Short chronology of jazz history

1619 o The first African slaves are sold to Virginia planters.

1817 o New Orleans city council establishes "Congo Square" as an official
site for slave music and dance.
1892 o Tom Turpin writes Harlem Rag, the first known ragtime
composition.
1893 o Scott Joplin plays at World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.
1895 o Scott Joplin begins publishing his rags.
o Buddy Bolden's first band is formed.
1899 o Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag" launches a national ragtime craze.
1902 o Year in which Jelly Roll Morton claims to have invented jazz.
1907 o Buddy Bolden committed to mental institution.
1912 o Freddie Keppard takes New Orleans group to Los Angeles.
o W. C. Handy writes Memphis Blues.
1913 o Word "jazz" first appears in print.
1914 o Handy writes St. Louis Blues.
1915 o King Oliver forms band in New Orleans.
1916 o Freddie Keppard refuses to record for Victor.
1917 o Joplin dies; the classic era of ragtime ends.
o Original Dixieland lass Band makes the first-ever jazz recording.
o The U.S. Navy closes New Orleans's Storyville red-light district;
jazz musicians be to leave the city for the North.
1918 o King Oliver leaves New Orleans for Chicago.
1919 o Sidney Bechet leaves New Orleans to tour Europe.
o Ernest Ansermet praises artistry of Bechet.
o Original Dixieland Jazz Band in London.
o Will Marion Cook's American Syncopated Orchestra in London
and Paris.
1920 o Mamie Smith cuts Crazy Blues, the first blues record.
1921 o James P. Johnson records Carolina Shout.
1922 o Armstrong joins Oliver in Creole Jazz Band in Chicago.
o Kid Ory records in Los Angles with Spikes's Seven Pods of Pepper
Orchestra.
1923 o King Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, Sidney Bechet, and Louis
Armstrong make their first recordings.
o King Oliver's Creole jazz Band (with Louis Armstrong on board)
makes it big in Chicago.
o Fletcher Henderson forms 10-piece band, joined by Coleman
Hawkins.
o Don Redman becomes the first major jazz arranger (for Fletcher
Henderson).
o Bennie Moten puts Kansas City jazz on the map with his band's
first recordings.
o Ellington returns to New York.
1924 o Bix Beiderbecke records with the Wolverines.
o Armstrong joins Henderson in New York.
o Paul Whiteman commissions Rhapsody in Blue from George
Gershwin.
1925 o Louis Armstrong begins the Hot Five series of recordings.
o Ellington's first recordings as a leader.
1926 o Jelly Roll Morton makes his Red Hot Peppers recordings in
Chicago.
1927 o Ellington opens 5-year engagement at Cotton Club in New York,
including York, including national radio broad casts.
o Armstrong Hot Seven recordings.
o Earl Hines joins Armstrong.
1928 o Louis Armstrong records the landmark West End Blues and the first
great recorded jazz solo.
o Count Basie joins Walter Page's Blue Devils.
o Pinetop Smith records Pinetop's Boogie Woogie
1929 o Armstrong records with big bands.
o The important Casa Lorna Orchestra makes its debut recordings.
o Count Basie joins the Bernie Moten Orchestra.
1930 o Cab Calloway becomes a Cotton Club regular.
o Ellington makes first hit recording, Mood Indigo.
1932 o Sidney Bechet kicks off a New Orleans jazz revival with his New
Orleans Feetwarmers.
o Ellington records his first big swing hit: It Don't Mean a Thing If It
Ain't Got That Swing.
o Armstrong visits Europe.
1933 o Art Tatum cuts his first records.
o Ellington, Sophisticated Lady.
o Billie Holiday makes her first recordings (with Benny Goodman
and His Orchestra).
o Ellington and band tour Europe.
1934 o Jimmie Lunceford's band begins recording.
o The Benny Goodman Orchestra is broadcast nationally on radio, he
starts "Let's Dance" series on network radio.
o Ella Fitzgerald debuts with the Chick Webb Orchestra.
o Fats Waller and His Rhythm record.
1935 o Bob Crosby Orchestra combines Dixieland and swing
o After much struggle, the Benny Goodman Orchestra becomes an
"overnight" sensation at the Palomar Ballroom, Los Angeles; the
swing era is officially underway.
o Bennie Moten dies; protege Count Basie forms his own orchestra
with many Moten players.
o Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey break up the successful Dorsey
Brothers Band; each forms his own band.
o Dizzy Gillespie replaces Roy Eldridge in Teddy Hill Band.
o Stéphane Grappelli and Django Reinhardt record together for the
first time.
1936 o Woody Herman forms his first band.
o Record producer John Hammond "discovers" the Count Basie band
while listening to his car radio.
o First Lester Young dates with Count Basie combo.
o Artie Shaw forms his first orchestra.
1937 o Trumpeter Bunny Berigan forms a big band.
o Basie begins recording.
o Glenn Miller forms his first band.
o Charlie Parker joins Jay McShann Band.
o Dizzy Gillespie makes his first recordings.
o Duke Ellington's Puerto Rican valve trombonist Juan Tizol
composes Caravan, introducing Latin jazz.
o Goodman records Sing, Sing, Sing.
1938 o Benny Goodman triumphs at Carnegie Hall.
o First John Hammond "Spirituals to Swing " concert at Carnegie
Hall.
o The John Kirby Sextet introduces small-ensemble swing.
o Jelly Roll Morton is rediscovered; records for the Library of
Congress. Eddie Condon records Dixieland revival material.
o Ella Fitzgerald records A-Tisket a-Tasket with Chick Webb.
1939 o Charlie Barnet makes it big.
o Harry James starts his own big band.
o Glenn Miller's orchestra reaches the height of its popularity.
o Ella Fitzgerald assumes leadership of the Chick Webb Orchestra
when its leader dies.
o Coleman Hawkins records Body and Soul.
o Charlie Christian joins the Benny Goodman Orchestra and
introduces electric guitar in.
