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Jazz History

History Of Jazz Timeline: 1927

Americans will buy more than 100 million phonograph records this year.

It seems as if the music of Oliver and Morton will capture the world but.

Armstrong makes the greatest of the hot fives and sevens. He is now setting whole phrases ahead or behind the beat, not just pulling single notes. This will set the stage for Swing. Armstrong is now a star and because of him, New Orleans style ensemble playing is disappearing and is being replaced by Chicago and New York style solos. In short Jazz is becoming a soloist art primarily because of Armstrong. A few songs of significance include "Struttin' with Some Barbecue", "Big Butter and Egg Man" and "Hotter than That". In May, Warren "Baby" Dodds on drums and Pete Briggs on tuba are added to hot fives to make hot sevens.

Joe Oliver's band is offered a job as house band at the new Cotton Club in Harlem. Joe turns down the job or loses it because he wants too much money. It was a fatal mistake for Joe.

Barney Bigard joins Ellington band.

Irving Mills gets Ellington a recording contract with Columbia. Resulting sides can be found on the set The Okeh Ellington on the Columbia label. Notable selections include "Black and Tan Fantasy" and "East St. Louis Toodle-oo". People like Ellington's music at this time primarily for Bubber Miley's freaky trumpet style.

Ellington records "Black and Tan Fantasy" for Columbia on October 26 in New York City.

Ellington band starts at the Cotton Club in Harlem on December 4 after the job is turned down by Joe Oliver. The Cotton Club broadcasts Ellington's performances from coast to coast. Ellington uses Adelaide Hall's raspy voice as an instrument (not scat). The Cotton Club job will last until 1932.

Jelly Roll Morton and the Red Hot Peppers issue their classic sides.

Goldkette band featuring Bix Beiderbecke and Frankie Trumbauer (Bix and Tram) will collapse financially and then Bix and Tram will join the Paul Whiteman Band.

Bix, who is now at his peak, is also working with various pickup groups and producing lasting music such as "Singin' the Blues" and "I'm Comin' Virginia" with these groups. See the Columbia collection Singin' the Blues. Even black players are copying Bix at this time.

Bix is now spending time playing piano and composing for it. Writes "In a Mist", "Flashes", "Candlelight" and "In the Dark".

Bix Beiderbecke records "In a Mist" on September 9.

Art Tatum at seventeen is hired as staff pianist for station WSPD in Toledo, Ohio. His talent is so evident that the show goes national. He begins to become an influence on the future Boppers via Coleman Hawkins.

Coleman Hawkins drops his "slap tongue" style of playing tenor saxophone and begins improvising by playing the notes of the chords of a song. He'd heard a teenaged Art Tatum do this and was quite impressed. Up to this time all improvisation had been based on a song's melody. At first, this new style seemed somewhat incoherent but it will eventually lead to modern forms of Jazz.

Bootlegger Joe Helbock (a friend of Jimmy Dorsey) opens a speakeasy called The Onyx on 52nd street. It becomes a musicians' hangout featuring such attractions as Art Tatum.

Lester Young is now eighteen and is a competent musician. His main influence is the white saxophonist Frankie Trumbauer. Young likes the way Tram introduces the melody and then plays around it.

James P. Johnson is now playing Jazz with his release of "Snowy Morning Blues". The stride style at this point is analogous to the former rag players swinging the rags like Jelly Roll did about a decade earlier.

John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie is sent on a scholarship to Laurinburg Institute. He studies trumpet, trombone and theory.

Benny Goodman makes first record using his own name.

The first talking movie is released. It is The Jazz Singer starring Al Jolson in black face. It opens on October 6.

Billie Holiday's mother brings her to New York.

Chick Webb's band is playing the Savoy Ballroom.

Mahalia Jackson opens a cosmetics shop in Chicago. She turns down an offer from the now famous Earl Hines.

Meade Lux Lewis records "Honky Tonk Train Blues".

Trumpeter Wild Bill Davison is playing in Chicago.

Saxophonist and composer Gigi Gryce is born in Hartford, Connecticut.

Bing Crosby joins the Paul Whiteman band.

October 1927 - Hoagy Carmichael records two versions of his composition "Star Dust," one with lyrics (which get edited a year later), one instrumental - Gennett releases the instrumental version which is a poor seller, when Gennett is approached to release the vocal version, Fred Wiggins head of Gennett writes on the master: "Reject. Already on Gennett. Poor Seller." "Star Dust" would soon become one of the most recorded songs in pop and jazz.

History Of Jazz Timeline: 1928

On February 7, federal agents raid a dozen of Chicago's North Side nightclubs. They take names of everybody that is caught with alcohol. They had already closed a number of the South Side black-and-tans. This is all part of a "get tough on booze" policy of the new Republican mayor William Dever (Big Bill Thompson's successor). Chicago will soon fall as the Jazz capital.

The last of the Hot Fives and Sevens are recorded by Armstrong and the rest. As hard as this may be to believe, in many respects, it's all downhill from here for Armstrong.

Armstrong drops the New Orleans style completely and with it, he drops the New Orleans players except for Zutty Singleton. Landmark recordings are made by Armstrong with Earl Hines on piano. Hines is almost the equal of Armstrong in terms of Jazz talent and the result is such memorable recordings as "West End Blues" (many believe this to be the top Jazz recording of all times) and "Weather Bird Rag", both Joe Oliver tunes. These and others can be found on Columbia CD Louis Armstrong Vol 4. - Louis Armstrong and Earl Hines or the Classics CD Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra 1928-1929.

In contrast, Jelly Roll Morton's and Joe Oliver's music is already on the way out, soon to be replaced by Swing.

On November 30, in Cleveland with the Whiteman Band, Bix Beiderbecke passes out in the middle of a tune. Another band member (Charles Margulis) steadies Bix to keep him from falling over. Bix wakes up and in his confusion, takes a poke at Margulis. Whiteman witnesses this and sends Bix back to the Palace Hotel where he becomes violent due to delirium tremens and is put under a nurse's care.

Earl Hines records with Armstrong and then with clarinetist Jimmy Noone's Apex Club Orchestra. Then Earl begins work as a soloist for Q.R.S. (a piano roll company). All of Earl's recordings during this year are landmark recordings which will establish his reputation.

Earl Hines forms his own big band. Earl will be a big bandleader until 1947.

