50 Key Moments in Jazz (Guardian)

A history of jazz in 50 key moments, as chosen by Guardian and Observer writers. See the whole series on the Guardian Page.

• Buddy Bolden 'invents' jazz

  17 Jun 2011: Early 1900s: Number 1 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of jazz music

• The first divas of the blues

  17 Jun 2011: 1912: Number 2 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of jazz music

• Louis Armstrong buys a cornet

  17 Jun 2011: 1916: Number 3 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of jazz music

• The first jazz recording

  17 Jun 2011: 1917: Number 4 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of jazz music

• Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue premieres at New York's Aeolian Hall

  17 Jun 2011: 12 February 1924: Number 5 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of jazz music

• Django reinhardt's caravan catches fire

  17 Jun 2011: 1928: Number 6 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of jazz music

• The first electric guitar

  17 Jun 2011: 1932: Number 7 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of jazz music

• Art Tatum stuns his contemporaries in New York

  17 Jun 2011: 1932: Number 8 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of jazz music

• Duke Ellington's mother dies

  17 Jun 2011: 1935: Number 9 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of jazz music

• Nat King Cole: the reluctant vocalist

  17 Jun 2011: 1937: Number 10 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of jazz music

• A teenage Charlie Parker has a cymbal thrown at him

  17 Jun 2011: 1937: Number 11 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of jazz music

• Jazz gets a history

  17 Jun 2011: 23 December 1938: Number 12 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of jazz music

• Billie Holiday ends her set with Strange Fruit

  17 Jun 2011: March 1939: Number 13 in our series of the 50 key e
  
  

  • Coleman Hawkins records Body and Soul

    17 Jun 2011: 11 October 1939: Number 14 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of jazz music
    

  • Thelonious Monk buys a hat

    17 Jun 2011: Early 1940s: Number 15 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of jazz music

  • Mary Lou Williams gets a weekly radio show

    17 Jun 2011: 1945: Number 16 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of jazz music

  • Gil Evans's informal salon

    17 Jun 2011: 1947: Number 17 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of jazz music

  • Chano Pozo meets Dizzy Gillespie

    17 Jun 2011: September 1947: Number 18 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of jazz music

  • The Modern Jazz Quartet buy tuxedos

    17 Jun 2011: 1952: Number 19 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of jazz music

  • Gerry Mulligan gets busted

    17 Jun 2011: 13 April 1953: Number 20 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of jazz music

  • Jimmy Smith switches from piano to Hammond organ

    17 Jun 2011: 1953: Number 21 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of jazz music

  • Dave Brubeck makes the cover of Time magazine

    17 Jun 2011: 8 November 1954: Number 22 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of dance music

  • Humphrey Lyttelton's Bad Penny Blues

    17 Jun 2011: 20 April 1956: Number 23 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of dance music

  • Sonny Rollins records Saxophone Colossus

    17 Jun 2011: 1956: Number 25 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of dance music

  • Paul Gonsalves's solo at the Newport jazz festival

    17 Jun 2011: 7 July 1956: Number 24 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of dance music

  • Miles Davis improvises a soundtrack for Lift to the Scaffold

    17 Jun 2011: 1957: Number 26 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of dance music

  • Miles Davis releases Kind of Blue

    17 Jun 2011: 1959: Number 28 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of dance music

  • A great day in Harlem photograph

    17 Jun 2011: Summer 1958: Number 27 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of dance music 

     

    • Ronnie Scott's opens

      17 Jun 2011: October 1959: Number 29 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of dance music

    • Manfred Eicher hears the Bill Evans Trio

      17 Jun 2011: 1961: Number 30 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of dance music

    • Charles Mingus's The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady

      17 Jun 2011: 1963: Number 31 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of dance music

    • South Africa's exiled Blue Notes arrive in Europe

      17 Jun 2011: 1964: Number 32 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of dance music

    • The Girl from Ipanema

      17 Jun 2011: 1964: Number 33 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of Jazz music
      

    • Carla Bley hears Sgt Pepper

      17 Jun 2011: 1967: Number 34 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of dance music

    • The creation of Indo-jazz fusion

      17 Jun 2011: 1967: Number 35 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of dance music

    • John Coltrane's funeral

      17 Jun 2011: 21 July 1967: Number 36 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of Jazz music

    • Keith Tippett appears on Top of the Pops

      17 Jun 2011: 25 March 1970: Number 37 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of dance music

    • Miles Davis plays to 600,000 people at the Isle of Wight

      17 Jun 2011: 29 August 1970: Number 38 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of Jazz music

    • Keith Jarrett's Köln concert

      17 Jun 2011: 24 January 1975: Number 39 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of dance music

    • The release of Rockit

      17 Jun 2011: June 1983: Number 40 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of dance music
      

    • Reinvention of the big band

      17 Jun 2011: 1984: Number 41 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of dance music

    • Pat Metheny and Carlos Santana play Live Aid

      17 Jun 2011: 13 July 1985: Number 42 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of dance music

    • The reinvention of jazz dance

      17 Jun 2011: 1986: Number 43 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of Jazz music 

       

      • New York: the Knitting Factory opens

        17 Jun 2011: 1987: Number 44 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of dance music

      • Wynton Marsalis founds Lincoln Center Jazz programme

        17 Jun 2011: 1987: Number 45 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of dance music

      • Cassandra Wilson rediscovers the blues with Blue Light Til Dawn

        17 Jun 2011: 2 November 1993: Number 46 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of Jazz music

      • Gary Larson's Tales from the Far Side airs with a soundtrack by Bill Frisell

        17 Jun 2011: October 1994: Number 47 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of dance music

      • Jazz FM gets its groove back

        17 Jun 2011: 2009: Number 48 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of Jazz music

      • Ornette Coleman closes the Meltdown festival

        17 Jun 2011: 21 June 2009: Number 49 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of dance music
        

      • Esperanza Spalding wins best newcomer Grammy

        17 Jun 2011: 13 February 2011: Number 50 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of dance music