JAZZ HISTORY TIMELINE
Jazz, a vibrant and evolving art form born from the cultural crossroads of African, European, and American musical traditions, has profoundly shaped modern music through its emphasis on improvisation, rhythm, and expressive freedom. This historical timeline of jazz is essential for educators and students to effectively understand its techniques, cultural significance, and stylistic developments. This timeline traces jazz’s journey from early America, jazz music’s roots in the late 19th century, the African-American communities of New Orleans, to its global influence across genres and eras, highlighting key figures, styles, and socio-cultural contexts.
1619 Slavery comes to the 13 colonies
The first enslaved Africans were brought to what would become the United States in August 1619, when a ship, often identified as the White Lion, arrived at Point Comfort in the English colony of Virginia. This ship carried approximately 20 – 30 enslaved Africans, who were originally captured from Angola and transported across the Atlantic via a Portuguese slave ship, the São João Bautista. The White Lion, a privateer vessel, traded these individuals to the Virginia colonists, likely for supplies.
1718 France begins to build New Orleans
France began to establish New Orleans in 1718, when Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, a French-Canadian explorer and governor of Louisiana, founded the city. The official founding date is often cited as March 1718, when Bienville selected the site along the Mississippi River for its strategic location, approximately 100 miles from the Gulf of Mexico. Construction of basic infrastructure, including a grid layout and early fortifications, began shortly after, though significant development took years due to the region’s challenging environment (e.g., swamps, flooding).
1719 147 Black slaves brought to New Orleans
The arrival of 147 enslaved Africans in New Orleans in 1719 marks a pivotal moment in the history of Louisiana and the broader narrative of slavery in the Americas. This event, occurring just a year after the founding of NewOrleans in 1718, was part of the early French colonial efforts to develop the region’s economy and infrastructurethrough enslaved labor.
Congo Square
Congo Square, located in what is now Louis Armstrong Park in New Orleans, Louisiana is a historic site central to the city's African and African American cultural heritage. Originally part of the Tremé neighborhood, it was a gathering place for enslaved Africans and free people of color in the 18th and 19th centuries, particularly on Sundays when they were allowed time off. These gatherings, dating back to at least the 1740s under French and Spanish colonial rule, featured music, dance, drumming, and religious ceremonies rooted in African traditions, including those from the Congo region, which gave the square its name.
1803 United States buys Louisiana Territory
The Louisiana Purchase was a landmark acquisition in which the United States, under President Thomas Jefferson, purchased approximately 828,000 square miles of territory from France for $15 million, roughly three cents per acre. The deal doubled the size of the U.S., encompassing land that would become all or part of 15 modern states, including areas from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains. By acquiring the territory, including New Orleans, the United States inherited a vibrant, multicultural city with a unique blend of French, Spanish, African, and Creole influences.
1846 Invention of the Saxophone
The saxophone was invented in the early 1940s by Adolphe Sax, a Belgian instrument maker. Sax patented the instrument on June 28, 1846, in Paris, designing it to bridge the tonal gap between woodwinds and brass in orchestras and military bands. Its conical bore and single-reed mouthpiece gave it a versatile, expressive sound that later became central to jazz and other genres. For a period before the adoption of the Euro, the 200 Begian Franc featured a photo of Sax and the saxophone.
1863 The Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation, issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, declared that all enslaved people in Confederate-held territories were to be set free. It applied to states in rebellion during the U.S. Civil War, though it did not immediately free all enslaved individuals, as it depended on Union military victories to enforce. The proclamation shifted the war’s purpose toward abolition, allowed African Americans to join the Union Army (nearly 200,000 did), and symbolized a commitment to ending slavery. It paved the way for the 13th Amendment (1865), which permanently abolished slavery nationwide.
1890s – 1900s Roots of Jazz in New Orleans
Jazz emerges in New Orleans, blending African rhythms, blues, ragtime, and marching band music. Early pioneers like Buddy Bolden perform in bars and brothels, laying the groundwork for the genre.
1899 "Maple Leaf Rag" by Scott Joplin
1900s NEW ORLEANS – BIRTHPLACE OF JAZZ
1907 Buddy Bolden committed to state mental institution
1902 The year Jelly Roll Morton claimed to have invented jazz.
Jelly Roll Morton famously claimed in the 1930s, particularly during his 1938 Library of Congress interviews with folklorist Alan Lomax, that he "invented jazz in 1902." This assertion has been both celebrated and debated by historians and musicians.
