1. [unknown] – Royal Drums of the Abatutsi (01:40)
2. [unknown] – Street Cries (02:13)
3. Sodero's Military Band – Slidus Trombone (01:20)
4. Scott Joplin – Maple Leaf Rag (03:17)
5. The New York Military Band – Hungarian Rag (03:36)
6. James P. Johnson – Black Man Be on Your Way (03:16)
7. Warren "Baby" Dodds – Spooky Drums No. 1 (02:22)
8. Dink Johnson – Kansas City Stomps (02:31)
9. [unknown] – Precious Lord Take My Hand (01:55)
10. Six Brown Brothers – That Moaning Saxophone Rag (02:14)
11. James Reese Europe's Society Orchestra – Castle Walk (03:16)
12. Sousa's Band – Trombone Snezze (A Humoresque Cakewalk) (02:05)
13. Earl Johnson & Red Henderson – Leather Breeches (02:49)
14. Joe Davenport and His Beale Street Jug Band – Beale Street Breakdown (02:52)
15. Dixieland Jug Blowers – Florida Blues (03:11)
16. Bunk Johnson – Just a Closer Walk With Thee (04:14)
17. Elder J.E. Burch – Wash You, Make You Clean (03:39)
18. Blind Willie Johnson – Dark Was the Night - Cold Was the Ground (03:19)
19. Blind Lemon Jefferson – Bad Luck Blues (02:51)
20. Robert Johnson – I Believe I'll Dust My Broom (02:58)
21. Lead Belly – See See Rider (02:56)
22. The Original Dixieland Jass Band – Livery Stable Blues (03:05)

I purchased the First 100 years of Jazz as a class requirement. I was not really a fan of jazz until I heard this CD. I really enjoyed the variety of jazz choices. Great introduction into the world of jazz. I highly recommend this for anyone that is open to all styles of music. ---Kathleen, amazon.com

Jazz was born in New Orleans about 100 years ago (early 20th century), but its roots can be found in the musical traditions of both Africa and Europe. In fact, some people say that jazz is a union of African and European music.

From African music, jazz got its: rhythm and "feel" "blues" quality tradition of playing an instrument in your own expressive way, making it an "extension" of your own human voice

From European music, jazz got its: harmony -- that is, the chords that accompany the tunes (the chords played on the piano); jazz harmony is similar to classical music's harmony instruments -- most of the instruments used in jazz originated in Europe (saxophone, trumpet, piano, etc.)

Musical improvisation came from both traditions. ---jazzinamerica.org

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1. King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band – Chimes Blues (02:54)
2. Celestin's Original Tuxedo Jazz Orchestra – Station Calls (02:53)
3. Jelly Roll Morton, Johnny Dodds, Blind Blake & Jimmy Bertrand – South Bound Rag (03:19)
4. Freddie Keppard – Salty Dog (02:47)
5. Clarence Williams’ Blue Five – Wild Cat Blues (03:02)
6. Tommy Ladnier & Lovie Austin's Blues Serenaders – Travelling Blues (02:40)
7. Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five – West End Blues (03:11)
8. Louis Armstrong & Earl Hines – Weather Bird (02:43)
9. Piron's New Orleans Orchestra – Bouncing Around (02:45)
10. Jesse Stone and His Blues Serenaders – Starvation Blues (03:20)
11. King Oliver and His Dixie Syncopators – Tin Roof Blues (02:55)
12. Jelly Roll Morton Trio – Mr. Jelly Lord (02:52)
13. Jelly Roll Morton's Red Hot Peppers – Someday Sweetheart Blues (03:31)
14. Jimmie Noone & His Orchestra – Bump It (03:23)
15. Clarence Williams and His Orchestra – Long Deep and Wide (02:56)
16. Bertha "Chippie" Hill, Shirley Clay & Artie Starks – Trouble in Mind Blues (03:10)
17. Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong, Charlie Green & Fletcher Henderson – Careless Love Blues (03:27)
18. Jelly Roll Morton – Mamie's Blues (03:17)
19. Pinetop Smith – Pinetop's Boogie Woogie (03:21)
20. The Washingtonians – East St. Louis Toodle-Oo (03:06)

When W. C. Handy, then living in Memphis, was invited to bring a 12-piece band to New York to record for Columbia, he could find only four musicians willing to make the trip. He traveled to Chicago to fill the remaining spots, but encountered hesitancy and suspicion there, too. “Like Memphians, Chicago musicians had never heard of a colored band traveling to and from New York to make records,” he later recalled. When Freddie Keppard had a chance to make the first jazz recordings for Victor in 1916, he also expressed reservations, but for a different reason. “Nothin’ doin’ boys,” he told his bandmates. “We won’t put our stuff on records for everybody to steal.”