The Benny Moten Band is now a Swing band and is acknowledged by most to be the best in the southwest. Some, however, considered Walter Page's Blue Devils to be better. It was reported that the Blue Devils cut the Moten band in one memorable Kansas City band battle. This is not surprising considering that the Blue Devil's were Walter Page on bass, Buster Smith (Charlie Parker's early idol) on alto sax, Eddie Durham on trombone, Hot Lips Page (no relation to Walter) on trumpet, Bill "Count" Basie on piano and vocalist Jimmy "Mr. Five-by-Five" Rushing to round it out (no pun intended).

Important bandleader Fletcher Henderson suffers a concussion in an automobile accident. After this, Fletcher's interest in and tolerance for business matters declines from previous low levels. This might account in part for other bands coming to the forefront.

Sidney Bechet is now with the Noble Sissle band.

Twenty year old clarinetist Benny Goodman is still with Ben Pollack as is trombonist Jack Teagarden.

Johnny Hodges joins the Duke Ellington band on alto sax.

Armstrong records "West End Blues" on June 8.

Teenager Billie Holiday hears Armstrong's West End Blues and is inspired.

Bessie Smith records "Poor Man's Blues." This is a harbinger of things to come. By next year, most people will be poor as a result of the depression.

Bessie Smith begins her downhill slide. Classic Blues is on the way out.

Ma Rainey records Blame it on the Blues and Leavin' this Morning with Tampa Red on guitar.

The word bop appears in the song Four or Five Times by Mckinney's Cotton Pickers.

Django meets violinist Staphane Grapelli and makes his first records which have no Jazz value.

Django Reinhardt is married at eighteen. He lives in a caravan near a cemetary. His wife sells silk flowers to support them. One night, Django is trying to remove a rat and he catches the flowers on fire with a candle. He burns his legs and his left hand badly saving his wife. His left hand never completely healed with two fingers partially paralyzed. He, nevertheless became a great guitarist in months. Stephane Grapelli says that the injury probably improved Django's playing because it slowed him down causing him to be more thoughtful. If you've ever listened to the speed of Django, it is hard to imagine him playing faster.

Stan Kenton is now writing arrangements for Los Angeles bands.

Lenny Tristano is by now eight years old and is completely blind.

Dancer George "Shorty" Snowden comes up with a new dance that is filled with "breakaways." The dance will be named the Lindy Hop after Charles Lindbergh.

Future Hard Bop pianist and bandleader Horace Silver is born in Norwalk, Connecticut on September 2.

Trumpeter and Flugelhorn player Art Farmer and his twin brother Addison are born in Phoenix, Arizona.

Trumpeter Wild Bill Davison is currently playing like Bix on Smiling Skies with the Benny Meroff band.

Spanish/Fillipino, Fred Elizade persuades the Savoy Hotel management in England to let him bring in a Jazz band with American trumpeter Chelsea Qualey, sax players Bobby Davis and Adrian Rollini, and an English rhythm section.

Bing Crosby, an early Jazz fan, visits Harlem to hear Ellington and other authentic Jazz players.

History Of Jazz Timeline: 1929

On March 4, Armstrong has traveled from Chicago to New York to play a one night stand in Harlem at a banquet that is given in his honor. Many friends from Chicago are there and many musicians are there.

On March 5, in the early morning, Eddie Condon suggests to Tommy Rockwell (producer of the Hot Fives and Sevens) that he take the opportunity to record Armstrong with some of the superb musicians who have gathered to honor Armstrong. Rockwell is concerned about a mixed group, but goes ahead anyway. As a result, Armstrong, Jack Teagarden (trombone), Eddie Lang (guitar), Happy Cauldwell (saxophone), Kaiser Marshall and Joe Sullivan record the classic "Knockin' a Jug" in the Okeh studios after knockin' back a bottle of whiskey.

Armstrong shifts base from Chicago to New York. This coincides with a general shift of the Jazz mainstream from Chicago to New York. Bigger Swing type orchestras will begin to dominate.

Armstrong begins fronting big Swing bands such as Les Hite and Luis Russell. He is becoming more commercial. This will cause later Jazz artists to say that he sold out.

Armstrong does Fats Waller's tune "Ain't Misbehavin'" from the show Hot Chocolates. His version becomes far more popular than the show's original. This is the first Pop song that he records and it represents a pivotal point in his carreer. He does his first big band recordings. Recordings can be found on Columbia CD Louis in New York - Vol 5, Classics CD Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra 1928-1929 or Classics CD Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra 1929-1930.

Dave Peyton of the Chicago Defender reports that Louis Armstrong is the current rage in New York City.

Ben Pollack formally presents an engraved gold watch to Armstrong at Connie's Inn where he performed in Hot Chocolates. The watch had been bought by a group of white musicians who went to see Armstrong perform and to honor him. The engraving says "Good Luck Always to Louis Armstrong from the Musicians on Broadway."

Jelly Roll Morton and the Red Hot Peppers record again. These recordings are not as good as the first ones and in fact represent a style that is rapidly becoming defunct.

New Orleans style is moribund. Big band Swing is overtaking it.

Earl Hines and his big band begin a stay at the Grand Terrace Ballroom in Chicago that will last until 1948.

Bix Beiderbecke is now a hopeless alcoholic. After suffering a complete mental collapse, he is sent back to Davenport by Paul Whiteman early this year.

In Davenport, Iowa, in February, Bix Beiderbecke writes the following to Frankie Trumbauer: "I guess I am A minus quality. I haven't had a drink for so long I'd pass on one." Then he complained of knee pain and added, "I'll be back as soon as my knees will work. If Paul will have me."

Bix Beiderbecke returns to the Whiteman band in March and spends the summer in Hollywood with the band. They are there to film a biography of Whiteman. At some point, Bix begins drinking again. He remarks to a friend that drinking is the path of least resistance since he is afraid of a return bout with delirium tremens.

Bix Beiderbecke returns to New York with the Whiteman band in September. He is unable to perform at Columbia Studios where the band is recording "Waiting at the End of the Road"/"When You're Counting the Stars Alone."

On October 14, Bix Beiderbecke checks into an alcoholism treatment center as requested by Whiteman. Bix will not stop drinking permanently though and will be dead within two years.

Jimmy Rushing does "Blue Devil Blues" with Walter Page's Blue Devils.

