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by Jim McGovern • illustrated by Kris Wiltse

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Photo Credits: Cover, Associated Press; title page, Spencer Grant/PhotoEdit; p. 3, Stock
Montage;p. 4, Jack Moebes/Corbis; p. 5, Associated Press/Daily Press; p. 6, Archive Photos;
p. 8, Frank Driggs/Archive Photos; p. 9, Freddie Patterson/Archive Photos;
p. 10, Bettmann/Corbis; p. 11, Associated Press; p. 12, Associated Press; p. 13 (t), Steve J.
Sherman/Archive Photos; p. 13 (b), Associated Press; p. 14, Susan Ragan/Associated Press;
p. 15 (t), Schomburg Center for Research in Black History; p. 15 (b), Hulton-Deutsch
Collection/Corbis; p. 16, The Wenatchee World/Associated Press

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by Jim McGovern
illustrated by Kris Wiltse

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Jazz: The
E a r ly Y e a
The music of m rs
any different cu
South came to ltures of the A
gether in New merican
There were wo Orleans after th
rk songs and g e Civil War.
roots. There w ospel songs wit
ere jaunty mar h African
trumpets, saxo ching tunes pla
phones, and tro yed by the
was the sad so m b o nes of brass bands.
und of “blues” There
of “ragtime.” m usi c and the joyful
bounce
By the 1880s an
d 1890s, these
themselves into threads began
a new kind of to weave
to be called jazz m u sic. T his new music
. It had strong came
in the middle o rh y th m s that often chan
f a song. Jazz al ged
improvise thei lowed the musi
r own ideas inst cians to
the same way ead of playing
every time. No the same song
quite like it. on e h ad ev er heard anyth
ing

s
rlean
New O •

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s Up , jazz
Jazz Grow o f th e tw entieth century
dec ad es
In the first two k e Je ll y Roll Morton
on
Great pla y er s li
grew stronger. ds.
tr u m p et fo rm ed popular ban
Oliver on
piano and King N ew Orleans named
Louis
eniu s fro m
A young jazz g play in
th e M is si ss ip pi riverboats to
e off inal
Armstrong cam th en N ew York. The Orig
hicago, an d ame
Kansas City, C th e fi rs t ja zz record. It bec
Band mad e
Dixieland Jazz Orleans to
es s, an d th e band left New
cc
an overnight su Y o rk , and even Lond
on.
geles , N ew band
play in Los An e E ll in g ton and his jazz
ity, D u k
In New York C fa m ou s jazz club called
the
ut crowd s at a r
played to sell-o ja zz h ad b ecome so popula
y the 1920s, e coun-
Cotton Club. B tt F it zg erald, one of th
that F. S co
across America ca ll ed this period the “J
azz
ous wri te rs ,
try’s most fam
Age.”
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The Big Band Era
In the 1930s, sometimes called the Great Depression, mil-
lions of people lost their jobs. Inexpensive entertainment like
the movies and the radio became especially important.
Millions of people watched and tuned in, and they fell in love
with jazz. As jazz grew more established, it began to change.
The bands grew larger, often with twenty or more players. The
sound grew smoother, with a style called “swing” that cre-
ated an energetic new kind of dancing called the jitterbug.
The most famous bands, led by brilliant musicians like
Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Benny


Goodman, and Glenn Miller, crisscrossed the country by
bus and train. Wherever these bands performed, they
attracted enthusiastic crowds. Many jazz musicians
also traveled to Europe and other parts of the world,
spreading the message of jazz.