Meantime, jazz was taking Chicago by storm. The greatest talents in New Orleans jazz set up shop in the Windy City during the years following World War I. Sidney Bechet moved to Chicago in 1917. Jelly Roll Morton had visited Chicago in 1914 and would later return for a long stay—the city served as his home base when he made his most important recordings in the 1920s. King Oliver first found widespread acclaim as a Chicago bandleader during that same period, and Louis Armstrong first came to public attention as a member of Oliver’s ensemble, while it was performing in Chicago.

Why did jazz ever leave New Orleans? Today, that city still tries to build tourism claims around its jazz heritage, but all the boasting and brochures can’t hide the fact that New Orleans’s jazz scene has been declining for almost 100 years. In 1918, Columbia Records tried to seize the momentum of the first jazz records by sending talent scout Ralph Peer to the Big Easy in search of recording acts, but Peer shocked the home office with his telegram after three weeks on the job: NO JAZZ BANDS IN NEW ORLEANS.

That was a slight exaggeration. A few outstanding jazz players still made their homes in New Orleans. Check out the music that trumpeter Sam Morgan later recorded for Columbia, which testifies to the homegrown talent that stayed in the Crescent City. Nonetheless, the most famous jazz musicians from New Orleans had already left home by the time the public started talking about the “Jazz Age,” and the city wouldn’t come to the forefront of the idiom again until the rise of Wynton Marsalis and others in the 1980s.

The usual reason given for the departure of the first generation of New Orleans talent is the closure of the city’s red-light district in 1917. Without brothels, the story goes, jazz musicians had no place to play. The real history is more complex. True, many musicians did lose gigs as a result of the navy’s determination to clean up New Orleans, but other factors contributed to this exodus, from the influenza epidemic that ravaged the city to sheer wanderlust. But the biggest reason jazz musicians had for moving to Chicago was the simple desire to escape the institutionalized racism of the South and find better economic opportunities. A half-million African-Americans eventually relocated from Southern states to Chicago—musicians, along with everyone else.

New York also saw its black population grow during this period, but its most significant contribution to the jazz idiom in the early 1920s came mainly from local talent. The first native New York jazz style was “Harlem stride,” a rambunctious piano music. The name refers to the striding motion of the performer’s left hand, which dances back and forth from the bottom of the keyboard to the middle register on every beat, as well as to the New York neighborhood where this performance style flourished.

New York native Thomas “Fats” Waller probably did more than anyone to prove that the city didn’t always need to import its jazz talent. He was the most famous of the Harlem stride players, but a host of other brilliant keyboardists—including James P. Johnson, Willie “The Lion” Smith, Donald Lambert, Luckey Roberts, and Art Tatum—were also major contributors to the movement. With the exception of Tatum, all these musicians were born in the Northeast.

I suspect that Duke Ellington’s decision to move from Washington, D.C., to Harlem in the early 1920s—in retrospect, a turning point in jazz history—was spurred by the vibrancy of the local piano tradition. At that juncture, Chicago still would have been the favored destination for most aspiring jazz talents, but as a professional pianist immersed in the stride tradition, Ellington had different priorities. ---Ted Gioia, city-journal.org

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1. New Orleans Rhythm Kings – Weary Blues (02:49)
2. Bix Beiderbecke & Frankie Trumbauer and His Orchestra – Singin' the Blues (03:02)
3. Eddie Lang & His Orchestra – Walkin' the Dog (03:02)
4. Boyd Senter and His Senterpedes – Mobile Blues (03:12)
5. Original Memphis Five – The Great White Way Blues (04:21)
6. Ladd's Black Aces – Aunt Hagar's Children (03:19)
7. Hoagy Carmichael's Collegians – March of the Hoodlums (02:23)
8. Husk O'Hare's Super Orchestra of Chicago – Tiger Rag (02:36)
9. Charles Pierce Orchestra – Bull Frog Blues (02:59)
10. The Bucktown Five – Steady Roll Blues (02:36)
11. Joe Venuti's Blue Four – The Wild Dog (02:42)
12. Blind Willie Dunn's Gin Bottle Four – Jet Black Blues (03:04)
13. Gene Gifford and His Orchestra – Nothin' but the Blues (03:15)
14. Red McKenzie and the Mound City Blue Blowers – If I Could Be With You One Hour Tonight (03:24)
15. Wingy Manone and His Orchestra – Bouncin' in Rhythm (02:46)
16. Bud Freeman & His Summa Cum Laude Orchestra – I've Found a New Baby (02:42)
17. Eddie Condon and His Windy City Seven – Love Is Just Around the Corner (03:05)
18. Bud Freeman Trio – Swingin' Without Mezz (03:08)
19. Benny Goodman and His Boys – Wolverine Blues (02:51)
20. The Benny Goodman Trio – That's a Plenty (02:49)
21. Bix Beiderbecke – In a Mist (Bixology) (02:44)

Dixieland, in music, a style of jazz, often ascribed to jazz pioneers in New Orleans, La., but also descriptive of styles honed by slightly later Chicago-area musicians. The term also refers to the traditional jazz that underwent a popular revival during the 1940s and that continued to be played into the 21st century.