Cootie Williams replaces Bubber Miley on trumpet in the Duke Ellington band. Cootie has to learn to use mutes and growls like Bubber and these effects become Duke's signature. Ellington does his first recording of the "The Mooche".

Duke Ellington appears in a short called Black and Tan. Ellington is portrayed as a handsome, elegant, hard working composer even though the subject matter is degrading.

Boogie Woogie piano player Clarence "Pine Top" Smith dies shortly after recording the influential "Pine Top's Boogie Woogie".

Trumpeter Jabbo Smith records "Take Me to the River".

Lionel Hampton is currently playing drums in, among others, the Les Hite band.

Future piano innovator Bill Evans is born in Plainfield, New Jersey on August 16.

Drummer Dave Tough and clarinetist Mezz Mezzrow get together a Jazz band in Place Pigalle in Paris. The music is spreading. Dave Tough will later become one of the few players to successfully switch from Swing to Bop - most could not.

Clarinetist Edmund Hall moves to New York City. He works with Claude Hopkins and Lucky Millinder big bands.

Mary Lou Williams is playing piano for Andy Kirk's Clouds of Joy.

Juan Tizol joins Ellington.

Pianist Barry Harris is born in Detroit.

On Friday, October 24 (Black Friday), the stock market crashes, the Great Depression begins and for the most part, the big party that was most of the 1920's ends.

Herbert Hoover announces in December that "conditions are fundamentally sound".

Drummer Jimmy Cobb born in Washington, DC.

History Of Jazz Timeline: 1930

Armstrong is by now enunciating no more than one beat per measure. His music swings like nothing before. Swing is under way. Louie is recording more excellent big band Swing sides such as St Louis Blues, Dallas Blues, Confessin, If I Could Be With You, and others. Listen to Columbia CD St Louis Blues - Louis Armstrong - Vol 6, JSP CD Big Band - Vol 1, Classics CD Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra 1929-1930 or Classics CD Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra 1930-1931.

Armstrong's manager is now small time hood Joe Glaser. Glaser will make Louie rich but will lead him to commerciality.

Ellington records his first big hit in October, a masterpiece of tone color called Dreamy Blues (aka Mood Indigo).

Duke Ellington travels to Hollywood to appear in the movie Check and Double Check with Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll starring as Amos 'n Andy. Ellington retains his integrity even though the stars are middle-aged whites in blackface and the plot is demeaning to blacks. The story revolves around two dimwitted fellows from Georgia who move to Chicago and start the Fresh Air Taxi Company of America Incorpulated with only one topless taxicab.

Young people begin to revolt against the standard of "niceness". "Express your true feelings" becomes a catch phrase (much like the 60's).

Tenor saxophonist Ben Webster debuts with the Gene Coy band and then joins the Jug Allen band.

With Coleman Hawkins and his followers Ben Webster and the young Chu Berry and his only competitor at the time Lester Young, the saxophone, in general, and the tenor saxophone, in particular, becomes a major competitor of the trumpet/cornet in Jazz. Recall that the cornet was king in New Orleans Jazz. The faster changes which a sax allows begins to push the trombone out of Jazz.

Walter Page and Buster Smith of the Blue Devils walk past a little club in Minneapolis and hear a tenor sax playing "After You've Gone." The tenor style is new and spare compared to Coleman Hawkins' style. The tenor player is Lester Young who is immediately hired by Page.

Alto saxophonist Benny Carter leads a group called the Chocolate Dandies drawn from the Fletcher Henderson band. Coleman Hawkins on tenor and Jimmy Harrison on trombone play excellent solos on recordings by the group.

Django Reinhardt is listening to and learning from Ellington, Armstrong, Beiderbecke and last but not least Eddie Lang.

Joe Oliver puts together a touring band with the help of his nephew Dave Nelson a trumpet player and arranger who once played in Ma Rainey's backup band. The band is not a success. The King is in deep decline.

Teenager Billie Holiday performas at a small club in Brooklyn.

Bessie Smith is virtually washed up. Classic Blues has run its course.

Lionel Hampton begins to play the vibraphone.

Earl "Bud" Powell (age 6) begins to study piano. He is currently learning classical music and European theory.

Scotsman Tommy McQuater is the leading British Jazz trumpeter.

Future alto saxophonist Ornette Coleman (Free Jazz) is born in Fort Worth, Texas. He will be reared in poverty.

Future trumpet great Clifford Brown is born in Wilmington, Delaware.

Future tenor saxophone colosus Sonny Rollins is born in New York City.

Future Rock and Roll singer Ray Charles is born in Albany, Georgia.

Singer Betty Carter is born.

Helen Merrill is born.

History Of Jazz Timeline: 1931

Armstrong gets a record contract with Victor this year. This will end his Okeh recording career. Recordings can be found on Classics CD Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra 1930-1931 and Classics CD Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra 1931-1932.

Armstrong visits New Orleans for the first time since 1922.

Armstrong and his band are arrested in Memphis and thrown in jail. They are bailed out by the manager of the Palace Theatre where they are booked to play. They dedicate "I'll Be Glad When You're Dead You Rascal You" to the Memphis police.

Louis Armstrong and Vic Berton (drummer with Abe Lyman's band and former drummer with Bix Beiderbecke and the Wolverines) are arrested at Frank Sebastion's New Cotton Club in Culver City, CA. for possession of marijuana.

In September, posters begin to appear in Austin, Texas. These posters advertise the October 12 performance of "Louis Armstrong, King of the Trumpet, and His Orchestra" at the Hotel Driskill in downtown Austin. Surprisingly, for this time and place, there is nothing degrading in this advertisement.

Armstrong records Hoagy Carmichael's classic "Stardust".

Duke Ellington writes "Dreamy Blues" (aka "Mood Indigo") in 15 minutes while waiting for his mother to cook dinner. When Duke recorded "Mood Indigo", the melody was stated by muted trumpet, muted trombone and clarinet. Sam Nanton played the highest part on the trombone and Barney Bigard played the lowest part on the clarinet. This reversal of traditional roles sounded eerie and compeling. "Mood Indigo" was Ellington's first big hit.

Ellington records the first extended Jazz piece called Creole Rhapsody this piece covers two full 78 sides. He will also record Mood Indigo and Rockin' in Rhythm (there's that word rock). Duke is by now very famous.

Duke Ellington decides to live apart from his wife after she slashes his face for having an affair with a Cotton Club dancer. He retains custody of his son and sends for his mother, father and sister to join them.

