Description of Jazz
The "jas," or the Creole brothel, is thought to have been the birthplace as well as the namesake of the new sound of jazz. Early traditional jazz combined the complexity of Ragtime, the tight arrangement of marching band music, and the inventive, free spirit of the blues. It incorporated structured improvisations at its center while the band maintained a swing.
The sound evolved dramatically throughout the twentieth century in various forms: from the New York City Bebop of Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker to the Free Jazz of the Art Ensemble of Chicago; from the Fusion of Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock to the Hard Bop of Art Blakey. But throughout jazz's great explorations, it has kept improvisation at its center, and as such it has always remained a music of freedom.
Top Jazz Tracks
Jazz Key Albums
Jazz Key Artists
This hard-hitting drummer
was justly renowned for
nurturing young talent (and
future stars) for decades.
One of the premier Hard...
Webster's swaggering
swingers and ocean deep
ballads took this tenor sax
giant out of Duke's band &
into the solo arena. When...
Evans' lyrical, distilled,
often boldly impressionistic
piano playing is as popular
today as during his lifetime.
Evans played a key role in...
There's no mistaking a Lady
Day vocal: swinging,
emotionally searing and
tasty as all get out. Perhaps
the most influential jazz si...
Alto saxophone giant
Charlie Parker can rightfully
be considered the father of
modern jazz. Born in Kansas
City, Kansas, and raised in...
Chet Baker was one of the
most celebrated West Coast
Cool Jazz musicians, and
also an amazing singer. He
died in 1988. This lithe We...
This superior Smooth Jazz
horn player sometimes sings
in a laidback style that
recalls his musical hero
Chet Baker. A superior sm...
Hawkins is responsible for
making the sax a jazz solo
instrument. His rich, robust,
swinging sound remains
beautiful. Hawkins' 1939 t...
From his early Kansas City
days to his Atomic period,
Basie led the hardest
swinging jazz band in
history. Basie and his ban...
Gordon combined the best
of Bop, Cool and swing into
his own peerless tenor sax
style. Like Frank Sinatra and
Peggy Lee, Dexter Gordo...
The pride of British
Columbia, this singing pianist
has helped bring classic
jazz back to the masses.
Krall broke out of the jazz...
This beloved musical
dynamo helped invent and
disseminate Bebop and
Afro-Cuban Jazz. An
international ambassador,...
Ellington revolutionized jazz
and pop music; he's on the
short list of the twentieth
century's greatest artists.
Ellington often wrote tun...
Scatting or swinging,
Fitzgerald was as popular
with the general public as
she was with fellow artists.
Though she lived a clean,...
From Soul Jazz guitar
innovator to Crossover Jazz
star to Smooth Jazz elder
statesman, George Benson
has done it all. Benson's e...
One of the few geniuses of
modern jazz, Hancock has
had a hand in avant-garde
Post Bop, Hard Bop, Jazz
Funk and more. Hancock...
A gentle revolutionary,
Coltrane's alternately
blistering & blissful sax still
astounds. Coltrane became
a star sideman playing wit...
Everything about the Pres
was his own -- his feathery
tenor sax tone, his
improvisatory flights, and
his hipster vocabulary. Y...
Ladies and gentlemen, jazz
and pop music starts right
here with Mr. Louis
Armstrong, the crown
prince of American music...
Miles Davis helped define
five decades of jazz and
became a superstar in the
process. Davis dropped out
of Juilliard to play jazz. Mi...
Canada's greatest gift to
jazz, Peterson's piano
playing is so deep that he's
become an international
ambassador of music.
Called the Divine One for
her amazing vocal abilities,
Vaughan excelled at bop,
standards, and jazzy pop.
A true saxophone colossus,
Rollins is regarded as one of
the finest jazz musicians in
history. Though his peers
thought him a musical gen...
His tenor sax tone was so
gorgeous that musicians
dubbed him The Sound.
Getz's disarming versatility
enabled him to shine in S...
Top-shelf tunesmith,
uniquely expressive pianist,
hat connoisseur, and all
around eccentric, Monk's
music still marvels. Monk's...
Jazz guitarist Montgomery's
rich, rounded tones and
stunning solos are still
studied and copied.
Montgomery's early recor...
The keeper of the torch for
modern acoustic jazz,
Marsalis is a recording
virtuoso, esteemed
composer and ardent edu...
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