1. The Original Dixieland Jazz Band release Livery Stable Blues
No 1: Why Livery Stable Blues was the fanfare for a revolution
Livery Stable Blues
2. Louis Armstrong
No 2: Armstrong's voice propelled him into the limelight, but it was as a trumpeter that he emerged as a great virtuoso soloist
Louis Armstrong - Riverside Blues
3. The invention of swing
No 3: Last week's great moment showed Louis Armstrong going from singer to trumpeting genius. This week: Satchmo's role in the invention of swing
Sugar Foot Stomp
4. The Hot Fives and Hot Sevens
No 4: Louis Armstrong's two sensational recording bands of the late 1920s saw the young musician laying the foundations of jazz improvisation
Potato Head Blues
5. Jelly Roll Morton's Red Hot Peppers
No 5: Though he might not have invented the form (as he sometimes claimed) Jelly Roll Morton was the first jazz composer of importance, investing his music with spontaneity and diversityBlack Bottom Stomp
20 Mar 2009:
No 6: He was probably the first great jazz soloist who brought vibrant colours to the palette by introducing the soprano sax
Summertime
7. The arrival of Duke Ellington
No 7: Of the jazz-influenced ensembles of the late 1920s, none showed greater vision than Duke Ellington's. In his hands, jazz kept its spontaneity, improvisational edge and dancefloor drive
East St. Louis Toodle-oo
8. Duke Ellington develops the 'jungle sound'
No 8: Ragtime, boogie-woogie, New Orleans blues and the Harlem renaissance … it all went into the rich mix that made up Duke Ellington's groundbreaking 'jungle sound'Duke Ellington - Creole Rhapsody Part 1
9. Benny Goodman and the swing craze
No 9: As big in his day as rock'n'roll would be two decades later, Goodman was hailed the 'King of Swing' for bringing jazz's good-time feel to a wider audience during the Great DepressionBlue Skies
10. Count Basie
No 10: One of the most important jazz bandleaders of his day, Basie pioneered an infectious take on swing that stunned audiences
Oh Lady Be Good
11. Billie Holiday
No 11: Regarded by many as the greatest jazz singer of them all, Holiday's eloquent ability to sound both world-weary and innocent captivated audiences worldwideThe Man I Love
12. Billie Holiday's Strange Fruit
No 12: The song made Billie Holiday a star, but did so much more – telling of the horrors of lynchings in the deep southStrange Fruit
13. Benny Goodman at Carnegie Hall, 1938
No 13: Benny Goodman's racially integrated showcase unleashed jazz's great black innovators on a dazzled American publicBenny Goodman at Carnegie Hall 1938
14. Charlie Christian
No 14: The pioneering guitarist dazzled contemporaries and put the sound of the electric guitar on the map15. The emergence of bebop
No 15: Dismissed at the time as unlistenable and undanceable, bebop represented an outlet for imaginative, open-minded jazz musicians hoping to usher in a new ageCharlie Parker: Honeysuckle Rose
16. Charlie Parker
No 16: One of the most influential improvisational soloists in jazz, and a pioneer of bebop, Parker was able to move away from a tune's 'home' key and back without losing the thread.
6 of the Best
Cherokee
17. Charlie Parker's first recordings
13 Aug 2009:
No 17: Writtten hastily during rehearsals, these songs contain some of the most memorable melodies in 20th-century music
Charlie Parker - Red Cross
Charlie Parker - Ko Ko
18. Charlie Parker teams up with Ross Russell
24 Sep 2009:
No 18: Parker's deal with the record shop-owner was a defining moment for the saxophonist, as it led him to create some of the most memorable jazz improvisation of all time
Ornithology
Famous Alto Break
Loverman
19. Charlie Parker's final years
14 Oct 2009: No 19: In the eight years following his release from a mental hospital in 1947, Parker produced a great deal of astonishing jazz
Relaxin' at Camarillo
Just Friends
20. The Quintet - Jazz At Massey Hall
No 20: Charlie Parker's final collaboration, featuring bebop's biggest stars, is one of the greatest recorded live shows in jazzNight in Tunisia
21. Birth of the Cool
No 21: Emerging from the shadow of his hero Charlie Parker, Miles Davis rejected the aggressive tempo of bebop to pioneer a smoother style that became a landmark in jazz evolution
The Birth of the Cool
22. The little-known genius of Lennie Tristano
No 22: One of the great jazz educators and innovators, this unheralded pianist was an inspiration to generations of musicians
23. Dave Brubeck's Jazz at Oberlin
No 23: Brubeck's 1953 live album showed
that jazz didn't have to follow the bebop route, and that there was even
a chart audience out there for it
24. Chet Baker and Gerry Mulligan's pianoless quartet
29 Jan 2010:
No 24: The charismatic prince of cool jazz developed an elegant and intertwining sound after being forced to perform without a piano
25. The Modern Jazz Quartet and John Lewis's Django
24 Mar 2010:
No 25: One of the rare bands to be loved
beyond the jazz cognoscenti, this chamber ensemble gave the genre a
respect previously afforded to classical musicians
Audio
(7min 25sec),
14 Apr 2010:
John Fordham: This 1956 interpretation of
Thelonious Monk's typically flinty Bemsha Swing might not sound like a
jazz revolution in motion at first. But listen closer...
14 Apr 2010:
No 27: This 1956 interpretation of
Thelonious Monk's typically flinty Bemsha Swing might not sound
revolutionary at first. But listen closer ...
9 comments
26. Cecil Taylor - Bemsha Swing
Audio
(7min 25sec),
14 Apr 2010:
John Fordham: This 1956 interpretation of
Thelonious Monk's typically flinty Bemsha Swing might not sound like a
jazz revolution in motion at first. But listen closer...27. Cecil Taylor's jazz piano revolution
14 Apr 2010:
No 27: This 1956 interpretation of
Thelonious Monk's typically flinty Bemsha Swing might not sound
revolutionary at first. But listen closer ...9 comments
28. The renaissance of Thelonious Monk
29 Apr 2010:
No 28: The high priest of improv's 1956 album Brilliant Corners is a remarkable insight into his wayward musical mind
7 comments
7 comments
29. The rise of saxophone colossus Sonny Rollins
11 May 2010:
No 29: Though he had recorded with the
Modern Jazz Quartet, Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk, it was from early
1956 that Sonny Rollins really took off …
4 comments
4 comments
30. Jimmy Smith and the Hammond organ
2 Jun 2010:
No 30: The Hammond was designed as a low-budget organ for churches, but it was Smith who marked its place in jazz history
27 comments
31. Miles Davis and Kind of Blue
5 Jul 2010:
No 31: This groundbreaking 1959 album is as close to perfection as jazz gets without sacrificing its spontaneity
19 comments
19 comments
32. Ornette Coleman defines the Shape of Jazz to Come
23 Jul 2010:
No 32: Initially regarded as a fraud or
fool, he influenced half a century of jazz – and this album defines his
greatness more than any other
8 comments
8 comments
9 Aug 2010:
No 33: Perhaps the most influential
saxophonist all of time, Coltrane produced an intensely soulful sound
that reached way beyond the jazz cognoscenti24 comments
16 comments
6 Sep 2010:
No 35: It's almost impossible to choose just one great moment from the legacy of this pioneering bassist and compositional genius15 comments