Chicago style, approach to jazz group instrumental playing that developed in Chicago during the 1920s and moved to New York City in the ’30s, being preserved in the music known as Dixieland. Much of it was originally produced by trumpeter Jimmy McPartland, tenor saxophonist Bud Freeman, clarinetist Frank Teschemacher, and their colleagues in imitation of the New Orleans Rhythm Kings (originally the Friar’s Society Orchestra, including Leon Rappolo, Paul Mares, George Brunis, and others), a white New Orleans band playing at Chicago’s Friar’s Society.

Though much like New Orleans style, Chicago style can sometimes be differentiated by its greater emphasis on individual solos, a less relaxed feeling, and a somewhat smaller reliance on elements of 19th-century black ethnic music. Comparisons between the two forms are difficult because little New Orleans style was recorded before 1923, by which time both the black and the white New Orleans bands had already been in Chicago long enough to influence each other as well as the Chicago audience; this ruled out the existence of recorded examples illustrating how New Orleans black bands originally differed from New Orleans white bands and how all differed from the native Chicago bands during their 1920s Chicago residence. These styles employed simple accompanying rhythms (often just a chord on each beat by piano, guitar, or banjo, with bass and drums) and improvised counterlines among the melody instruments (trumpet, clarinet, trombone, saxophone, and occasionally violin). Some choruses contained mutual embellishments, whereas most had some sort of solo in the foreground while backgrounds were partly or completely worked out by the musicians who were not soloing. The degree of complexity seems to have depended primarily on the particular interests of the leader. For example, Jelly Roll Morton, a black leader from New Orleans, worked out elaborate arrangements for his Chicago record dates, yet Louis Armstrong, another black New Orleans native, did not. Similarly, some recordings by the Austin High Gang, as McPartland and his fellow white players were often called, are quite elaborate, yet others by them are informal.

For decades, the Chicago style was kept alive through the work of Eddie Condon. ---britannica.com

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1. Chick Webb and His Orchestra – Liza (All Clouds Roll Away) (02:50)
2. Ella Fitzgerald & Chick Webb – A-Tisket A-Tasket (02:37)
3. Bennie Moten and His Orchestra – Rhumba Negro (Spanish Stomp) (02:50)
4. Jimmie Lunceford and His Orchestra – Rhythm Is Our Business (03:17)
5. Jean Goldkette and His Orchestra – Birmingham Bertha (02:56)
6. McKinney’s Cotton Pickers – I'd Love It (03:06)
7. Fats Waller and His Rhythm – A Good Man Is Hard to Find (02:58)
8. Fats Waller, His Rhythm & His Orchestra – Jitterburg Waltz (03:21)
9. Benny Goodman and His Orchestra – All the Cats Join In (03:12)
10. Gene Krupa and His Orchestra – Let Me Off Uptown (03:04)
11. Luis Russell and His Burning Eight – Savoy Shout (03:00)
12. Count Basie & His Orchestra – Rock-a-Bye Basie (03:04)
13. Count Basie & His Orchestra – Harvard Blues (03:22)
14. Duke Ellington & His Orchestra – Mood Indigo (02:42)
15. Stuff Smith and His Onyx Club Boys – Twilight in Turkey (02:26)
16. Zutty Singleton & his Orchestra – King Porter Stomp (02:36)
17. Eddie Durham and His Band – Moten Swing (02:40)
18. Quintette du Hot Club de France – Minor Swing (03:15)
19. Billie Holiday & Frankie Newton and His Orchestra – Fine and Mellow (03:17)
20. Woody Herman & His Orchestra – Woodshopper's Ball (03:11)
21. Mary Lou Williams and Her Kansas City Seven – Harmony Blues (02:52)

Kansas City is world renowned for its rich jazz and blues legacy. Jazz in Kansas City was born in the 1920s and continues today in clubs and events held throughout the city. More than 40 area nightclubs feature jazz on a regular basis.