1913 The word "jazz" first appears in print
1914 "St. Louis Blues" W.C. Handy
1915 "King Oliver forms his New Orleans band
1917 First Jazz Recording
The Original Dixieland Jass Band ("Jazz" Band, soon after), a white ensemble, recorded "Livery Stable Blues" and "Dixie Jass Band One-Step" in New York, marking the first commercially released jazz records. This sparked widespread interest in jazz.
1917 Storyville area of New Orleans is closed
1917 King Oliver leaves New Orleans for Chicago
1920s THE JAZZ AGE
Jazz defines the Roaring Twenties, becoming a cultural phenomenon through dance halls, radio, and recordings.
1922 Louis Armstrong joins King Oliver in Chicago
Featuring Louis Armstrong, the band records influential tracks like "Dippermouth Blues," defining early jazz.
1925 Duke Ellington's first recording as a leader
1925 – 1928 Louis Armstrong's Hot Five and Hot Sevens Recordings
Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings, made between 1925 and 1928, are among the most influential in jazz history. These sessions, recorded for OKeh Records in Chicago, showcased Armstrong’s virtuosic trumpet playing, innovative improvisation, and charismatic vocals, while also capturing the spirit of early New Orleans jazz. The Hot Five and Hot Seven ensembles, though primarily studio groups, included key figures like Kid Ory, Johnny Dodds, Lil Hardin Armstrong, and Earl Hines.
1927 Duke Ellington at the Cotton Club
Duke Ellington's residency at the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York, from 1927 to 1931, shaped his career and the broader jazz landscape. The Cotton Club, a prominent whites-only nightclub, provided Ellington and his orchestra with a high-profile platform to reach wider audiences through radio broadcasts and live performances. This exposure transformed Ellington into a national figure, establishing him as one of the leading bandleaders of the era. During this time, Ellington developed his distinctive "jungle style," characterized by exotic, evocative sounds, as heard in compositions like "Creole Love Call" and "Mood Indigo." The residency also allowed Ellington to assemble a talented orchestra, including key collaborators like Bubber Miley and Cootie Williams.
1930 Minton's Playhouse
Minton's Playhouse, a jazz club in Harlem, New York, played a crucial role in the development of bebop jazz in the early 1940s. Located at 210 West 118th Street, it became a breeding ground for the innovative, virtuosic style that transformed jazz from danceable swing to a complex, improvisational art form. Under the management of Henry Minton and later Teddy Hill, the club hosted after-hours jam sessions that attracted pioneering musicians like Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, and Max Roach. Minton’s also provided a space for African American musicians to assert artistic control during a time of racial segregation, contributing to bebop’s identity as a rebellious, intellectual movement.
1955 Charlier Parker dies
Charlie Parker, the legendary bebop saxophonist, died on March 12, 1955, at the age of 34 in New York City. Struggling with heroin addiction, alcoholism, and declining health for years, Parker was staying at the Stanhope Hotel apartment of his friend and patron, Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter. He had been ill with pneumonia and other ailments, exacerbated by his substance abuse. On March 9, 1955, Parker performed his final gig at Birdland, appearing frail. Days later, while watching television at the Baroness’s apartment, he suffered a heart attack, likely worsened by cirrhosis of the liver and a bleeding ulcer. A doctor was called, but Parker passed away before further medical intervention could occur. The coroner’s report cited lobar pneumonia as the official cause of death, though his body was so ravaged that his age was initially estimated at 50-60. His death marked a tragic loss for jazz, cementing his legacy as a bebop pioneer whose influence endured despite his short life.
1958 A "Jazz" Day in Harlem
"A Great Day in Harlem," photographed by Art Kane on August 12, 1958, is a black-and-white image capturing 57 jazz musicians outside a brownstone at 17 East 126th Street, Harlem, New York, for Esquire magazine’s January 1959 "Golden Age of Jazz" issue. Often called the most iconic jazz photograph, its features legends like Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, and Sonny Rollins.
1959
A landmark year for jazz, 1959 is often considered a pinnacle for the genre due to the release of several groundbreaking albums that shaped its evolution. The most significant jazz albums released in 1959, include Miles Davis, Kind of Blue; Charles Mingus, Ah Um; John Coltrane, Giant Steps; Dave Brubeck, Time Out; and Ornette Coleman, The Shape of Jazz to Come.
1966 Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra debut at the Village Vanguard
1969 Miles Davis Bitches Brew
1970 Weather Report formed
1973 Herbie Hancock Headhunters formed
1974 The Brecker Brothers formed
1991 Branford Marsalis leading the Tonight Show Band
1995 Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra founded
1997 50 years of jazz education at the University of North Texas