Jazz

Bebop

Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie played blazing tempos and new chord progressions, more for listening than for dancing.

💡 Did you know? The name supposedly imitates two short notes that ended many phrases.

Swing

Benny Goodman, Count Basie and Glenn Miller filled the ballrooms with it; jazz was pop music.

💡 Did you know? Benny Goodman was hailed as the “King of Swing”.

Free jazz

The musicians improvised freely and often collectively, without a set harmonic scheme.

💡 Did you know? On Coleman’s 1960 album two quartets play at once, one in the left channel and one in the right.

Fusion

Bands such as Weather Report and the Mahavishnu Orchestra made it popular in the 1970s.

💡 Did you know? Weather Report’s founders Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter had both played with Miles Davis before.

Dixieland

Its hallmark is the weave of melody lines over banjo, tuba or bass and drums.

💡 Did you know? In 1917 the Original Dixieland Jass Band made the first jazz record.

Jam session

Musicians often met after their paid gigs and played well-known tunes into the early hours.

💡 Did you know? Late-night sessions like these at Minton’s Playhouse in Harlem gave birth to bebop in the 1940s.

Blue Note Records

Its hallmarks were Francis Wolff’s photographs and Reid Miles’s bold sleeve designs.

💡 Did you know? From the 1950s the engineer Rudy Van Gelder recorded many Blue Note albums in his parents’ living room.

New Orleans

In the port city on the Mississippi, African, Caribbean, French and Spanish influences mixed with blues, ragtime and brass bands.

💡 Did you know? In the nineteenth century enslaved people gathered on Sundays in Congo Square to drum and dance.

Storyville

Its saloons and establishments gave pianists and bands steady work.

💡 Did you know? It was named after the alderman Sidney Story, who had introduced the ordinance behind it.

Harlem

Clubs and ballrooms such as the Savoy Ballroom drew audiences from all over the city.

💡 Did you know? The Savoy Ballroom was famous for the Lindy Hop, danced to Chick Webb’s band.

Montreux

It was founded by Claude Nobs; rock and pop musicians have long appeared there too.

💡 Did you know? After the Montreux casino burned down in 1971, Deep Purple wrote “Smoke on the Water”.

Newport

The open-air festival became a model for many jazz festivals around the world.

💡 Did you know? In 1965 Bob Dylan was booed at Newport’s sister folk festival for playing an electric guitar.

Big band

The classic line-up has about 17 musicians: saxophones, trumpets, trombones and the rhythm section.

💡 Did you know? Count Basie led his big band for about five decades.

Saxophone

Although it is made of metal, its reed makes it a woodwind instrument.

💡 Did you know? It was meant for military bands and orchestras; only jazz made it a star.

Double bass

In jazz it is almost always plucked; its steady walking bass carries the tempo.

💡 Did you know? In early bands the tuba often played the bass line before the double bass took over.

Improvisation

Usually players improvise over a tune’s chords after the theme has been stated once.

💡 Did you know? One pass through the form of a tune is called a chorus; soloists often play several.