The roots of Kansas City jazz are quite varied. Blues singers of the 1920s and ragtime music greatly influenced the music scene. Settings such as dance halls, cabarets and speakeasies fostered the development of this new musical style. In the early days, many jazz groups were smaller dance bands with three to six pieces. By the mid-1920s, the big band became the most common. Territory bands also had an influential development on jazz. Many great musicians got their start in these bands, traveling up to 1,000 miles between jobs.

While jazz began in the 1920s with a bang, it flourished in the 1930s, mainly as a result of political boss Tom Pendergast. During prohibition, he allowed alcohol to flow in Kansas City. As an entertainment center, Kansas City had no equal during these dry times.

This "wide-open" town image attracted displaced musicians from everywhere in mid-America. Throughout the Depression, Kansas City bands continued to play while other bands across the nation folded. The city was shielded from the worst of the Depression due to an early form of New Deal-style public works projects that provided jobs, and affluence, that kept the dance-oriented nightlife in town swinging. Only in Kansas City did jazz continue to flourish. At one time, there were more than 100 night clubs, dance halls and vaudeville houses in Kansas City regularly featuring jazz music. Legends like Count Basie, Andy Kirk, Joe Turner, Hot Lips Page and Jay McShann all played in Kansas City. A saxophone player named Charlie Parker began his ascent to fame here in his hometown in the 1930s.

Kansas City’s 12th Street became nationally known for its jazz clubs, gambling parlors and brothels, earning the city the moniker, “The Paris of the Plains.” At its height, 12th Street was home to more than 50 jazz clubs. Just six blocks to the south, jazz also flourished at 18th & Vine, which became nationally respected as the epicenter of the city’s African-American community.

Another great outcome of Kansas City jazz was the jam session. After performances, musicians would get together to exchange ideas and experiment with new methods of playing. The best local and out of town musicians would take part in these jam sessions that lasted all night and well into the next day. ---visitkc.com

The Swing genre represents a golden age for jazz that showed its first signs in the mid-20s, but really peaked from the mid-30s to the mid-40s. Going well into the 20s, most jazz bands still played in New Orleans or Dixieland styles in which the musicians all improvised simultaneously while staying within the boundaries of the original tune's melody and harmony.

When cornetist Louis Armstrong joined Fletcher Henderson's Orchestra in 1924, the band's arranger, Don Redman, knew he had a rare talent on his hands and began to spotlight Armstrong's melodic skills. No longer would the entire band improvise, instead Armstrong would be given the freedom to take solos to new heights while the rest of the band supplied supporting riffs. This new approach to band arranging spread and reached the public at a time when people were looking for large orchestral bands that could provide an evening's worth of dance music. Thus the golden age for big band jazz was born.

From 1935 to about 1946 jazz dance bands led by the likes of Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington were the number one form of entertainment in the US. The swing era finally came to an end when new taxation laws on nightclubs made dance floors unprofitable and jazz became an entertainment for listening, not dancing. ---jazzmusicarchives.com

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1. The Benny Goodman Sextet – Blue Views (02:44)
2. Billy Eckstine and His Orchestra – Lonesome Lover Blues (02:46)
3. Billy Eckstine and His Orchestra – Oop Bop Sh'bam (03:05)
4. Cab Calloway and His Orchestra – Pickin' the Cabbage (02:47)
5. Delta Four – Farewell Blues (03:03)
6. Coleman Hawkins and His All Stars – Half Step Down Please (03:03)
7. Lucky Thompson and His Lucky Seven – Boppin' the Blues (03:00)
8. Sir Charles Thompson & His All Stars – The Street Beat (02:37)
9. Sir Charles Thompson & His All Stars – Mr. Big Horn (02:56)
10. J.C. Heard Sextet – Ollopa (02:53)
11. Charlie Christian All Stars – Swing to Bop (09:00)
12. Jay McShann & His Orchestra – Swingmatism (02:43)
13. Tiny Grimes Quintet – Tiny's Tempo (02:52)
14. Red Norvo & His Selected Sextet – Slam Slam Blues (04:27)
15. Dexter Gordon-Wardell Gray Quintet – The Rubaiyt (03:01)
16. Boyd Raeburn & His Orchestra – A Night in Tunisia (03:10)
17. Charlie Ventura Septet – Euphoria (06:57)
18. Les Thompson All Stars – Take the 'A' Train (04:40)
19. Duke Ellington & Jimmy Blanton – Pitter Panther Patter (03:07)

