Jazz History I:  This fall term class asks the questions “what is jazz,” discussing its origins, precursors, genres, significant early figures, and its difference from other forms of music. The class explores jazz from 1917 through the 1920s, including the New Orleans jazz diaspora, and the music of Louis Armstrong, Fats Waller, and early Duke Ellington, among others. An overview of the jazz of the 1930s includes Count Basie, the development of swing song small group recordings, the Great American Songbook, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, and Bennie Goodman.

Jazz History I class meets Sundays, November 9, 16, and 24; December 7 and 14; and January 11 from 11:30am – 12:30pm.

Jazz History II:  This spring term class explores Jazz in the 1940s, including the birth of jazz as “art music” in the rise of Bebop and the music of Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Thelonius Monk.   Additionally, reactions to Bebop through alternate artistic streams, Birth of the Cool, West Coast Jazz, the music of Charles Mingus, and early attempts to fuse jazz and 20th-century classical music will be covered.   The course concludes with the music of John Coltrane, Miles Davis, the beginning of jazz historicism, and the emergence of Ornette Coleman and free-form jazz.

Jazz History II meets on Sundays, February 1 and 8; and March 1, 8, 15, and 22 from 11:30am – 12:30pm..