o Parker goes to New York, plays at Monroe's Uptown House.
o Billie Holiday records Strange Fruit.
1940 o Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker meet. Bandleader Machito
forms the Afro-Cubans.
o Ellington records Concerto for Cootie and Koko.
o Harry James forms own band; hires Frank Sinatra.
1941 o Gene Krupa scores several hits.
o Stan Kenton forms his first orchestra.
o Jam sessions at Minton's Playhouse and Monroe's Uptown House
mark the beginning of bebop.
o Parker's first recordings with McShann.
o Gil Evans joins Claude Thornhill Orchestra.
1942 o Glenn Miller joins the U.S. Army Air Corps.
o Lionel Hampton has a vibraphone hit with "Flying Home.
o The recording strike begins.
o Max Roach joins Parker at Monroe's.
o Bunk Johnson cuts first New Orleans revival records.
1943 o Duke Ellington triumphs at Carnegie Hall with Black, Brown, and
Beige . Hines's big band features Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie
and Sarah Vaughan.
1944 o Woody Herman's orchestra becomes the First Herd.
o Glenn Miller dies in an air crash over the English Channel.
o Billy Eckstine forms a bop big band.
o Coleman Hawkins leads a bop session.
o Thelonious Monk composes 'Round Midnight.
o Norman Granz presents first "Jazz at the Philharmonic" concert.
1945 o Recording heyday of Parker and Gillespie : Shaw Nuff, Hot
House…
o Miles Davis makes his first records.
1946 o Major big bands begin to break up.
o Gillespie forms a successful bop big band.
o Lennie Tristano makes his first records.
o Parker records Ornithology and Confirmation.
o Stravinsky writes Ebony Concerto for Woody Herman and his
band.
1947 o Gillespie introduces Cubana Bop (Afro-Cuban jazz) to bebop.
o Thelonious Monk cuts his first records.
o Bud Powell makes his first trio recordings.
o Herman's second Herd records Four Brothers.
1948 o Miles Davis forms his highly influential nonet.
o Stan Getz records Early Autumn.
1949 o High-watermark of the bop era; big bop concert at Carnegie Hall.
o Tristano records with his sextet, which includes Lee Konitz, Warne
Marsh, and other major "cool school" players.
o Sonny Rollins makes his recording debut.
o Stan Kenton and Benny Goodman both commission Afro-Cuban
arrangements from Chico O'Farrill.
o Lennie Tristano's Intuition and Digression are the first « pre » free
jazz improvisations.
o Miles Davis's "Birth of the Cool" recordings are issued; "cool jazz"
is born.
o George Shearing organizes quintet.
1950 o Bop's popularity wanes.
o The Dave Brubeck Trio enjoys popularity.
o Horace Silver is "discovered" by Stan Getz.
o Basie organizes septet. Kenton organizes 40- piece Innovations in
Modern Music Orchestra.
1951 o Brubeck forms a quartet featuring altoist Paul Desmond.
o Miles Davis makes his first ("pre") hard bop recordings (with
Sonny Rollins and Jackie McLean).
o Kenton records Graettinger' s City of Glass.
1952 o Modern Jazz Quartet makes its debut recordings (Vendome and La
Ronde).
o Chet Baker and Gerry Mulligan are the core of a pianoless quartet.
o Miles Davis leaves the "cool school" and starts playing hard bop.
o Gerry Mulligan organizes quartet without piano.
o Granz takes "Jazz at the Philharmonic" to Europe.
1953 o Miles Davis records Walkin', first emblematic hard bop recording.
1954 o Clifford Brown and Max Roach form a hard bop quintet.
o Cal Tjader records Latin jazz.
o Miles Davis records Bag's Groove and The Man I Love with Monk
and M Jackson. J. J. Johnson and Kai Winding organize trombone-
duo-lead quartet.
o First Newport Jazz Festival.
o Blues singer Joe Williams joins Basie.
o Sonny Rollins records Airegin and Oleo.
o Elvis Presley That's All Right Mamma and Bill Haley Rock Around
The Clock, beginning of the rock and Roll.
1955 o Parker dies.
o Cannonball Adderley emerges as a major hard bop musician.
o Art Blakey and Horace Silver start the Jazz Messengers, a major
hard bop force.
o Miles Davis first « classic quintet » with John Coltrane, Red
Garland, Paul Chambers and Philly Jo Jones.
o Cecil Taylor records free jazz. John Coltrane joins the Miles Davis
Quintet.
o Sun Ra records with his Arkestra.
o Clifford Brown records Joy Spring.
o Teo Macero incorporates electronic music techniques in Sounds of
May.
1956 o Tito Puente records Puente Goes Jazz.
o Charles Mingus records Pithecanthropus Erectus, an early avant-
garde work.
o Clifford Brown dies in auto accident. .
1957 o Altoist Art Pepper records Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section
with members of the Miles Davis Quintet.
o John Coltrane records Blue Train album.
o Gunther Sculler invents the Third Stream word .
1958 o Hard bop guitarist Wes Montogmery records.
o Ornette Coleman cuts his first records.
o Miles Davis records Milestones, the first modal tunes.
o Davis and Gil Evans collaborate on Porgy and Bess album.
o Miles records with Adderley for Blue Note Somethin Else album.
o Ornette Coleman records The Blessing.
o Joao Gilberto records Antonio Carlos Jobim's Chega de Saudade
bossa nova.
1959 o Lester Young, Sidney Bechet and Billie Holiday die .
o Brubeck records Take Five and Blue Rondo A La Turk (Time Out
album) : the first definitive exploration in asymetrical rhythms.
o The film Black Orpheus features a Brazilian jazz score by Antonio
Carlos Jobim and Luiz Bonfa.
o Coleman records Shape of Jazz to Come and Change of the
Century ; free jazz starts.
o Davis records "Kind of Blue" with J. Adderley, Coltrane, and B.
Evans : modal jazz starts.
o Coltrane records "Giant Steps" album : a giant step in harmonic
complexity.
o Bill Evans Trio with Scott Lafaro and Paul Motian (Portrait In
 Jazz) : a major change in rhythm section conception.
o Charles Mingus Mingus Ah Um.