The Swing Era spanned between the 1930s and 1940s and spawned an array of very talented and unique musicians. Swing was typically played by large bands with the bandleader mainly playing upfront, and because of this, the Swing Era was also known as the Big Band Era. During this time period there was a growth in solo playing done by individuals that would generally play upfront and in some cases as the bandleader; notable musicians of swing include Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Roy Eldridge, Fats Waller, and Art Tatum. The swing style of jazz is notable for being more structured meaning that jazz was mostly written down; furthermore, swing has more emphasis on the smooth sounding saxophones with the drums, bass, and piano mainly forming the rhythm. Swing songs such as Cab Calloway’s “Minnie the Moocher”, Benny Goodman’s “Sing Sing Sing”, and Duke Ellington’s “Take the A Train” have the prominent smooth sounding saxophones that are generally played in the introduction of the songs and played for when the melody is quieter and calmer. Furthermore, in all three songs, the trumpets are given prominence as well in terms of commenting on the saxophones along with riding the overall pitch up as though to add an element of half cadence; this is more noticeable in Goodman’s and Ellington’s songs. Vocals are used in both “Minnie the Moocher” and “Take the A Train”, and in both cases there is a lead vocal backed up by supporting vocals that would repeat or comment on what the lead vocals would sing. However, the singing is more prominent in Calloway’s as he plays as lead vocals and bandleader.

Moving from swing, we now have the transitional period, that is, a transition into bebop. Coleman Hawkins was a musician notable for being a transitional figure; Strongly associated with swing, Hawkins later became a prominent figure in the growth of bebop. Hawkins played as a tenor saxophonist and was known to be more theoretical. If one were to listen to his songs, and compare swing with bebop, it’s quite interesting to hear that with swing, Hawkins is more melodic, and not as fast paced, whereas with bebop, he plays with a higher tempo and sounds more complex. The smoothness of swing can be heard in his songs “April in Paris”, and “Body & Soul”. With the case of “April in Paris” he repeats the process of moving up the scale to reach a higher note and then moving down in replying to what he did before. The same goes with “Body & Soul”, however, this song is different in that the introduction is played with a mini piano solo followed by Hawkins playing the saxophone. The bebop transition can be heard in a song he did with a quartet of which the pianist was known bebop player Thelanious Monk. The song is called “On The Bean” and the saxophone play has a much faster tempo and sounds quite unpredictable compared to his swing styled jazz songs.

Bebop grew out from the Swing Era and began to take shape in the early 1940s. With notable musicians such as Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelanious Monk, and Charlie Christian, modern jazz can be said to have most of it’s influence from artists of bebop. Amongst the musicians noted above, Charlie Christian is one who has been not only a pioneer of bebop but also someone who hasn’t been mentioned much. The quiet nature behind Christian is attributed by his early death in 1941 due to tuberculosis. In bebop, the melody and tempo is much faster than in swing, and there is an emphasis on solo play. Playing on the fast tempo is Charlie Christian with his solo guitar play that is quite odd in jazz because the guitar was played as a rhythmic instrument. With his songs “Seven Come Eleven”, “Airmail Special”, and “Stompin’ at the Savoy”, it’s clear that the guitar is becoming an instrument of prominence. In “Seven Comes Eleven” and “Airmail Special”, the guitar is given a smaller prominence compared to other instruments but, the song still follows the bebop characteristic of rhythmic instruments having a more important role than to ride and play the rhythm.In “Stompin’ at the Savoy”, the guitar is the most Played instrument and each phrase is different than the next, making the whole song quite unpredictable but also exciting. Furthermore, with this song, the Bass drum comments on the solo guitar play with a beat played much louder after every mini lick. The fact that only a small number of instruments could be heard is also an indication of the bebop style. Compared to swing, bebop has smaller number of players. ---aa4443a.wordpress.com

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1. Be Bop Boys – Webb City (05:39)
2. Sonny Stitt Quintet – Seven Up (02:30)
3. Red Rodney Quintet – Serge Urge (02:36)
4. Allen Eager Quartet – Symphony Sid's Idea (02:49)
5. The Stan Getz Quartet – Opus De Bop (02:32)
6. Charlie Parker All-Stars – Relaxin' at Camarillo (03:01)
7. Dizzy Gillespie Jazzmen – Diggin' Diz (02:53)
8. Charlie Parker Quintet – Lover Man (03:19)
9. Charlie Parker All-Stars – Parker's Mood (03:27)
10. Barry Ulanov's All Star Modern Jazz Musicians – On the Sunny Side of the Street (03:21)
11. Dodo Marmarosa Trio – Bopmatism (03:08)
12. Tadd Dameron Septet – Symphonette (03:07)
13. Bud Powell's Modernists – Wail (03:07)
14. Roy Porter's 17 Beboppers – Gassin' the Wig (02:47)
15. Howard McGhee Quartet – Trumpet at Tempo (02:48)
16. Howard McGhee Sextet – Midnight at Minton's (03:01)
17. Sonny Criss Sextet – Blue 'n' Boogie (03:30)
18. Dizzy Gillespie Septet – 52nd Street Theme (03:07)
19. Dizzy Gillespie and His Orchestra – Cubano Bop (03:08)
20. Thelonious Monk Quintet – Round About Midnight (03:11)

