A history of jazz

The King & Carter Jazzing Orchestra photographed in Houston, Texas, January 1921.

 

A history of jazz in 50 key moments, as chosen by Guardian and Observer writers

 

Find the Guardian’s full history of modern music

17 June 2011

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  Datablog A history of modern music: Jazz – download the playlist

  Published:1:00 AM25

  A history of modern music: Jazz – download the playlist

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  What would you include in your version of the history of jazz?

  Published:12:59 AM57

  What would you include in your version of the history of jazz?

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  Buddy Bolden ‘invents’ jazz

  Published:12:50 AM

  Buddy Bolden ‘invents’ jazz

• • The first divas of the blues

    Published:12:49 AM

    The first divas of the blues

  • Louis Armstrong buys a cornet

    Published:12:48 AM

    Louis Armstrong buys a cornet

  • The first jazz recording

    Published:12:47 AM

    The first jazz recording

  • Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue premieres at New York’s Aeolian Hall

    Published:12:46 AM

    Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue premieres at New York’s Aeolian Hall

  • Django reinhardt’s caravan catches fire

    Published:12:45 AM

    Django reinhardt’s caravan catches fire

  • The first electric guitar

    Published:12:44 AM

    The first electric guitar

• Art Tatum stuns his contemporaries in New York

  Published:12:43 AM

  Art Tatum stuns his contemporaries in New York

• Duke Ellington’s mother dies

  Published:12:42 AM

  Duke Ellington’s mother dies

• Nat King Cole: the reluctant vocalist

  Published:12:41 AM

  Nat King Cole: the reluctant vocalist

• A teenage Charlie Parker has a cymbal thrown at him

  Published:12:40 AM

  A teenage Charlie Parker has a cymbal thrown at him

• Jazz gets a history

  Published:12:39 AM

  Jazz gets a history

• Billie Holiday ends her set with Strange Fruit

  Published:12:38 AM

  Billie Holiday ends her set with Strange Fruit

• Coleman Hawkins records Body and Soul

  Published:12:37 AM

  Coleman Hawkins records Body and Soul

• Thelonious Monk buys a hat

  Published:12:36 AM

  Thelonious Monk buys a hat

• Mary Lou Williams gets a weekly radio show

  Published:12:35 AM

  Mary Lou Williams gets a weekly radio show

• Gil Evans’s informal salon

  Published:12:34 AM

  Gil Evans’s informal salon

• Chano Pozo meets Dizzy Gillespie

  Published:12:33 AM

  Chano Pozo meets Dizzy Gillespie

• The Modern Jazz Quartet buy tuxedos

  Published:12:32 AM

  The Modern Jazz Quartet buy tuxedos

• Gerry Mulligan gets busted

  Published:12:31 AM

  Gerry Mulligan gets busted

• Jimmy Smith switches from piano to Hammond organ

  Published:12:30 AM

  Jimmy Smith switches from piano to Hammond organ

• Dave Brubeck makes the cover of Time magazine

  Published:12:29 AM

  Dave Brubeck makes the cover of Time magazine

• Humphrey Lyttelton’s Bad Penny Blues

  Published:12:28 AM

  Humphrey Lyttelton’s Bad Penny Blues

• Sonny Rollins records Saxophone Colossus

  Published:12:27 AM

  Sonny Rollins records Saxophone Colossus

• Paul Gonsalves’s solo at the Newport jazz festival

  Published:12:27 AM

  Paul Gonsalves’s solo at the Newport jazz festival

• Miles Davis improvises a soundtrack for Lift to the Scaffold

  Published:12:25 AM

  Miles Davis improvises a soundtrack for Lift to the Scaffold

• Miles Davis releases Kind of Blue

  Published:12:24 AM

  Miles Davis releases Kind of Blue

• A great day in Harlem photograph

  Published:12:24 AM

  A great day in Harlem photograph

• Ronnie Scott’s opens

  Published:12:22 AM

  Ronnie Scott’s opens

• Manfred Eicher hears the Bill Evans Trio

  Published:12:21 AM

  Manfred Eicher hears the Bill Evans Trio

• Charles Mingus’s The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady

  Published:12:20 AM

  Charles Mingus’s The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady

• South Africa’s exiled Blue Notes arrive in Europe

  Published:12:19 AM

  South Africa’s exiled Blue Notes arrive in Europe

• The Girl from Ipanema

  Published:12:18 AM

  The Girl from Ipanema

 

 

see also:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz

 

Trumpeter, bandleader and singerLouis Armstrong was a much-imitated innovator of early jazz.