1960 o Freddie Hubbard debuts on disk.

o John Coltrane forms his "classic quartet" and records My Favorite
Things.
o Mingus forms a quartet that includes Eric Dolphy.
o Ornette Coleman Double Quartet records Free Jazz.
o Riot at the Newport Jazz Festival.
1961 o Oliver Nelson records the definitive hard-bop album Blues and the
Abstract Truth.
o John Coltrane records Ole.
1962 o Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd record Jazz Samba- beginning of the
bossa nova craze in the United States.
1963 o Bossa nova becomes ubiquitous with the release of Astrud
Gilberto's recording of "Girl from Ipanema" (featuring Jobim and
Getz).
o Coltrane's Alabama a reaction to racial tension in South.
o Mingus records Hora Decubitus.
o Bill Evans records Conversations With Myself.
o Miles Davis, « second classic quartet » with Herbie Hancock, Ron
Carter, Tony Williams and Wayne Shorter (in 1964).
1964 o Louis Armstrong has a big pop hit with Hello, Dolly!
o Pharoah Sanders makes his first recordings.
o Coltrane records his spiritual A Love Supreme.
1965 o AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians),
an avant-garde collective, formed in Chicago.
o Coltrane, Ascension.
1966 o Cannonball Adderley becomes one of the first hard boppers to
cross over to pop.
o Art Ensemble of Chicago is formed.
1967 o Davis, Shorter, Hancock, Carter, and Williams record Nefertiti.
o Herbie Hancock, playing with Miles Davis, introduces an electric
piano-the first step toward fusion.
o John Coltrane dies.
1969 o Fusion is born with Miles Davis's Bitches Brew. Jazz rock starts.
1970 o Classical pianist Joshua Rifkin records his first Joplin album.
1971 o Armstrong dies.
o The seminal fusion groups Weather Report and Mahavishnu
Orchestra are formed.
1972 o Chick Corea's fusion group, Return to Forever, records its first two
albums.
o Joplin complete works published.
o Davis, On The Corner.
 1973 o The Sting, a hit film, features a Joplin soundtrack and launches a
ragtime revival.
1974 o Ellington dies.
o Grover Washington, Jr., scores a crossover hit with "Mr. Magic".
1975 o Jaco Pastorius plays with Weather Report.
o George Benson scores a pop hit with "This Masquerade."
1976 o Weather Report Black Market et Heavy Weather.
1977 o Spyro Gyra, a pop-influenced fusion group, debuts on record.
o Trumpeter Chuck Mangione scores a pop hit with Feels So Good.
1978 o The Pat Metheny Group is formed.
1979 o Charles Mingus dies.
1980 o Grover Washington, Jr. records Winelight, the definitive
"contemporary jazz" album.
1981 o Davis returns to jazz, records Man with the Horn.
1982 o Thelonous Monk dies.
1983 o Portraits, talks, testimonys, Miles Davis is everywhere
1984 o In downbeat, lester bowie shows wynton marsalis as a genius, but
also wants him to put a little bit more of tragedy and feeling in his
music.
1985 o Wynton Marsalis leads a revival of acoustic jazz with Black Codes
(from the Underground).
TO BE o
CONTINUED

1991 o Deaths of Miles Davis and Stan Getz.