You might associate jazz with “easy listening” or “old-timey music,” or you might play in a jazz band or be an ardent collector of jazz music. Wherever you enter this Conversation, it’s important to remember that jazz was one of the most important artistic movements of the twentieth century, beginning in the 1920s in New Orleans, having roots in Africa, and being inspired by tribal drumming, slavery field chants, gospel, ragtime, and the blues. The 1920s are known as the Jazz Age, a term coined by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and jazz’s influence spread all over the United States and Europe. Jazz musicians work to find a distinct sound and style through improvisation; thus, every recording—even of the same song—will sound different. In fact, the interplay between the group and the individual soloist is one of the things that makes jazz unique and has led to its extensive influence on visual arts and literature. It’s difficult, of course, to talk and write about music without having listened to it. The recommended listening list provides you with examples of excellent jazz from several periods. Try listening before you begin work on this Conversation, in which we introduce connections among jazz, literature, and art.

Sources

Gerald Early, from Jazz and the African American Literary Tradition (2010)

Robert O’Meally, from Seeing Jazz (1997)

Langston Hughes, Jazzonia (1923)

Stuart Davis, Swing Landscape (1938)

William Henry Johnson, Jitterbugs VI (1941)

Ralph Ellison, from Invisible Man (1952)

Whitney Balliett, Daddy-O (1958)

Donald Barthelme, The King of Jazz (1958)

Jayne Cortez, Jazz Fan Looks Back (2002)

Michael Segell, from The Devil’s Horn (2005)

Evelyn Toynton, from Jackson Pollock (2012)

Recommended Listening

What Is Jazz?

These pieces illustrate jazz improvisation in a range of popular songs. You’ll recognize the melodies. Listen to what else is going on.

Charlie Parker (alto saxophone) and Kenny Dorham (trumpet), “White Christmas”

Lester Young (tenor saxophone), “I Got Rhythm”

Dizzy Gillespie (trumpet), “Dizzy Atmosphere”

Ethan Iverson (piano) and David King (drums), “Heart of Glass”

Origins

These are some of the examples of the music from New Orleans that came to be called jazz.

King Oliver (cornet), “Weather Bird Rag”

Louis Armstrong (trumpet), “West End Blues”

From Hot to Cool

In the early days, jazz, with its thumping rhythm, was said to be “hot.” Later, jazz was played in a more relaxed way, and the musicians who played it came to be called “cool.”

Count Basie (piano) with Carl Smith (trumpet) and Lester Young (tenor saxophone), “Oh Lady Be Good”

Billie Holiday (vocals), “Now They Call It Swing”

Big Bands = Pure Power

Fifteen musicians, eight of them brass, big drum set. Need we say more?

Count Basie Orchestra, “Jumpin’ at the Woodside”

Duke Ellington Orchestra and Paul Gonsalves (tenor saxophone), “Diminuendo in Blue and Crescendo in Blue”

Modern Voices

These musicians moved away from recognizable melodies into something more abstract: original music that came to be known as bebop and hard bop.

Charlie Parker (alto saxophone) and Dizzy Gillespie (trumpet), “KoKo”

Miles Davis (trumpet) and John Coltrane (tenor saxophone), “If I Were a Bell”

Thelonious Monk (piano) and Charlie Rouse (tenor saxophone), “Hackensack”

Grant Green (guitar), “Oleo”

Clifford Brown (trumpet) with Richie Powell (piano) and Max Roach (drums), “Land’s End”

Sonny Clark (piano) and Ike Quebec (tenor saxophone), “Deep in a Dream”

Jazz Now

A sampling of today’s jazz artists.

Jason Moran (piano), “You’ve Got to Be Modernistic”

Robert Glasper (piano), “Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Miquel Zenón (alto saxophone), “Esta Plena”

Esperanza Spalding (vocals, bass), “I Know You Know”

Greg Osby (saxophone), “Mob Job”