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Photo: World-Telegram staff photographer, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.Step into the smoky clubs and vibrant streets where jazz was born. Test your knowledge on the legends, the records, and the secrets of America's classical music!
First-time listener 0–4 · Swing era regular 5–8 · Club resident 9–10
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Miles Davis's masterpiece Kind of Blue revolutionized music with its modal jazz approach, focusing on scales rather than complex chord changes. It has been certified five times platinum in the US, making it a monumental achievement in music history.
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Bossa nova, meaning new trend, blended the complex harmonies of American cool jazz with simplified samba rhythms. The 1964 album Getz/Gilberto became a massive hit, winning the Grammy for Album of the Year.
Photo: UnknownUnknown, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.
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Lionel Hampton brought the vibraphone into the jazz spotlight, playing with incredible energy and speed. Unlike the wooden bars of a xylophone, the vibraphone has metal bars, and a small motor spins discs inside the tubes under them to create its shimmering, wavering sound.
Photo: George B. Evans-management/publicity, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.
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Congo Square was a vital meeting place where African music, drumming, and dance traditions were kept alive in the 19th century. This unique cultural preservation laid the groundwork for the syncopated rhythms that eventually became jazz.
Photo: Falcanary at English Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.
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The Original Dixieland Jass Band, an all-white group from New Orleans, recorded 'Livery Stable Blues' in New York in 1917. It became an unexpected hit, selling over a million copies and introducing the sound of jazz to a massive mainstream audience.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.
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Buddy Bolden, a New Orleans barber and cornet player, led a band starting around 1895. Though no recordings of his music survive, his powerful, blues-infused improvisations earned him the title of the first true jazz musician.
Photo: AnonymousUnknown author, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.
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Mary Lou Williams was a true prodigy who mastered styles from boogie-woogie to bebop. Besides composing and arranging for major big bands, she mentored younger geniuses like Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell.
Photo: William P. Gottlieb / Adam Cuerden, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.
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Lester Young called her 'Lady Day', and she gave him a nickname right back: 'Prez', short for President. 'The First Lady of Song' was the nickname of another great jazz singer, Ella Fitzgerald.
Photo: William P. Gottlieb, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.
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The earliest written uses of jazz appeared in California newspapers around 1912 to describe a baseball player's pep, energy, or oomph. It soon migrated to the music scene in Chicago and New Orleans to describe lively, syncopated rhythms.
Photo: Gus Kahn and Henry I. Marshall, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.
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Miles Davis achieved his iconic, hauntingly quiet tone by playing directly into a metal Harmon mute with its stem removed. This technique amplified the breathy qualities of his trumpet and became a defining sound of modern jazz.
Photo: Philipp1708, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
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