be argued that Debussy’s music is the root of all jazz music, although people such as Duke Ellington have made the rhythms faster and added more complexity to the chords. This is also is commonly seen in jazz music.

The parallel chords that result characterize his style. Listening to Debussy’s “Brouillards” in Preludes (video included below), the theme of dissonance and unpredictable rhythms is constant. He freely shifts a dissonant chord up and down the scale. This is also captured by the jazz music of later years – George Gershwin's and Duke Ellington’s compositions contain many of these unique chords. Debussy is known for his successions of dissonant chords that do not resolve. In his piano pieces, he used a chord more for its special color and sensuous quality than for its function in a standard harmonic progression. Claude Debussy (1862-1918) treated harmony in a revolutionary manner of musical impressionism.

Claude debussy compositions