I have selected one hundred unforgettable jazz pieces that have made the history of this music. The aim of this list is to suggest a few listens to those who do not know jazz music at all, or have only listened to some of it and are curious about new periods or genres.
I have tried to follow the development of jazz through the main eras: the origins, the 1930s, the big bands, the great voices, bebop, cool jazz, hardbop & mainstream, the avant-garde, up to the contaminations of jazz rock.
Per ciascun gruppo ho scelto interpreti e brani particolarmente importanti e significativi, in alcuni casi per l’influsso che hanno avuto sui musicisti contemporanei, in altri semplicemente per la capacità di rappresentare il periodo cui si riferiscono. Ovviamente una lista del genere è sempre arbitraria e parziale, vuole essere solo un’introduzione per chi non ha mai approfondito questo genere di musica, o magari fornire qualche consiglio di ascolto agli appassionati.
Table of Content
- The origins
- The 1930s
- The Big Bands
- The Great Female Voices
- The Great Male Voices
- The Bebop Era
- The Cool Jazz Era
- Hard-bop and Mainstream
- The Avant-garde
- Jazz rock.
100 tracks to discover jazz – part 1, the Origins
What was early jazz like? Here are some tunes at the origin of jazz music. The first one dates back to 1917, while the others are all tunes from the 1920s. At this time, gramophones were widespread in America and a good record market developed. The records could contain music for about three minutes, on each side, which is why the tracks last about three minutes or so. The musicians had to be very good, repeating a recording was very expensive so whenever possible the first take was released to the market.
The first piece, Livery Stable Blues, comes from touring shows and is rather rudimentary. Only a decade later, the music of Louis Armstrong and Bix Beiderbecke is decidedly more sophisticated and richer. Click on the links for more on the artist or the song. At the end of the article you will find the spotify playlist to listen to all the songs.
- ODJB – Livery Stable Blues (1917)
- Mamie Smith – Crazy Blues (1920)
- King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band – Dipper Mouth Blues (1923)
- Jelly Roll Morton – Blackbottom Stomp (1926)
- Frankie Trumbauer – Trumbology (1927)
- Bix Beiderbecke – Singin’ the Blues (1927)
- Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five – West End Blues (1928)
- Bessie Smith – Nobody Knows When You Are Down And Out (1929)