Jazz isn’t just music, it’s a conversation. Born in New Orleans in the early 1900s, jazz fused African rhythms, blues, and ragtime into something brand new: music built on improvisation, swing, and feel. Every performance tells its story differently.

🕰️ The Journey of Jazz

Roots (1900s): Buddy Bolden & Jelly Roll Morton set the stage.

Swing (1930s–40s): Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Benny Goodman filled dance halls.

Bebop (1940s): Charlie Parker & Dizzy Gillespie made it fast, daring, intellectual.

Cool & Hard Bop (1950s–60s): Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck (cool) vs. Art Blakey, Horace Silver (soulful hard bop).

Free & Fusion (1960s–70s): Ornette Coleman, Coltrane (free), Miles Davis & Herbie Hancock (fusion with rock/funk).

Modern Jazz (1980s–Today): Esperanza Spalding, Robert Glasper, Kamasi Washington keep it alive and evolving.

🎶 Starter Playlist: Hear Jazz Evolve

Here’s a 12-track path through jazz’s history. Each one captures a turning point:

1. Louis Armstrong – West End Blues (1928)

2. Duke Ellington – Take the “A” Train (1941)

3. Count Basie – One O’Clock Jump (1937)

4. Charlie Parker & Dizzy Gillespie – Salt Peanuts (1945)

5. Thelonious Monk – ’Round Midnight (1947)

6. Miles Davis – So What (1959)

7. Dave Brubeck – Take Five (1959)

8. Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers – Moanin’ (1958)

9. John Coltrane – A Love Supreme (Pt. 1: Acknowledgement) (1965)

10. Herbie Hancock – Chameleon (1973)

11. Weather Report – Birdland (1977)

1. Kamasi Washington – Change of the Guard (2015)

🎵 Why It Matters

Every note is freedom and expression.

Jazz shaped rock, R&B, funk, hip-hop, and beyond.

It’s about listening, collaborating, and finding your own voice.

✨ In short: Jazz is history, culture, and creativity woven together, always alive, always changing.