All That Jazz: Places We Enjoy a Uniquely American Art Form

Jazz was never “invented.” Rather, it grew out of a convergence of influences, largely driven by African American musical traditions including blues and spiritual music, but also incorporating European, Caribbean and other styles. Even greater than the sum of its parts, it has evolved into a complex genre with myriad expressions — not least of which is improvisation — leading most to agree that jazz is almost impossible to define, but “we know it when we hear it.” (Louis Armstrong once said, “If you have to ask what jazz is, you’ll never know.”)

Road Scholars have a love affair with jazz, as demonstrated by the popularity of our programs that celebrate it. Read on for some of our favorite places to listen to — and learn about — jazz.

New Orleans

Widely recognized as the birthplace of jazz, in the sense that it’s where multiple musical styles began to converge into something new and different, New Orleans retains its reputation today as the place where, more than any other, jazz is inextricably intertwined with culture. It’s the home of jazz pioneers Buddy Bolden and Jelly Roll Morton, later of the inimitable Louis Armstrong and, today, of Wynton Marsalis and Terence Blanchard. It’s also the home of Preservation Hall and numerous festivals, including the French Quarter Music Festival, the subject of a popular Road Scholar program.

St. Louis

Ragtime — a precursor of jazz — originated in St. Louis, which for a time was the home of Scott Joplin, regarded as the “King of Ragtime.” As ragtime’s popularity waned in the 1910s, it gave way to other forms of jazz, which were influenced by the thriving St. Louis blues scene. Innumerable jazz clubs flourished in St. Louis in the 1920s and 1930s, providing platforms for icons like Duke Ellington. Later, native son Clark Terry enjoyed a 70-year career as a jazz trumpeter (playing with Ellington, among many others) and was a mentor to another colossal figure in jazz, Miles Davis, who was raised in East St. Louis.

Today, jazz continues to be a central part of the city’s personality, and you can enjoy it at venues like Jazz St. Louis and events including the annual summer MATI festival.

Kansas City

In Kansas City, you’ll find the American Jazz Museum, the only one in the world dedicated to the genre. It’s a stop on our Signature City Kansas City program, which also includes a lecture on jazz history and a performance by a local artist. Kansas City jazz emerged in the 1920s and 1930s, fueled, as it was in many Midwestern and northern cities, by the Great Migration, which brought Black Americans in large numbers from the Deep South, carrying with them blues and other musical influences that accelerated the evolution of jazz. Among the early bandleaders in Kansas City was Bennie Moten, whose band featured a pianist by the name of Count Basie. Kansas City also produced one of the most revered musicians in jazz history, saxophonist Charlie “Bird” Parker.

Memphis

Memphis is virtually synonymous with the blues. Congress itself declared Beale Street “Home of the Blues.” But as in other cities we’ve mentioned, jazz was also prominent, and the line between the two genres grew blurred, if it was ever meaningful at all. Writing in the Memphis Flyer, Alex Green described a conversation with renowned jazz saxophonist Kirk Whalum about an organ player Whalum had just seen: “I asked him if what he saw was jazz,” Green wrote, and Whalum responded, “As far as I was concerned, yes, but it was in the context of the blues. It’s all kind of mixed up, right?”

That’s probably the best way to look at the complex interrelationships between the styles. In any event, you can see a lot of excellent jazz in Memphis today, in clubs and restaurants, at the city’s Sunset Jazz series and in many other events and venues. Road Scholar programs like Music Cities U.S.A.: Nashville to Memphis will also take you to Memphis landmarks like Sun Studios, the Stax Museum and B.B. King’s House of Blues, all of which shine a light on the musical melting pot Memphis has been and continues to be.

Monterey

Every fall, the grandaddy of American jazz festivals takes place in Monterey, California, and Road Scholars flock there on our Monterey Jazz Festival program. Those who want even more jazz in Monterey can join us in March for the city’s Jazz Bash by the Bay. If you want to revel in days and days of excellent music, along with expert-led lectures on jazz, either (or both!) of these programs is just the ticket.

And One More …

A bit under the radar is another spot where you can hear great jazz with Road Scholar. We offer two programs on Jekyll Island, Georgia, both with lectures and performances focused on early forms of jazz, its migration and its evolution. Ragtime, Tin Pan Alley, Jazz & the Blues: A Millionare’s Retreat on Jekyll is offered several times throughout the fall and winter months, while New Year’s in Style: Jazz & The Jekyll Island Club is offered just once, letting you close out the old year and open the new one in musical style!

Duke Ellington said, “Jazz is the only unhampered, unhindered expression of complete freedom yet produced in this country.” Trombonist J.J. Johnson observed in a similar vein, “Jazz is restless. It won't stay put and it never will.” It is, he explained, “the language of the American spirit.”

We’d love to have you along on a learning adventure into the language of the American spirit!