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1961 BCE
Ramsey Lewis Trio: 'Sound Of Christmas'
It was originally recorded in 1961, Ramsey Lewis’ "Sounds of Christmas" might be just 29 minutes long but, like those precious minutes in front of the fireplace wrapped in an imitation bear skin rug, it’s a half hour well spent. Lewis made this record with Eldee Young on bass and Red Holt on drums, they were arguably his best foils ever and, as a trio, they sounded as if they were of one mind. -
1940 BCE
Bebop: The Summit of Sound
In the early 1940s, a new style of jazz was born, called bebop, had fast tempos, intricate melodies, and complex harmonies. Bebop was considered jazz for intellectuals. No longer were there huge big bands, but smaller groups that did not play for dancing audiences, but for listening audiences. -
1930 BCE
Swing: Sound in Motion
Swing is the basic rhythm of jazz. Swing means being in sync with other people and loving it. Swing as a jazz style first appeared during the Great Depression. The optimistic feeling of swing lifted the spirits of everyone in America. By the mid-1930s, a period known as the "swing" era, swing dancing had become our national dance and big bands were playing this style of music. -
Period: 1930 BCE to 1940 BCE
Jazz in 1930 - 1940
By 1930, the Great Depression had befallen the nation. However, jazz music was resilient. While businesses, including the record industry, were failing, dance halls were packed with people dancing the jitterbug to the music of big bands, which would come to be called swing music. -
Period: 1920 BCE to 1929 BCE
The Jazz Age
The Jazz Age was a post-World War I movement in the 1920s from which jazz music and dance emerged. Although the era ended with the outset of the Great Depression in 1929, jazz has lived on in American popular culture. -
Period: 1920 BCE to 1930 BCE
Fletcher Henderson
Henderson played a key role in opening up the creative possibilities in jazz. A multi-talented man, Henderson was a skilled pianist, composer, arranger, and bandleader. He led one of the most popular bands in New York in the 1920s and 30s. -
Period: 1910 BCE to 1920 BCE
Jazz in 1910-1920
Between 1910 and 1920, the seeds of jazz began to take root. New Orleans, the vibrant and chromatic port city in which ragtime was based, was home to a number of budding musicians and a new style. In 1917, the Original Dixieland Jazz Band made what some consider the first jazz album ever recorded. -
Period: 1900 BCE to 1910 BCE
Jazz in 1900 - 1910
Jazz was still in its pupal stage in the first decade of the 20th century. Some of the first jazz icons, trumpeters Louis Armstrong and Bix Beiderbecke, were born in 1901 and 1903, respectively. Inspired by ragtime music, they played music that valued self- expression, and in the early part of the century, began to capture the nation's attention. -
Period: to
Louis Armstrong is born: The Jazz Original
Louis Armstrong was one of the most influential artists in the history of music. Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on August 4, 1901, he began playing the cornet at the age of 13. Armstrong perfected the improvised jazz solo as we know it. Louis was loved and admired throughout the world. He died in New York City on July 6, 1971. -
Ferdinand "Jelly Roll Morton" LaMothe
Ferdinand "Jelly Roll Morton" LaMothe was a pianist who stands out as the first major jazz composer, blended blues, and ragtime styles, a fusion that perhaps represented the origins of jazz music better than anything else. His Jerry Roll Blues in September 1915 was the first published piece of jazz music. Morton left New Orleans in 1908, played in California from 1917 until 1922, then in Chicago, and moved to New York City in 1928.