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A N e w So u n
d for a New
In 1939, World W World
ar II broke out, an
1941 the United St d by the end of
ates had joined the
young men and w fight. Millions of
omen were called
Many leading jazz into the armed forc
musicians traveled es.
entertain them. Onc ar ound the world to
e again, jazz helped
little happier in th to m ak e people a
e middle of a diffic
When the war ende ul t tim e.
d in 1945, the wor
and jazz had chan ld had changed,
ged with it. Young
smaller bands, in w er musicians formed
hich each player ha
solo, or play on hi d more freedom to
s or her own. Som
cians liked to play e of the younger m
“bebop,” with its fa usi-
Since then, each ne st, co mplex tunes.
w generation of ja
built on earlier styl zz players has
es like bebop and
musicians have re swing. Great jazz
ached into Latin an
jazz truly internatio d Asian music to m
nal. Today, ake
musicians still add
their personal
touches to the
tunes that were
made popular
decades ago. That
freedom to make


something new is


what jazz is all ab
out.

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Louis Armstrong:
The Ambassador of Jazz
Louis Armstrong was born in New Orleans in 1901, just
as jazz itself was being born. Armstrong grew up poor, and,
as a child, he did what he could to help his family. He ran
errands, sold food, and even sang for nickels on the city’s
streets.
With so many great musicians playing in New Orleans,
Louis Armstrong soon decided that he wanted to play jazz.
After hearing a great cornet musician play, Armstrong saved
his money until he could buy a cornet himself. (A cornet is a
kind of trumpet.) That first horn, bought in a pawnshop for
just five dollars, changed Armstrong’s life.
By the time he was in his teens, Louis
Armstrong was playing trumpet and
winning local contests against much
older musicians. In his spectacular
solos, he often hit high notes that
other trumpeters couldn’t reach. Soon,
Armstrong was playing with a band on
a riverboat going up and down the
Mississippi. By the time
he was twenty, Louis
Armstrong was the best
trumpet player in New
Orleans.

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Soon, Armstrong moved north, first to Chicago and then to

New York. In no time at all, he was leading his own band.
Besides playing before live audiences, the band also was able
to produce numerous records. By the early 1930s, Louis
Armstrong was one of America’s best-known jazz musicians.
Louis Armstrong was not only a great trumpet player, but
he was also a fine singer. Even though he had a gravelly voice,
he used it creatively. Once, when he was making a record, the
sheet of paper with the words to the song fell onto the floor.
Armstrong kept going, singing the tune but using sounds
instead of words. This kind of jazz singing came to be called
“scat.” Try it yourself with one of your favorite songs. Just
substitute sounds like “dooby-dooby-do” for the song’s words.
Louis Armstrong’s career stretched across many decades.
In fact, he made his most popular record in 1964, when he was
sixty-three years old. “Hello Dolly” sold so many records that
it became a number one hit, ahead of even the Beatles.
During his long career, Louis Armstrong acquired many
nicknames, including “Satchmo” and “Pops.” Over the years,
he took his music onto the Broadway stage and appeared in
nearly fifty movies. Beginning with his first European tour in
1932, he traveled all over the world with his band. Armstrong
played and sang for kings and queens, as well as many thou-
sands of ordinary citizens everywhere.
Even in his sixties, Louis Armstrong was still traveling and
proving that music is a language everyone understands.
Because of his international popularity, he was sometimes
called by another nickname, “Ambassador Satch.”

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The D u k
e o f J a z z born in 1899 in
y Ellington was
Edward Kenned w as th e d aughter of a police
.C. His moth er
Washington, D and
re th at y o u ng Edward dressed
ade su t man-
captain. She m stil l a ch ild, his excellen
hile he w as d his
spoke well. W e “D u k e.” That name, an
the nick n am
ners earned him w it h him his whole
life.
yle , st ay ed
sophisticated st er p la yed the piano, an
d she
’s m o th
Duke Ellington ss o n s at an early ag
e. He
p ia n o le
he took
made sure that her was named Mrs
.
is firs t te ac
later said that h am e for a music teac
her!
am u si n g n e
Clinkscales, an e w ro te his first songs. By th
fifteen when h
Ellington was er.
eig h te en , h e was a band lead
time he was

8
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During the 1920s and 1930s, Duke Ellington’s band grew

more and more popular. Based in New York, they made many
successful records. They also toured all over the United States
and Europe. The Duke was becoming a member of jazz royalty.

