-
African slaves singing
African slaves singing unaccompanied field hollers and work songs -
Congo Square
New Orleans city council establishes "Congo Square" as an official site for slave music and dance -
Harlem Rag
Pianist Tommy Turpin Writes Harlem Rag, the first known ragtime composition -
Ragtime grows in popularity
The first piano rag appear in print -
Suppressing Ragtime
The American Federation of Musicians (the musicians union) votes to suppress ragtime. -
Jazz Invented
Pianist Jelly Roll Morton Claims to have invented jazz in this year -
Ragtime ends jazz gains
The Original Dixieland Jass Band (an all white group) makes the first jazz recording, Livery Stable Blues, and also becomes the first jazz group to appear on film in the movie, The Good for Nothing. -
The Migration of Jazz
Jazz musicians begin to leave New Orleans -
Armstrong has a huge hit
Trumpeter Louis Armstrong has a huge hit and pioneers scat singing with his first recorded original composition, Heebie Jeebies, featuring his Hot Five. -
Racism Continues in Jazz
Pianist Fats Waller Participates in a mixed-race recording session in which he is forced to play behind a screen to separate him from the white musicians. -
The start to swing
Duke Ellington records It Don't Mean a Thing (If it Ain't' Got That Swing), the first jazz composition to use swing in the title -
15,000 copies sold
Billie Holiday and Teddy Wilson record / Cried for You, which goes on to sell 15,000 copies -
Rock Replaces Jazz
Rock albums came along and blew the jazz ones away