Also known as bebop, Bop was a radical new music that developed gradually in the early '40s and exploded in 1945. The main difference between bop and swing is that the soloists engaged in chordal (rather than melodic) improvisation, often discarding the melody altogether after the first chorus and using the chords as the basis for the solo. Ensembles tended to be unisons, most jazz groups were under seven pieces, and the soloist was free to get as adventurous as possible as long as the overall improvisation fit into the chord structure. Since the virtuoso musicians were getting away from using the melodies as the basis for their solos (leading some listeners to ask "Where's the melody?") and some of the tempos were very fast, bop divorced itself from popular music and a dancing audience, uplifting jazz to an art music but cutting deeply into its potential commercial success. Ironically the once-radical bebop style has become the foundation for all of the innovations that followed and now can be almost thought of as establishment music. Among its key innovators were altoist Charlie Parker, trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, pianist Bud Powell, drummer Max Roach, and pianist/composer Thelonious Monk. ---allmusic.com

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1. Claude Thornhill & His Orchestra – Yardbird Suite (03:22)
2. The Miles Davis Nonet – Jeru (03:11)
3. Lennie Tristano Trio – Supersonic (03:19)
4. Lennie Tristano Sextet – Wow (03:20)
5. Lennie Tristano Quartet – Yesterdays (02:47)
6. Boyd Raeburn & His Orchestra – Boyd Meets Stravinsky (02:54)
7. Stan Kenton and His Orchestra – Artistry in Rhythm (03:21)
8. Woody Herman & His Orchestra – Early Autumn (03:13)
9. Woody Herman's Second Herd – Four Brothers (03:14)
10. Buddy DeFranco & His Orchestra – A Bird in Igor's Yard (02:54)
11. Gerry Mulligan Quartet – Festive Minor (06:00)
12. The Dave Brubeck Quartet – Three to Get Ready (05:44)
13. The Modern Jazz Quartet – Django (04:45)
14. Herb Ellis & Joe Pass – Joe's Blues (03:27)
15. Lee Konitz Orchestra – My Own Best Friend (03:55)
16. Phil Woods Quartet – Out of Nowhere (08:04)
17. Sonny Stitt Quartet – Streamline Stanley (04:13)

Cool jazz arose slowly in the late 40s when many jazz musicians realised there was no point in following in the fast paced be-bop footsteps of Diz and Bird and began to try a more relaxed and quieter approach to playing. Early examples of cool jazz came from Miles Davis' Nonet and Lenny Tristano's group, while later practitioners like Gerry Mulligan and Chet Baker showed up on the west coast where cool jazz was often referred to as west coast jazz.

Many cool jazz saxophonists looked to the pre-bop languid sax style of Lester Young for inspiration. Also, 3rd Stream influenced arrangements that featured Baroque style counterpoint became popular during the cool era. One lasting innovation of the cool genre is the idea of concert hall influenced 'chamber jazz' as pioneered by The Modern Jazz Quartet. For some critics, west coast jazz seemed like a souless sell-out compared to the more challenging and urban flavored be-bop of New York City. In 1952 Miles Davis was one of the first 'cool' band leaders to lead the way to a more aggressive next phase in jazz, hard bop.

Cool jazz began to fade before the arrival of fusion and never made a comeback afterwards. Today Cool Jazz is a retro style that defines a certain time and place in jazz history, but is still played by some. ---jazzmusicarchives.com

An occasional nickname for cool since some of the key pacesetters were centered in Los Angeles, West Coast Jazz evolved directly from bop in the late '40s and '50s. Essentially, it was a mixture of bop with certain aspects of swing that had been overlooked or temporarily discarded. Dissonances were smoothed out, tones were softened, arrangements became important again, and the rhythm section's accents were less jarring. Some of the recordings were experimental in nature (hinting at classical music) and some overarranged sessions were bland, but in general this was a viable and popular style. Among the many top artists were Gerry Mulligan, Stan Getz, Shorty Rogers, and Howard Rumsey (leader of the Lighthouse All-Stars). ---allmusic.com

