Both genres originated in the Southern United States around the late 1800s to early 1900s, with blues arriving first, then jazz a little later. Both were inventions of African Americans, who combined African musical concepts with European musical concepts, thus making these both uniquely American music genres.

Mid tempo blues uses a shuffle beat, while jazz uses a swing beat. However, these two beats are very similar – the shuffle beat was probably influenced by jazz swing, which was hugely popular during the Great Depression era of the 1930s.

Different Origins in the South Resulted In Different Music Genres

Blues originated in the Delta region of Mississippi sometime after the Civil War (late 1800s). African American work songs, spirituals, and field hollers formed the basis of blues. Blues was originally a rural music, played by individuals on low cost and easily available instruments such as a harmonica or a guitar played with a slide. The songs were originally slow laments with flatted notes or “blue” notes, which gave it a completely different sound than European music.

Eventually, the song structure, when combined with European music elements, solidified into a 12 bar blues pattern, with an AAB lyric pattern. In this type of lyric pattern, the first line is sung, the second line repeats it, then the third line resolves the thought.

In between the vocal lines, a space is left for the instrument to respond. This is called “call and response”.  Call and response can also be between the main singer and background singers, or between two musical instruments.

Jazz originated in New Orleans, Louisiana in the early 1900s. Unlike in the Delta, slaves had been allowed to get together on weekends and play drums and dance. This preserved the drum rhythms of Africa and the Caribbean, as well as the tradition of embellishments and improvisation. When African American musicians later played in horn based bands, they carried on this tradition. The blues was also an influence, adding blue notes to the musical scales used.  

Any kind of song can be played in a jazz style, including blues songs, therefore there is a lot wider variation in song structure in jazz. In general, jazz is not about what is played, it’s about how it’s played.