A Great Composer
During his sixty-year career, Duke Ellington composed
thousands of pieces of music. He wrote music constantly, even
while traveling in cars, airplanes, and trains. He would often
scribble the idea for a song on a scrap of paper or on the back
of an envelope.
Ellington was some-
times called
“America’s Greatest
Living Composer,”
although he called
himself just a “piano
player.”
More than any
other jazz musician,
Duke Ellington mixed
jazz with classical music. He once wrote a special piece for the
Queen of England. Only one record was ever made of that
piece; it was a gift from a Duke to a Queen.
Duke Ellington played for many world leaders, and he
received numerous awards. His greatest reward, however, was
that his music was loved by millions of people all over the
world.

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Benny Goodman:
The King of Swing
Benny Goodman was born in Chicago in 1909. His mother
and father were immigrants, and his family was large. Even
though the Goodmans had little money, the children in the
family were encour-
aged to take music
lessons at the local
community center.
The young Benny
Goodman chose the
clarinet because of
its shape and color.
His talent showed
right from the start.
Before he was a
teenager, he was
playing professionally. By the time he was sixteen, he was
known as a leading clarinetist. Like many other jazz players,
Goodman went to New York, which in the 1920s and 1930s
was becoming the jazz capital of the world.
In 1935, Benny Goodman and his band headed to Los
Angeles. Like many other bands of this period, Goodman’s
group played “swing,” a style of jazz that was great for danc-
ing. Goodman’s performance in California was so popular that
many people believe it started the period known as the


 
“swing era.”

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Dizzy Gillespie: Bebop Genius

John Gillespie earned the nickname “Dizzy” because he
loved to make jokes and have fun on stage. He earned his
musical reputation, however, because he was one of the great-
est jazz trumpeters of all time.
After World War II, Dizzy and Charlie “Bird” Parker, a tal-
ented young saxophone player, came together in New York to
create a completely new jazz style. Dizzy and Bird played
more complicated solos than the earlier swing players. They
played music so fast and so furiously that not even the best
dancers could keep up.
This new “bebop” style was criticized at first, but soon it
became very popular, and Dizzy, with his unique “bent” trum-
pet, was its leader. As he grew older, Dizzy Gillespie used his
popularity to fight for civil rights and to make jazz a more
international music.

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Jazz Singers
Some of the greatest jazz music was actually written to be
sung. This was especially true in the 1920s and 1930s, when
many big bands featured a singer. While many famous jazz
vocalists have been men, like Frank Sinatra and Billy Eckstine,
most have been women.

E l l a F it z g
e ra l d
Ella Fitzgerald
started out as a
ning a singing dancer, but afte
contest she mad r win-
to be a wise ch e the switch. It
oice because sh turned out
most popular ja e became one
zz singers of al of the
time. l
One of the firs
t great “scat”
singers, Ella F
itzgerald could
use her voice to
improvise musi
just like any gre c
at jazz musician
At the same tim .
e, Fitzgerald
could also prese
nt a song beau
fully just the w ti-
ay it was writt
Both Louis Arm en.
strong and the
satile Ella Fitzg ver-
erald reached m
people through any
out the world w
never thought ho
they liked jazz
.

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Betty Carter
Like Ella Fitzgerald, Betty Carter
was known for her scat singing. Carter
especially liked working with the great
bebop players. They often played at a
very fast “tempo,” piling notes on top of
one another. Because she used the same
technique with her voice, she was often
called Bebop Betty.