On November 4, cornet player Buddy Bolden (who many people think was the first person to play Jazz) dies in a Louisiana state hospital. He was never recorded.

Influential Swing trombone player Jimmy Harrison dies at an early age.

Bix Beiderbecke dies in Sunnyside Queens, New York City from pneumonia which was brought on by acute alcoholism. Jazz has lost a disproportionate number of artists to drug and alcohol addiction.

Fletcher Henderson's drummer, Walter Johnson, moves the ground beat from the bass/snare combination to the bass/hi-hat combination on Radio Rhythm and Low Down on the Bayou. Basie's drummer Jo Jones adopted this method and is usually given the credit for this important innovation which became necessary to quiet the drums for a small group.

Tenor saxophonist Ben Webster is in the Blanche Calloway Band (Cab's sister), but he will soon join Benny Moten.

The Bennie Moten Band now contains most of the members of the now defunct Blue Devils who had run into financial troubles. Even Walter Page is with Moten. Walter is the first bass player to sound all four beats. Basie and Ben Webster are also with Moten. This band is on par with the best, the Fletcher Henderson band. Tunes like Toby, Blue Room and Prince of Wails show complicated writing but usually they revert to simpler riffing which is where this band shines.

Bandleader Zack Whyte has a Cincinnati based territory band call the Chocolate Beau Brummels.

Classic Blues singer Bessie Smith stops recording.

Young piano player Teddy Wilson is currently in Chicago working with Armstrong, Jimmy Noone, et al. Wilson will be the primary propogator of the Earl Hines style of piano.

Young Charlie Parker is given his first alto sax by his mother.

Lenny Tristano is playing music professionally at age twelve.

Pianist Oscar Peterson begins to study piano.

At the age of 7, Kenny Dorham moves from piano to trumpet.

Future Dixieland leader Bill Davison has a band.

Pianist Wynton Kelly is born in Jamaica.

Pianist Conrad Yeats "Sonny" Clark is born in Herminie, Pa. (about 25 miles east of Pittsburgh).

The Mills Brothers group forms in New York City.

Future Gospel and Rock and Roll singer/songwriter Sam Cooke is born.

History Of Jazz Timeline: 1932

Armstrong is somewhat burned out. He leaves the U.S.A. to tour Europe. In London, at a concert, people hear his nickname Satchel Mouth incorrectly and dub him Satchmo, a nickname which he will take to his grave.

Armstrong records "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea", "Home" and "Hobo, You Can't Ride this Train" with Chick Webb. Recordings can be found on Classics CD Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra 1931-1932 and Classics CD Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra 1932-1933.

Ellington is also getting a bit fed up with the music business. He records the classic It Don't Mean a Thing if it Ain't Got that Swing.

The Benny Moten Band swings in Kansas City, Missouri with five brass, four saxes and four rhythm pieces. This band is what defined the standard Swing band. Benny's band does a famous recording session with Ben Webster on tenor sax. Ben's reputation is secured.

Art Tatum comes to New York City and accepts a job accompanying Adelaide Hall. He will take New York by storm. His friend's played a little game where they would take him to after hours clubs to spring him on unsuspecting musicians, particularly, the pianists. He awed other pianists who in some cases would not play in his presence. Piano great Fats Waller once said, "I play piano, but God is in the house tonight" when Tatum was present.

The Hot Club of France is founded with Hugues Panassie as the first president. The club includes Charles Delaunay and Pierre Noury.

English trumpet player Nat Gonella establishes himself with the English by playing Jazz. He cuts I Can't Believe that You're in Love with Me and I Heard a Don Redman song.

Japanese trumpeter Fumio Nanri spends six months in America. Louis Armstrong calls him the Satchmo of Japan.

John Hammond (now an executive with Columbia) produces a session with Fletcher Henderson's Band for British listeners. This establishs Hammond as a full-fledged record producer.

Pianist Tommy Flanagan is born in Detroit.

Tenor saxophonist Tina Brooks is born.

History Of Jazz Timeline: 1933

Armstrong cuts his last records (for this contract) for the Victor label. Sides can be found on the Bluebird CD Laughin' Louis 1932-1933 and Classics CD Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra 1932-1933.

Armstrong travels to Europe. He is a sensation everywhere that he plays. He fills the Tivoli in Copenhagen eight nights in a row.

Bessie Smith records for the last time in a session which is arranged by John Hammond. Gimme a Pigfoot was recorded at this session.

On June 2, the morning of Duke Ellington's departure for Europe on the SS Olympic, John Hammond takes a portable phonograph to Ellington as a bon voyage present. Ellington declines. He does not like Hammond and does not need his presents or advice.

The Ellington Band goes to Europe. Their reception in England is very good. The fans love Ellington and know most of the band members by name. Ellington discovers that he is considered a significant composer in London.

Ellington records Solitude and Sophisticated Lady.

Teddy Wilson is in New York City working with the Benny Carter band.

Billie Holiday is discovered in Monette's in New York City by --guess who-- John Hammond. Billie records with Benny Goodman.

On the morning of November 27, John Hammond records two tunes with Broadway star Ethel Waters. After this, he brings his new discovery Billie Holiday into the same studio for Waters to hear. Waters is not impressed, but that will not deter Hammond or Holiday.

Benny Goodman meets John Hammond. Hammond convinces him to hire heavy-handed drummer Gene Krupa and trombonist Jack Teagarden. In addition, Hammond persuades Goodman to hire black musicians, notably Billie Holiday and Teddy Wilson. This was a breakthrough. Goodman is ready. He is tired of following, he wants to lead. And lead he will.

Most musicians, even Benny Goodman, are having a tough time because of the depression. Goodman heads a pickup band that has been organized by John Hammond. The band includes Jack Teagarden, Gene Krupa and Joe Sullivan. They record "Ain'tcha Glad"/"I've Got a Right to Sing the Blues" for British Columbia. It is Benny's first record as a bandleader. It sells 5000 copies.

Coleman Hawkins, still with Henderson, is making his new style of improvising from the notes of the chords much more coherent and appealing.

Coleman Hawkins battles Kansas City tenor players Herschel Evans, Ben Webster and Lester Young at the Cherry Blossom at Twelfth Street and Vine in Kansas City, Mo. According to pianist Mary Lou Williams, Hawkins lost this battle because of Young's unconventional style.