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1. Horace Silver Sextet – Hear Me Talkin' to Ya (09:10)
2. Wilbur Harden Quintet – Wells Fargo (07:23)
3. Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers – Moanin' (12:42)
4. Freddie Hubbard Quintet – Joy Springs (06:52)
5. Wes Montgomery Quartet – Impressions (10:02)
6. McCoy Tyner Quintet – Traces (08:35)
7. Kenny Burrell Trio – Blues Rag (04:05)
8. Art Pepper Quartet – Straight Life (06:57)

Although some history books claim that Hard Bop arose as a reaction to the softer sounds featured in cool jazz, it was actually an extension of bop that largely ignored West Coast jazz. The main differences between hard bop and bop are that the melodies tend to be simpler and often more "soulful"; the rhythm section is usually looser, with the bassist not as tightly confined to playing four-beats-to-the-bar as in bop; a gospel influence is felt in some of the music; and quite often, the saxophonists and pianists sound as if they were quite familiar with early rhythm & blues. Since the prime time period of hard bop (1955-70) was a decade later than bop, these differences were a logical evolution and one can think of hard bop as bop of the '50s and '60s. By the second half of the 1960s, the influence of the avant garde was being felt and some of the more adventurous performances of the hard bop stylists (such as Jackie McLean and Lee Morgan) fell somewhere between the two styles. With the rise of fusion and the sale of Blue Note (hard bop's top label) in the late '60s, the style fell on hard times although it was revived to a certain extent in the 1980s. Much of the music performed by the so-called Young Lions during the latter decade (due to other influences altering their style) was considered modern mainstream, although some groups (such as the Harper Brothers and T.S. Monk's sextet) have kept the 1960s' idiom alive. ---allmusic.com

Soul-Jazz, which was the most popular jazz style of the 1960s, differs from bebop and hard bop (from which it originally developed) in that the emphasis is on the rhythmic groove. Although soloists follow the chords as in bop, the basslines (often played by an organist if not a string bassist) dance rather than stick strictly to a four-to-the bar walking pattern. The musicians build their accompaniment around the bassline and, although there are often strong melodies, it is the catchiness of the groove and the amount of heat generated by the soloists that determine whether the performance is successful. Soul-jazz's roots trace back to pianist Horace Silver, whose funky style infused bop with the influence of church and gospel music, along with the blues. Other pianists who followed and used similar approaches were Bobby Timmons, Junior Mance, Les McCann, Gene Harris (with his Three Sounds), and Ramsey Lewis. With the emergence of organist Jimmy Smith in 1956 (who has dominated his instrument ever since), soul-jazz organ combos (usually also including a tenor, guitarist, drummer, and an occasional bassist) caught on, and soulful players became stars, including Brother Jack McDuff, Shirley Scott, Jimmy McGriff, Charles Earland, and Richard "Groove" Holmes, along with such other musicians as guitarists Grant Green, George Benson and Kenny Burrell; tenors Stanley Turrentine, Willis "Gator" Jackson, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, David "Fathead" Newman, Gene "Jug" Ammons, Houston Person, Jimmy Forrest, King Curtis, Red Holloway, and Eddie Harris; and altoist Hank Crawford. Despite its eclipse by fusion and synthesizers in the 1970s, soul-jazz has stayed alive and made a healthy comeback in recent years. ---allmusic.com

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1. Bunk Johnson's Jazz Band – Sobbin' Blues No. 2 (03:52)
2. Bunk Johnson & Turk Murphy and His Band – Careless Love Blues (02:44)
3. Lu Watters Band – Memphis Blues (03:28)
4. Art Hodes' Blue Five – Shake That Thing (03:32)
5. Edmond Hall's Blue Note Jazzmen – Royal Garden Blues (04:08)
6. James P. Johnson's Blue Note Jazzmen – Tishomingo Blues (04:32)
7. Papa Celestin and His New Orleans Jazz Band – High Society (02:52)
8. Turk Murphy Jazz Band – Sidewalk Blues (03:55)
9. Muggsy Spanier and His Ragtime Band – Relaxin' at the Touro (03:11)
10. Mezzrow-Bechet Quintet – Really the Blues (03:12)
11. Bechet-Spanier Big Four – China Boy (03:54)
12. Johnny Dodds & His Orchestra – Gravier Street Blues (02:44)
13. Jimmie Noone & His Orchestra – New Orleans Hop Scop Blues (02:54)
14. Meade Lux Lewis – Honkey Tonk Train Blues (03:20)
15. Albert Ammons – Boogie Woogie Blues (03:42)
16. Pete Johnson Trio – Death Rae Boogie (03:06)
17. Big Maceo, Tampa Red & Charlie Sanders – Chicago Breakdown (03:01)
18. Lil Green, Simeon Henry, Big Bill Broonzy & Ransom Knowling – Why Don't You Do Right (02:58)
19. Mahalia Jackson – Get Away Jordan (02:39)
20. Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Marie Knight, Sammy Price, George "Pops" Foster & Kenny Clarke – Oh When Do I Come to the End of My Journey (03:00)
21. The Five Blind Boys of Mississippi – How Far Am I From Canaan (02:52)

