All That Jazz: From New Orleans to New York

by Various Artists

All That Jazz, From New Orleans to New York is an anthology of Jazz music which prior to the popular swing era of the 1930s and '40s is often referred to as "early jazz." Through its origins before the turn of the 20th century, jazz had evolved from a regional music, central to New Orleans and its surroundings, to a musical style at the forefront of national and international popular music by the 1930s and 1940's. Included in this program are profiles and the music of Huddie 'Leadbelly' Leadbetter, Big Bill Broonzy, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Scott Joplin, Jelly Roll Morton, W.E. Burton, Joe King Oliver, Jonny Doods, Barrel House Five, Freddie Keppard, Willie 'Bunk' Johnson, Clarence Williams, Sydney Brechet, Sonny Boy Williamson, Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, Fletcher Henderson, Paul Whiteman, Jimmy Lunceford, Fats Waller, Benny Goodman, The Dorsey Brothers, Johnny Doods, Django Rheinhardt, Ray Nance, Benny Carter, Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong.

Prior to the rise of the swing era in jazz during the 1930s and 1940s that turned the form into a national idiom, the music itself predominantly existed as a regional genre - and one that grew out of New Orleans and the surrounding geographic areas. The pre-1930s period (or "early jazz") was one marked by the presence of such giants as Joe King Oliver, Freddie Keppard, Sidney Bechet, Fletcher Henderson, Ray Nance and many others, who subsequently risked being forgotten. This comprehensive program features biographical profiles of some of the "early jazz" musicians and protracted samples of their music.