Ben Webster is now with the Fletcher Henderson band.

Eddie Lang dies at the height of his powers at twenty-nine from complications following a tonsillectomy. This was a great loss to Jazz.

Django Reinhardt on guitar and Stephane Grapelli on violin begin to play together in Louis Vola's Hotel Claridge orchestra. This was the start of what might have been the greatest duo in Jazz. Django makes a recording of Si J'aime Suzy with L'Orchestra du Theatre Daunon. Lang's influences are showing.

Art Tatum makes his first solo records including Tiger Rag and Tea for Two. The stride is very evident on Tea for Two. Art is currently the biggest draw on 52nd Street. Tatum who has a better grasp of harmony than anyone currently in Jazz claims Fats Waller as his inspiration.

In the spring, Sidney Bechet (soprano saxophone, clarinet) and Tommy Ladnier (trumpet) quit music and open the Southern Tailor Shop at 128th Street and Nicholas Avenue in Harlem. Ladnier shines shoes and Bechet presses and delivers.

Walter Page's Blue Devils disband in West Virginia. Zack Whyte tries to get nine of the Blue Devils to join his band. They refuse telling him that it's all of us or none of us.

Future Free Jazz pianist Cecil Taylor is born in Corona, Long Island, New York where he grew up.

Benny Carter is chosen by English composer and critic Spike Hughes to organize a group to record a set of Hughes compositions.

Pianist Errol Garner is now working professionally in Pittsburgh, Pa.

The Hot Club of France gives its first Jazz Concert with a group of lesser known black American musicians living in France at the time.

Wild Bill Davison moves to Milwaukee. He had been ostracized because a car that he was driving was hit by a cab killing the much beloved clarinet player Frank Teschemacher. The accident was not even Davison's fault!

Prohibition is repealed. Jazz moves out of the speakeasys. Speakeasys become legal bars. Joe Helbock's Onyx on 52nd Street in N.Y. becomes a very good draw. However, much competition moves in. 52nd Street will become legendary in Jazz annals.

The depression has taken its toll on most early Jazz musicians. A new breed is emerging. This new breed is the Swing musician.

History Of Jazz Timeline: 1934

Armstrong is in Europe. He begins and ends recording with French Polydor. Recordings can be found on Classics CD Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra 1934-1936.

Armstrong's lip splits on a London stage. He retires in Paris for eight months.

While in Europe, Armstrong fires his current manager Johnny Collins. Collins retaliates by taking Armstrong's passport back to America leaving Louis "high and dry" in Europe without a passport.

Trumpeter Rex Stewart joins the Duke Ellington band.

Large bands with five brass instruments (mostly trumpets and trombones), four reed instruments (mostly clarinets and saxophones which are increasing in popularity) and four rhythm instruments (usually piano, guitar, bass and drums) become the standard. The brass and reed sections normally play together as two voices which playoff against each other in "call and response" form. Riffing (developed by Don Redman with Fletcher Henderson's band) becomes increasingly popular.

Benny Goodman has his own orchestra which supplies the Jazz portion of a popular radio show Let's Dance sponsored by Nabisco to advertise the Ritz Cracker.

Benny Goodman acquires around 36 Fletcher Henderson arrangements dating back to the 1931 Connie's Inn appearances.

Coleman Hawkins (now one of the premier Jazz players) leaves Fletcher Henderson and goes to Europe to work with Jack Hylton. He is replaced by Lester Young. The band members do not like Lester's light style. They prefer the bigger sound of Coleman Hawkins or even Ben Webster. Lester soon leaves Henderson for Andy Kirk's Clouds of Joy.

Fletcher Henderson's band breaks up. Ben Webster goes to the Duke Ellington band.

Fats Waller, currently the most popular pianist in the country, forms his own group.

Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey change the Dorsey Brothers Band from a records-only band to a full-time unit.

Quintet of the Hot Club of Paris is formed with Django Reinhardt on guitar, Stephane Grapelli on violin, Louis Vola on bass, Joseph Reinhardt (Django's brother) on guitar and Eugene Vees on guitar. This is the first non-American group to give the Americans serious competition. Their first recording is Dinah/Tiger Rag.

Sixteen year old Ella Fitzgerald wins first prize at a talent contest at the Harlem Opera House.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe (then Nubin) marries a Pittsburgh pastor named Thorpe. She will divorce shortly and change her name to Tharpe.

Soul Jazz saxophonist Stanley Turrentine is born in Pittsburgh, Pa.

History Of Jazz Timeline: 1935

Armstrong tours Italy.

On Armstrong's return from Europe, he begins to record again, for Decca. See the GRP CD's Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra - Vol 1 and Vol 2 and the Classics CD Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra 1934-1936. Louie seems to be more relaxed, but his music is deteriorating.

Charlie Parker leaves school at fifteen. He had played baritone horn in the school band. He marries the nineteen year old Rebecca Ruffing.

Bennie Moten dies suddenly (from a botched tonsillectomy). His band scatters. Basie finds work in Kansas City and draws many former Moten band members into his new band. The best of all Swing bands has gotten its start.

Blues shouter Jimmy Rushing (formerly of Walter Page's Blue Devils) joins Basie Band.

Ellington records In a Sentimental Mood and the extended piece Reminiscing in Tempo which covers four sides. Billy Taylor joins the Duke.

The Swing band era opens with the sudden rise of Benny Goodman. Benny's band toured the U.S. from the east to the west with little success until August 21 when the band played the Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles where much to his and his dejected band's surprise, they were a huge success and their fortune was sealed. The band had played the late night Jazz portion of Nabisco's radio show from New York and had developed a wide following among young adults on the west coast. But when they played elsewhere they flopped in front an older audience. They became confused and tried to play popular dance music. When they played this Pop music at the Palomar, they were flopping and Benny said, "If we're going to flop, at least we'll do it playing Jazz". They switched to Jazz and the rest is history.

Benny Goodman records Jelly Roll Morton's King Porter Stomp (same arrangement as Fletcher Henderson's 1932 New King Porter Stomp). In retrospect, Henderson's version is superior.

Teddy Wilson and Benny Goodman play together at a party. Benny is very impressed and later forms a trio with Teddy and Gene Krupa. This is the beginning of one of the first mixed race combos. Oddly enough, Jesse Stacy (a white pianist of the Hines style) comes to work with Benny's big band at the same time.

