The Jazz-Age....

The first time music was referred to as "jazz," was in San Fransisco in 1913. Jazz music is primarily a mixture of African and European music from the 19th century, and has since influence all types of music and created some musical genres, including: swing, big band, bebop, and hip-hop. It started out smooth and blues-y, and evolved into a big-band type music, and features instruments such as the trumpet, trombone, saxophone, and vocalist. Many jazz pieces include a "call-and-response" pattern, with interaction from the audience, and soloists, who never play exactly the same lyric twice. Jazz was really a product of the blues, when composers and singers wanted a little more freedom and lively entertainment. In the 1920s, the "Queen of the Blues," Bessie Smith, recorded her first jazz album, and won a Grammy Hall of Fame award for her jazz single, "St. Louis Blues." Two of the most famous types of New Orleans/American jazz were called "Dixieland" and "Swing," and combined brass/blues ensembles with rhythm sections, featuring the piano, guitar, banjo, drums, and a double bass or tuba, and use much faster tempos. "When the Saints Go Marching In" was probably the most famous "Dixieland" composition to date, and the infamous Louis Armstrong was the master of swing music. It is ironic, because in the time of the "Roaring Twenties," jazz was viewed as "immoral" and threatening to old values and times, and was not supported outside of large African American communities, but by the 1930s jazz had made it's mark on history with famous composers/singers, such as Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Bing Crosby ("Where the Blue of the Night" was composed by Bing and was used as the theme for his radio show, and was later covered by Rosemary Clooney, another famous jazz artist), and many more, and is still listened to religiously. Those artists are featured on the newly-updated playlist, along with the famous theme to "The Cosby Show," which, due to Bill Cosby's love of jazz music, was a jazz piece.

Playlist: Songs 135-141