P e g gy L e e ily in
y L ee g re w u p in a poor fam
Pegg t-
o ta . W h ile w orking as a wai
North Dak ation. In
, sh e sa n g o n a local radio st
ress years
, w h en sh e w as twenty-one
1941 ere,
w en t to C h ic ago to sing. Th
old, she
ed b y B en n y Goodman, and
she was h ir
cording
ca re er to o k off. Besides re
her acted in
y p o p u la r al bums, Lee also
man d
re ce iv in g an Academy Awar
movies, g
n in 1 9 5 5 fo r Best Supportin
nominatio ad song
ct ress . S h e al so wrote the le
A e
’s “Lady and th
for Walt Disney some
an d ev en d id the voices for
Tramp ”
characters.
of the movie’s

13
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Jazz: The Latin Sound

Jazz is based on rhythm, or what musicians call “the beat.”
This strong “thump, thump, thump” that lies under the other
instruments is created mostly by the drums and bass. The beat
keeps the music going and determines how fast or how slow
the music will be.
Latin American music has always had very strong, compli-
cated rhythms. From jazz’s very beginnings in New Orleans,
these rhythms have been part of jazz.
As jazz developed, musicians from Cuba, Brazil, and other
Central and South American countries brought their rhythmic
sounds to the United States. Many traditional jazz tunes came
to be played with a Latin American beat. Whole new jazz
styles, based on Latin American music, also developed. It is
fair to say that this Latin American influence is one of the
major ways jazz has come to be a truly international music.

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T h e “ C u bo
p p e r s”
In the 1940s, D
izzy Gillespie,
Charlie Parker
, and the other
“beboppers” o
ften worked w
the many top C ith
uban musician
who came to N s
ew York. The
result, sometim
es called “cubo
combined bebo p,”
p’s super-fast
tempos with th
e powerful bea
Cuban dances t of
Chano Pozo, o lik e the mambo.
ne of the most
drummers, wo fa m o u s Cuban
rked with Dizzy
over a year, an G illespie for
d together they
the best “cubo p ro duced some of
p” music ever.

A
B o ss A N O V blended
th e 1 9 6 0 s, B razilian music
In e
to cr ea te a “Bossa Nova” craz
with jazz e
ac ro ss th e U nited States. Th
that swept ade by
p ush ca m e fr om an album m
big ne
G etz, th e g re at jazz saxopho
Stan ng
Gilberto, a you
player; Astrud d Joao
; and her husban
Brazilian singer and
er to , a tale n te d guitar player
Gil b album,
po se r. T h e h it song from this
com yed
ir l fr o m Ip anema,” is still pla
“The G ay.
dio stations tod
frequently on ra

15
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You
Jazz for
ar n ed so m et h ing about jazz,
have le
Now that you en in g to th e music itself?
a little time li st
why not spend strong or
th e re co rd in gs of Louis Arm
to
When you listen ille sp ie , you will be sure
to
or Diz zy G
Duke Ellington reat!”
es y o u sa y, “Wow, that’s g
that mak at
find something tt le ja zz , to o ? Remember th
play a li
Why not try to have read abou
t in this
at p la y er s y o u
many of the gre an ea rl y age. If you p
lay an
book star te d at
your
instrument, ask
h you
teacher to teac
a simple jazz
tune. If you
a
already play in
k
school band, as
put
your teacher to
the
some jazz into
formance.
band’s next per
not play a
Even if you do
, you can
horn or a drum
ise a little
always improv
“scat singing.”
make
The idea is to
has
y o u fe el. T hat is what jazz
resses how blues or
music that exp th e style has been
ou t, w h et h er
always been ab zz will
y th in g el se . That is what ja
or an
swing or bebop e fun!


o ut. S o , b e cr eative and hav
always be ab

16
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Think and Respond

1 How do the headings help you understand the
information in this book?
2 Write one fact and one opinion you found in this
book. Tell why one is a fact and the other is an
opinion.
3 What is the main idea of this book? Why do you
think that? Give examples from the book to
support your ideas.
4 How do you think the author of this book feels
about jazz? What clues about this do you get from
the book?
5 Choose two of the musicians described in this
book. Compare and contrast them. How are they
alike? How are they different?
6What did you learn about jazz from reading this
book?
Diary Write an entry about a day’s events
by one of the musicians from the book.
Remember to use first-person pronouns in
your writing.

A Musical Instrument Think of all the

instruments mentioned in this book. Would you
like to learn to play one? Write a description of an
instrument you would enjoy playing, and explain why
you chose that instrument.