Roy Eldridge is recognized as the coming trumpet player. With his style, at first influenced by Armstrong and Henry "Red" Allen and by saxophonist Coleman Hawkins, he is thought to be the link between the Armstrong school of trumpet and the Bop or Gillespie school of trumpet. To view him as a link to Gillespie is to do a disservice to Roy.

During a concert at Glen Island Casino in May, the Dorsey brothers have a violent argument on stage over the tempo of a tune. Tommy walks off the stage and two new bands (The Tommy Dorsey Band and The Jimmy Dorsey Band) are formed.

Dizzy Gillespie drops out of school to go to Philadelphia with his mother. He begins to work in local bands.

Bunny Berigan becomes Goodman's principle trumpet player for a few months.

Ella Fitzgerald becomes Chick Webb's star.

Benny Carter goes to Europe.

There is a lot of Jazz action going on in England, more than in the rest of Europe.

Django and the Quintet of the Hot Club of Paris record Hoagy Carmichael's Stardust with Coleman Hawkins. It is clear the Django understands Jazz rhythm.

By now, a number of blacks have not only succeeded in Jazz, but some have become "legitimate" actors and singers too. For instance, Paul Robeson has become a well-respected actor and Marion Anderson a well-respected opera singer. This will set the stage for the "Bop Rebellion".

Acclaimed Jazz writer, arranger, composer, performer and critic Leonard Feather comes to the U.S. from England for the first time. Leonard will eventually settle here.

Jazz Hot is created in France by Charles Delaunay. This is the first Jazz journal in the world.

Swing has developed a language of its own. Some examples of Jazz related slang at this time follow:

Hot - a superlative meaning really good

Break it down - get hot, got to town

Freak Lip - a pair of lips that won't quit no matter how long or hard the musician plays

My Chops is Beat - when a brass man's lips give out

Wax a Disc - cut a record

Boogie Man - a critic

Joe Below - a musician who plays under scale

Chill ya - when an unusual hot passion gives you goose bumps

History Of Jazz Timeline: 1936

Armstrong is king of the trumpet. He is currently doing Pop songs such as Swing that Music for Decca. See GRP CD Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra - Vol 2 - Rhythm Saved the World or Classics CD Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra 1934-1936.

Joe "King" Oliver is out of music. He moves to Savannah, becomes a janitor and runs a fruit stand. He is basically destitute. His teeth gave out and he could no longer play the trumpet.

Ellington records Echoes of Harlem.

Teddy Wilson is featured with a Goodman small band at the Congress. The color barrier (at least in the North) is beginning to crumble.

Lionel Hampton is playing in the Benny Goodman quartet (formerly trio).

Goodman has the most popular Swing band, but.

John Hammond hears the Basie band on late night radio in Chicago and arranges for bookings, a record contract and a trip to New York for an engagement at the Famous Door.

The Basie band begins to accumulate a major amount of talent because he essentially absorbed the talent of the two major southwest bands, the Blue Devils and the Benny Moten band. He will continue to attract the best southwest talent until the 1940's. A lot of people consider the Basie band the best Swing band with personnel such as Buck Clayton on trumpet, Benny Morton and Dicky Wells on trombone, Lester Young on tenor sax, Walter Page on bass, etc. The list goes on.

Basie's band swings better than Goodman's and some of the Basie band members are already beginning to plant the seeds of Bop. Basie's 1936 record Lady be Good featured a very cool, behind the beat, sax by Lester Young in an era of very hot solos. Lester claims the white players Frankie Trumbauer and Bix Beiderbecke as his major influences.

Basie's small band the K.C. Six records such songs as Dicky's Dream which can be found on the Columbia CD The Essential Count Basie - Vol 1.

Lester Young makes his first recordings with a small group drawn from the Basie band. The band included Lester on tenor, Basie on piano, Jo Jones on drums, Walter Page on bass and Carl "Tatt" Smith and was called Jones-Smith, Inc. Lester considers his solo on Shoe Shine Swing his finest.

Billie Holiday (Lester's good friend) begins to record with various small bands (usually lead by Teddy Wilson and usually containing Lester Young). These recordings which will be done over the next six years until the recording ban of 1942 will be the work on which her reputation rests. She has already discovered the two secrets which will make her the greatest Jazz singer of all with Did I Remember?, No Regrets and Billies Blues. They are 1) lift the melody away from the beat like Armstrong and 2) employ great balance.

Django Reinhardt and the Hot Quintet make a recording of I Can't Give You Anything but Love. Django is playing better than ever. His showers of 16th notes presage Charlie Christian and Charlie Parker. Over the next four years, he will record the songs that make up the heart of his work.

Charlie Parker buys a new saxophone after being awarded some money in an auto accident.

Important Free Jazz saxophonist Albert Ayler is born.

Important Free Jazz trumpeter Don Cherry is born.

History Of Jazz Timeline: 1937

Armstrong is still going strong and is still doing Pop songs. See Classics CD Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra 1937-1938.

Charlie Parker joins piano player Jay McShann's band in Kansas City. Parker will play in this band on and off until 1941.

Charlie spends the summer playing a grueling schedule at an Ozark Mountain resort. His playing improves considerably. He acquires the nickname Yardbird at this time. This, as we all know, will later become simply Bird.

Duke Ellington band records the classic Caravan.

Pittsburgh drum innovator Kenny Clarke moves the ground beat from the Bass/Hi-hat combination (previously innovated by Walter Johnson and Jo Jones) to the large ride cymbal. This moves the ground beat completely away from the bass drum and makes faster Bop-type rhythms possible. Clarke found that he could get pitch and timbre variations and produce an airy sound. He also was then free to use the bass drum in a new manner, to "drop bombs". He said that he simply got tired of playing like Jo Jones, but this was an important innovation in the development of modern Jazz (maybe as important as later innovations by Parker and Gillespie).

Piano innovator and genius Thelonious Monk begins to scuffle for work.

Roy Eldridge's playing is still showing the Armstrong/Red Allen influence. However, by now, the Coleman Hawkins influences are more dominant in his trumpet playing.

Dizzy Gillespie takes Roy Eldridge's place in the Teddy Hill band at the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem.

Billie Holiday joins the Count Basie band but does not record with them because of contract issues. Billie and Bill do not get along well.

Django Reinhardt records Ellington's Solitude. Django also records Runnin' Wild and Swing.

