Jazz is the one great artistic contribution America has given to the rest of the world that I can think of. The other great contributions are mainly in the fields of technology and warfare. I am tempted to enumerate a few, but that would be leading this thread astray.
How interesting that most of the heavy lifting in jazz was done by the economic underclass. I don't know that any of them ever got rich off their musical genius. Probably a few made good money now and then, but rather than retire to their luxurious country estates (which they never had and never wanted), most of them continued to travel from city to city, night after night, coast to coast, year after year, making music for all they were worth. Even though I have no standing with any celestial powers, I will still say God bless them all.