"Jazz is the language of improvisation!"....

I hope you enjoy this collection of sights...sounds...and information about the people (and their music) from that community called.....

• CLASSIC...Original jazz styles developed from early 20th. century to the middle '40s...Ragtime-Dixieland-New Orleans-Blues-Chicago Jazz.

• SWING...Nuff said...Jazz that swings...Swing styles started in the thirties and are still going strong.

• BIG BAND...Multiple instrument ensembles playing swing jazz.

• BEBOP...A blending of swing and contemporary...Strong melody line and improvised riffs played with traditional harmony components.

• CONTEMPORARY...Fusion of traditional tunes played with new digital (electronic) instruments.

• LATIN JAZZ...The influence of the rhythmic tempos and beats of Latin America.

On the following pages we'll follow the evolution of Jazz...by instruments... from its beginning to now. We'll get a close look at those people who dared to take perfectly good tunes and turn them inside-out ... upside-down ... "round the block" ... and who never played them the same way twice!!!!