Basie trombone player Dickie Wells goes to Europe with the Teddy Hill band.

Clarinetist Edmund Hall leaves the big band of Lucky Millinder to become an anomaly, a black Dixieland player. This is curious, because even though he was from the original New Orleans school and even though he made this move, he apparently did not like Dixieland music (which isn't curious ).

Trumpeter Billy Butterfield joins Bob Crosby's Bobcats (a Dixieland style big band).

Trumpeter Bunny Berigan is with Tommy Dorsey.

By now, "Swing is King". There are dozens of Swing bands . The boom is really on. There are two different streams feeding the river. One is the Henderson/Goldkette stream using interesting scores and precise playing and the other is the Southwest school which emphasizes riffs and solos.

Jelly Roll Morton is rediscovered by Alan Lomax. The famous Library of Congress recordings result. The Dixieland movement begins.

Bessie Smith dies in a car accident in Clarksdale, Mississippi on September 26. The old is dying in Jazz and the new is coming on strong.

Mahalia Jackson cuts her first record.

Bassist Leroy "Slam" Stewart meets guitarist Bulee "Slim" Gaillard. They will form the popular duo "Slim and Slam".

Archie Shepp (future Free Jazz giant) is born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He will grow up in Philadelphia, Pa.

Trumpeter Joe Smith dies in New York at the young age of 35.

At age twelve, Art Pepper receives an alto saxophone for Christmas.

History Of Jazz Timeline: 1938

Armstrong records such popular songs as Hoagy Carmichael's Jubilee, a remake of his own Struttin' with some Barbecue and I Double Dare You. See Classics CD Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra 1938-1939.

Charlie Parker acquires a mentor. He is Henry "Buster" or "Professor" Smith, a Kansas City alto saxophonist and band leader formerly with Basie. Parker joins Smith's band.

Charlie Parker is being heavily influenced by tenor saxophonist Lester Young and piano virtuoso Art Tatum. Charlie goes to Chicago and then New York. He picks up odd jobs to support his playing. One of these jobs is as a dishwasher in a club where Art Tatum is playing. Tatum plays fast with numerous chord changes. This style would be Charlie's also.

Duke Ellington meets Billy Strayhorn. Strayhorn shows him Lush Life. Ellington is duly impressed.

Billie Holiday is currently with the Artie Shaw band. Basie had let her go because of her work habits.

Barney Josephson books Billy to work the Cafe' Society. The Cafe' Society was one of the first clubs to accept black customers.

Lester Young records a number of very influential sides for Commodore with the Kansas City Six. Young plays mostly clarinet here and produces excellent solos on Pagin' the Devil, I Want a Little Girl and Way Down Yonder in New Orleans.

The Basie band is booked at The Famous Door in New York City. This event will finally give the band the publicity that it needs to succeed. John Hammond is instrumental.

Trumpet virtuoso Roy Eldridge begins to work primarily in the small band format. He has developed excellent control of his ideas by now.

Saxophonist Louis Jordan leaves Chick Webb's sax section to form his Tympani Five. This might well mark the beginnings of what we know as Rock and Roll.

The Artie Shaw Band has its first big hit with Begin the Beguine. A lot of Shaw's fans claimed that he should have been the "King of Swing" instead of Goodman because he had numerous big hits and Goodman had only one or two.

Saxophonist Benny Carter returns to the U.S. He organizes a Swing band which will enjoy modest success.

King Oliver dies on April 8.

Sidney Bechet is currently working as a tailor. Check out Sidney Bechet 1932-1943: The Bluebird Sessions on Bluebird CD.

Sidney Bechet records a version of Summertime that many people call the definitive version of Summertime.

John Hammond brings Blues shouter Big Joe Turner to New York City for a Carnegie Hall concert.

Hammond's famous "From Spirituals to Swing" concert occurs at Carnegie Hall.

Benny Goodman does a concert at Carnegie Hall. The famous long version of Sing, Sing, Sing is introduced at this concert.

Boogie Woogie piano players Albert Ammons, Pete Johnson and Meade Lux Lewis become the main Boogie piano players after their trio performance at the the "From Spirituals to Swing" concert.

Django Reinhardt records Billets Doux, Swing from Paris, Them There Eyes and Three Little Words.

Hugues Panassie' comes to New York City and organizes a recording session with J. P. Johnson on piano, Tommy Ladnier, Teddy Bunn on guitar, Bechet and others.

Jump bands begin to form. These are small, Swing oriented bands featuring off color lyrics and commercial arrangements. Louis Jordan has the most famous Jump band. These bands will evolve into Rock and Roll bands, possibly in response to the later Bop revolution.

Vocalist Slim Gaillard and bassist Slam Stewart (affectionately known as "Slim and Slam") become almost instantly famous with the catchy Flat Foot Floogie.

Robert Johnson makes his landmark recordings for Vocalion. Many believe that these represent the transition from Country Blues to City Blues. Johnson is strictly following the twelve bar Blues form. Johnson is murdered shortly thereafter when he is given poisoned whiskey in a Mississippi bar by the jealous boyfriend of a woman he had been flirting with.

Future piano player Cecil Taylor is taking piano lessons from the wife of a timpani player who played with Toscanini. She lived across the street. Taylor will become big in the Free Jazz movement.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe becomes the first Gospel singer to sing at a night club when she performs at the Cotton Club.

Trumpet virtuoso Lee Morgan is born on July 10 in Philadelphia, Pa.

Marvin Gaye is born.

1938 - John Hammond produces the 'From Spirituals to Swing' concert at Carnegie Hall (then again in 1939). This would be the first time race music and an integrated band would be presented on a major US Stage. Vanguard would eventually release a multi-LP collection and then a CD boxset with these recordings. Hammond intends to answer "Where did jazz come from" with his choice of styles and artists. Artists on the bill included: Count Basie (with Lips Page, Lester Young, Jo Jones and Walter Page) Helen Humes Kansas City Five, Six Meade Lux Lewis and Albert Ammons Meade Lux Lewis/Albert Ammons/Pete Johnson/Walter Page/Jo Jones Joe Turner Sister Rosetta Tharpe New Orleans Feetwarmers Jimmy Rushing Benny Goodman Sextet (with Fletcher Henderson, Charlie Christian and Lionel Hampton) Ida Cox Sonny Terry Big Bill Broonzy

History Of Jazz Timeline: 1939

War breaks out in Europe.

