Jazz Milestones

1895: The original Jazz band, according to Herbert Asbury's The Latin Quarter (1938), was the 'Spasm Band' made up of seven boys, aged twelve to fifteen, who first appeared in New Orleans. They advertised themselves as the "Razzy Dazzy Spasm Band."

1902: The 12-year-old Jelly Roll Morton "invents" Jazz, or so he later claims. A habitue of Storyville, the red-light district of New Orleans, Morton combines ragtime, French quadrilles and the hot Blues played by Buddy Bolden, the notoriously hard-living cornetist.

1917: "The Original Dixieland Jazz Band", a white group, makes the first Jazz recording, "Livery Stable Blues." It sells a million copies, launching Jazz as popular music. Freddie Keppard, a black band leader, had rejected the chance to make the first Jazz record - he was afraid other musicians would copy his style.

c.1920: An older Morton (among others) introduces 'chord symbols' as alternative notation for professional musicians thus futhering the evolution of Jazz music.

1924: George Gershwin would compose the work which defined his career and elevate him to a level of greatness, all in less than 3 weeks. 'Rhapsody in Blue' performed at Aeolian Hall by Paul Whiteman's orchestra, arranged by Ferde Grofé, was originally scored for piano and Jazz band.

1925-1928: Take it away, Satchmo: With his Hot Fives and Hot Sevens recordings, Louis Armstrong revolutionizes the Jazz form, encouraging solo improvisation over ensemble playing.

1929-1945: The swing era rises and falls. Duke Ellington, Jimmie Lunceford and Count Basie lead influential groups. Most of the big hits, though, are recorded by white band leaders like Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey.

c.1935-1955: The jam session as art form: West 52d Street in Manhattan, packed with clubs, becomes the playground for Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk and all their friends.

1936: Well before the rest of the country, Jazz becomes integrated. At the Congress Hotel in Chicago, Lionel Hampton and Teddy Wilson sit in with Benny Goodman's ensemble. Two years later, Billie Holiday joins Artie Shaw's big band.

1938: January 16th at Carnegie Hall in NYC. Originally a publicity stunt by Wynn Nathanson, Benny Goodman's monumental concert included "Twenty Years of Jazz", a thumbnail history of hot music which featured trumpeter Harry James and drummer Gene Krupa, playing arrangements by Fletcher Henderson. Later in the evening, a "jam session" gave the audience a feel for the impromtu character of Jazz, joined by pianist Count Basie, saxophonists Johnny Hodges, Lester Young, and Harry Carney, along with trumpeter Buck Clayton.

1939: While playing "Cherokee" during a Harlem jam session, Charlie Parker happens upon a harmonic discovery that leads to Bebop, a far more intricate style of Jazz, both harmonically and rhythmically.

1943: Jazz ascends to the concert hall: The first of Duke Ellington's annual Carnegie Hall programs and the premiere of "Black, Brown and Beige," his influential long-form work about the history of American blacks.

1951: On the heels of Miles Davis' "Birth of the Cool," musicians like Chet Baker and Gerry Mulligan form the so-called Cool School, turning down the volume and intensity. It happens, of course, in California.

... Sidney Bechet relocates to Paris, the first of many American Jazz expatriates including Kenny Clarke, Arthur Taylor and Bud Powell. Racial tension was less pronounced and European audiences were far more appreciative.

1954: Clifford Brown wins the Downbeat critic's award for best new star on trumpet and forms the Clifford Brown-Max Roach Quintet. Later that year he records live with Art Blakey on "A Night at Birdland."

...Jazz goes outdoors: George Wein, a pianist and singer, rewrites his Jazz resume by inviting musicians to Newport, R.I., for the first of many Newport Jazz Festivals.

1956: Jimmy Lyons envisions "a sylvan setting with the best Jazz people in the whole world" and creates the Monterey Jazz Festival as an alternative to East Coast festivals.

...A crossover dream: Ella Fitzgerald makes the first of several "Songbook" recordings for Verve, the impresario Norman Granz's new label. The Songbooks make Fitzgerald an international star.

1958: On an August morning in Harlem, 57 greats of Jazz gather for a photo for Esquire magazine which came to be known as A Great Day in Harlem (photo)

...Ray Charles made his debut appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival in Newport, Rhode Island.

1959: A pivotal year, with several records that expand the very possibilities of improvisation: Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue," John Coltrane's "Giant Steps," Ornette Coleman's "Shape of Jazz to Come."

1961: Orrin Keepnews set up the microphones to record pianist Bill Evans and his trio (Scott LaFaro bass, Paul Motian drums) "Sunday at the Village Vanguard (Live)" on June 25, creating one of the most dynamic impacts in Jazz music.

1964: The avant-garde gains mainstream recognition as Thelonious Monk makes the cover of Time magazine, which christens him the high priest of Bebop.

1969: Miles Davis' "Bitches Brew," a primordial "Jazz-Rock" fusion record, sells 500,000 copies, turning many rock fans on to Jazz but leaving some hard-core Miles followers groaning.