Jazz has often been called "America's classical music," and I agree with this assertion for several reasons. First of all, jazz can be considered "classical" because of some similarities it has with European classical music. Both genres are mostly instrumental. Both require an extremely high level of skill from musicians, and both are important and respectable types of musical expression.
Moreover, jazz is a uniquely American phenomenon. This is because it originated from various American sources, such as blues and ragtime.