At this point in time, we have the Swing players who are king and the Dixieland players who are trying to revive what they think of as "real" Jazz but ... what's this up on the horizon? It's Charlie Christian, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie who are sowing the seeds of what will take Jazz over in the next few years!

By now, there are hundreds of Swing bands, but the Bop rebellion is beginning because many excellent young black players are getting irritated that the whites are making most of the money in Jazz.

52nd Street is by now called "Swing Street". It all started with The Onyx. Now, in the block between 5th and 6th Avenues, six Jazz clubs offer a high level of Jazz. Four of these are The Famous Door, Jimmy Ryan's, The Onyx and The Three Dueces. Because of space limitations, the small house band with one major soloist like Coleman Hawkins is the thing at these clubs.

Clubs also flourish in Greenwich Village, Harlem and in Chicago's south side, but 52nd Street is the symbolic headquarters of Jazz.

The first formal books on Jazz appear. They are Wilder Hobson's American Jazz Music and Frederick Ramsey and Charles Edward Smith's Jazzmen. These books tend to paint a storybook picture of New Orleans Jazz and help to promote the Dixieland Revival. It must be remembered that New Orleans Jazz and Dixieland Jazz have some fundamental differences.

Frederick Ramsey and William Russell locate and revive interest in the sixty year old New Orleans trumpeter Bunk Johnson. Bunk is as close as you could come to getting the legendary Buddy Bolden.

Alan Lomax does the famous Jelly Roll Morton recordings for the Library of Congress. This presents as close as we can get to a realistic view of the early days of Jazz.

Fletcher "Smack" Henderson becomes the first black musician who is a regular member of a white big band when he becomes Goodman's pianist. Fletcher is not, however, a featured artist in the band.

The Dixieland revival has two schools 1) Those committed to Armstrong, Oliver and Morton and 2) Those committed to Bix and the midwesterners. Dixieland is not really New Orleans music. It has a 4 beat ground beat instead of a 2 beat ground beat to give it a speedier feel. There are other differences. Dixieland is primarily a white movement.

Armstrong is going ever more commercial. Louie plays Bottom in a parody of William Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream called Swingin' the Dream.

Charlie Parker is in New York City working at Clarke Monroe's Uptown. He'll be at Monroe's for about a year. One night during this year, Charlie realizes that by using the high notes of the chords of a song, he can "play what's inside of him". The rest is the history of Bop. Charlie returns to Kansas City to play in Jay McShann's band. It will be awhile before everyone realizes that he is a genius.

Trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie is currently with Cab Calloway's band which also included Coleman Hawkins style tenor sax man Chu Berry. Dizzy was occasionally doing some things musically which others found strange. He would slip briefly into a chord containing notes 1/2 step away from normal. This practice will become standard Bop.

The Ellington band begins a four year period of very high attainment. Many consider this period the best of Ellington. The Duke severs ties with Irving Mills and he leaves the Columbia label to record for RCA-Victor.

Pittsburgh pianist and composer Billy Strayhorn joins the Duke Ellington Orchestra.

Teddy Wilson leaves the Benny Goodman small groups and Jess Stacy leaves the Benny Goodman big band. At this point the Earl Hines influenced Wilson is the most influential pianist in Jazz. Jess Stacy is also of the Hines school.

Ben Webster joins Duke on tenor sax after a short stint as a charter member of the short lived Teddy Wilson band.

Jimmy Blanton joins Duke on bass.

Coleman Hawkins returns to the U.S. to reclaim his title. The story goes that at three o'clock one morning, Coleman enters a club where Lester Young is playing behind Billie Holiday and a battle for tenor sax supremacy ensues. Holiday says that Lester is the clear winner, but Ellington trumpeter Rex Stewart says that Hawkins blew Young away. At any rate, Hawkins remains more popular in the short run, although Lester becomes a major force as an influence on the fledgling Bop movement.

Coleman Hawkins does a version of Body and Soul which many feel is among the finest masterpieces of Jazz. It is virtually an exercise in chromatic chord movement. This is a precursor to Bop harmonics. Coleman understands harmonics very well and he will have no problem with Bop harmonics. The Bop rhythm will however elude him.

Earl "Bud" Powell quits high school at age fifteen and begins gigging around New York City as a professional pianist. Bud was influenced early by Hines, Teddy Wilson and Billy Kyle. He will later be influenced by Art Tatum.

Mary Lou Williams tells John Hammond of a bright young guitarist from Texas named Charlie Christian. Hammond tells Goodman. Goodman is not at first impressed, but some of the band members are. They arrange for Charlie to play while Benny is off on break. Benny comes back and this time likes what he hears so much that he lets Charlie play a version of Rose Room that lasts close to an hour.

Charlie Christian's unique electric guitar phrasings allow the guitar to compete as a lead instrument head to head with the trumpet and the sax for the first time. Charlie probably learned of the electric from Floyd Smith whose Floyd's Guitar Blues made with Andy Kirk's Clouds of Joy is the first important use of the electric guitar. The electric guitar was almost unknown before this.

Woody Herman is leading a conventional swing orchestra and hits big with "Woodchopper's Ball." He is known by band members as a great organizer, musical coach and spirited performer.

Django records Montemarte, Solid Old Man, Low Cotton and Finesse with the Duke Ellington band.

Young drummer Art Blakey is playing in a band of Pittsburghers which is formed by Fletcher Henderson. Art will eventually become a first rate Hard Bop drummer and bandleader.

Nat "King" Cole arrives at the idea of a trio consisting of piano, guitar and bass in which all players share a prominent role. Believe it or not, this was a very important innovation of the time and it made Nat's early carreer. He'll soon give up the piano and become the popular singer who we all know.

Oscar Peterson is playing piano at a radio station in Canada at age fourteen.

Saxophonist Bud Freeman remakes a number of Bix Beiderbecke and the Wolverines tunes.

Mugsy Spanier, an Oliver style trumpeter, forms a Dixieland band called Spanier's Ragtimers. Ragtimer records appear in the U.S. and travel to Europe.

Record companies begin to reissue the old music.

Trumpeter Tommy Ladnier dies in New York at the young age of 39.

John Coltrane's father and grandfather die.

Pianist Albert Ammons records "Shout for Joy".

Founding of Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) helps the wider exposure of independent labels and race and hillbilly music.

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