Microblog

The Jazz Age

After the First World War there was a boom in jazz for a decade that has come to be known as 'The Jazz Age'. This was the era of the earliest dance music, with the Charleston  and something known as the 'Black Bottom' being particularly popular. Musicians from the south moved etc Chicago looking for work, and the Chicago style was born. New Orleans musicians like the New Orleans Rhythm Kings, King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band and Jelly Roll Morton all made their way to the windy city. Leading bands of the time include Fletcher Henderson, Paul Whiteman and Duke Ellington.

A new lexicon was emerging and, with it, a handful of songs that would become the first of what would come to be known as 'standards' — songs that became part of the everyday language of the jazz movement. These include such perennials as 'Sweet Georgia Brown', 'Bye Bye Blackbird', 'Ain’t Misbehavin'' and — one of the most beautiful jazz tunes of all time — Hoagy Carmichael’s 'Stardust'.

A note on the playlist: due to the unavailability of so many recordings from this era we have occasionally selected recordings from a later period, but ones which reflect the style of the period in question.

Key Artists

King Oliver

Louis 'Satchmo' Armstrong

Bix Beiderbecke

Earl “Fatha” Hines

Jelly Roll Morton

Sidney Bechet

If you want to commission your own music in this style, or would like more information or help, please contact us.

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