Is Jazz Dead? An Honest Look at the State of the Music in 2026
Jazz is a living art form practiced by thousands of trained musicians worldwide, but the phrase “jazz is dead” has circulated in music criticism since at least the … Read more
What Was the Jazz Age? America in the 1920s and the Music That Defined It
The Jazz Age was a period of American cultural history spanning approximately 1920 to 1933, defined by the mainstream rise of jazz music, a transformation in social mores, … Read more
Jazz Fusion: The Complete Guide to Origins, Sound, and Essential Listening
Jazz fusion is a music genre that emerged between approximately 1965 and 1970 by blending jazz harmony and improvisation with the rhythms and electric instrumentation of rock, funk, … Read more
Cool Jazz: The Complete Guide to the Sound That Cooled Jazz Down
Cool jazz is a style of modern jazz that emerged in the United States between the late 1940s and early 1950s, characterized by melodic restraint, lighter tonal colors, … Read more
Hard Bop: How Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers Brought Soul Back to Bebop
Hard bop is a subgenre of jazz that emerged in the mid-1950s as a deliberate intensification of bebop, fusing the harmonic complexity of bebop with the emotional directness … Read more
Modal Jazz: How Miles Davis Replaced Chord Changes With Scales
Modal jazz is a style of jazz improvisation, originating between 1958 and the mid-1960s, in which musicians improvise over static or slowly-changing scales (modes) rather than working through … Read more
Michael Franks: The Jazz-Pop Songwriter Behind Popsicle Toes
Michael Franks is the American jazz-pop singer-songwriter behind “Popsicle Toes.” A complete, fact-checked guide to his life, albums, signature songs, sound, marriage to Claudia, and where he is today.
Jazz in the 1920s: How the Jazz Age Shaped American Culture
Jazz music in the 1920s was the defining American soundtrack of the decade, a genre born from African American musical traditions in New Orleans that, by 1920, had … Read more
1920s Jazz Singers: The Voices of the Jazz Age
The 1920s jazz singers who shaped the Jazz Age were primarily African American women rooted in the blues and vaudeville traditions, recording for independent “race record” labels at … Read more
Jazz Improvisation: The Complete Guide for Musicians
What You’ll Learn in This Guide What jazz improvisation is and why it defines the genre How improvisation works structurally, including common song forms The full historical arc … Read more
Jazz Chord Progressions: The Essential Guide for Musicians
Jazz chord progressions are recurring harmonic sequences, built primarily from seventh chords and their extensions, that form the structural foundation of jazz standards, bebop heads, blues forms, and … Read more
What Is Bebop Jazz? The Complete Guide to Jazz’s Most Revolutionary Style
What You’ll Learn in This Guide A precise definition of bebop jazz and why it changed everything How and where bebop originated, including the key role of Minton’s … Read more