The term Mainstream Jazz was coined by critic Stanley Dance to describe the type of music that trumpeter Buck Clayton and his contemporaries (veterans of the swing era) were playing in the 1950s. Rather than modernize their styles and play bop or join Dixieland bands (which some did on a part-time basis in order to survive), the former big-band stars (which included players like Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Harry "Sweets" Edison, and Roy Eldridge) jammed standards and riff tunes in smaller groups. Mainstream, which was fairly well documented in the 1950s, was completely overshadowed by other styles in the '60s and its original players gradually passed away. However with the rise of tenor saxophonist Scott Hamilton and trumpeter Warren Vache in the 1970s, as well as the beginning of the Concord label (which emphasized the music), mainstream jazz made a comeback. ---allmusic.com

Because the Dixieland revival (one could say fad) of the 1950s was eventually overrun by amateurs, corny trappings (such as straw hats and suspenders), and clichés, many musicians playing in that idiom grew to dislike the term and wanted it to be changed to "traditional" or "classic." But rather than blame the term or the style, it seems more justifiable to separate the professionals from the poor imitators. Dixieland, a style that overlaps with New Orleans jazz and classic jazz, has also been called "Chicago jazz" because it developed, to an extent, in Chicago in the 1920s. Most typically, the framework involves collective improvisation during the first chorus (or, when there are several themes, for several choruses), individual solos with some riffing by the other horns, and a closing ensemble or two with a four-bar tag by the drummer (which is answered by the full group). Although nearly any song can be turned into Dixieland, there is a consistent repertoire of 40 or so songs that have proven to be reliable. Despite its decline in popularity since the 1950s, Dixieland (along with the related classic jazz and New Orleans jazz idioms) continues to flourish as an underground music style. ---allmusic.com

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1. Lennie Tristano Sextet – Intuition (02:28)
2. Miles Davis – Splatch (11:28)
3. Pat Metheny Trio – Bright Size Life (04:45)
4. Archie Shepp Group – There's a Trumpet in My Soul (Part 1) (10:28)
5. Cecil Taylor – Jitney No. 2 (03:33)
6. Keith Jarrett – Ritooria (05:52)
7. Jan Garbarek Group – Irr (07:18)
8. Dollar Brand Trio – Tintiyana (04:21)
9. Albert Ayler – Spirits (06:36)
10. Sun Ra Arkestra – Intergalactic Motion (08:58)
11. Art Ensemble of Chicago – Old Time South Side Street Dance (05:11)

Avant-Garde Jazz differs from free jazz in that it has more structure in the ensembles (more of a "game plan") although the individual improvisations are generally just as free of conventional rules. Obviously there is a lot of overlap between free jazz and avant-garde jazz; most players in one idiom often play in the other "style" too. In the best avant-garde performances it is difficult to tell when compositions end and improvisations begin; the goal is to have the solos be an outgrowth of the arrangement. As with free jazz, the avant-garde came of age in the 1960s and has continued almost unnoticed as a menacing force in the jazz underground, scorned by the mainstream that it influences. Among its founders in the mid-to-late '50s were pianist Cecil Taylor, altoist Ornette Coleman and keyboardist-bandleader Sun Ra. John Coltrane became the avant-garde's most popular (and influential) figure, and from the mid-'60s on, the avant-garde innovators made a major impact on jazz, helping to push the music beyond bebop. ---allmusic.com

Dixieland and swing stylists improvise melodically, and bop, cool, and hard bop players follow chord structures in their solos. Free Jazz was a radical departure from past styles, for typically after playing a quick theme, the soloist does not have to follow any progression or structure and can go in any unpredictable direction. When Ornette Coleman largely introduced free jazz to New York audiences (although Cecil Taylor had preceded him with less publicity), many bop musicians and fans debated about whether what was being played would even qualify as music; the radicals had become conservatives in less than 15 years. Free jazz, which overlaps with the avant garde (the latter can use arrangements and sometimes fairly tight frameworks), remains a controversial and mostly underground style, influencing the modern mainstream while often being ignored. Having dispensed with many of the rules as far as pitch, rhythm, and development are concerned (although it need not be atonal or lack a steady pulse to be free jazz), the success of a free jazz performance can be measured by the musicianship and imagination of the performers, how colorful the music is, and whether it seems logical or merely random. ---allmusic.com

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