Episode/Class 7: Dedicated To Chaos

When America enters World War II in 1941, jazz music goes to war, too. Swing becomes a symbol of democracy at home and bandleaders like Glenn Miller and Artie Shaw enlist and take their music to the men and women of the armed forces overseas. In Nazi-occupied Europe, where the gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt develops his own distinctive way of playing the music, jazz becomes a symbol of freedom and the hope of liberation. In New York, the heart of jazz has moved from Harlem to 52nd Street -- where Billie Holiday reigns as unofficial queen despite a growing addiction to narcotics. Duke Ellington leads what some believe to have been the greatest of all his bands -- helped now by the gifted young arranger, Billy Strayhorn -- and brings his music to ever-greater heights. Meanwhile, underground and after-hours, a small band of gifted young musicians led by the trumpet virtuoso Dizzy Gillespie and alto saxophonist Charlie Parker begin to develop a new way of playing -- fast, intricate, and infinitely demanding for musicians and listeners alike. Due to a recording ban it goes largely unheard until November of 1945, when Parker and Gillespie are finally able to go into the recording studio together. With the release of "Koko" the new music called bebop begins to spread, altering the course of jazz forever.

Terms to research:
Pearl Harbor
Japanese Internment Camps
Food rationing
Propoganda
Rosie the Riveter

Episode/Class 8: Risk

Despite the escalation of the Cold War and the growing threat of nuclear annihilation, America achieves a level of growth and prosperity unimaginable just a few years earlier. The nation's musical tastes are changing too, as young people turn to sentimental singers and rhythm and blues. One by one, the big bands leave the road, but Duke Ellington stubbornly keeps his band together, while Louis Armstrong puts together a small group, the "All-Stars," and spreads his fame around the globe. Impresario Norman Granz makes a success of his Jazz at the Philharmonic Tours, insisting on equal treatment for every member of his integrated troupes. Meanwhile, bebop musicians Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker are creating some of the most thrilling and inventive jazz ever played, but audiences drift away from their demanding music. A devastating narcotics plague sweeps through the jazz community, ruining lives and changing the dynamics of performance. Charlie Parker never overcomes his own addiction, destroying himself at the age of 34. And a number of gifted musicians -- including Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck, Gerry Mulligan and John Lewis -- find new ways to bring new audiences to jazz.

Terms to research:
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
Watson and Crick
United Nations
The Cold War
Baby Boom

Episoce/Class 9: The Adventure

Post-war prosperity continues but beneath its placid surface there is a growing demand for civil rights. Louis Armstrong decides to risk his career by speaking out against southern defiance of the Constitution. Miles Davis, having overcome the narcotics addiction that has destroyed so many other musicians' careers, signs with Columbia Records, makes a series of legendary albums and becomes an icon for an entire generation of Americans. The gifted clean-living trumpeter Clifford Brown, a role model for younger musicians, is killed in a car accident, while Duke Ellington, struggling now to stay on the road, experiences a rebirth of his career after a triumphant appearance at the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival. Drummer
Art Blakey forms his Jazz Messengers, which for more than 40 years will provide a proving ground for young musicians. Two legendary figures from the thirties -- Billie Holiday and Lester Young -- pass on not long after making an extraordinary appearance together on television. Meanwhile, three adventurous saxophone masters also make their debuts -- Sonny rollins, John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman, whose bold "Free" playing helps to launch a new jazz movement -- the avant garde.

Terms to Research:
Civil Rights
Montgomery Bus Boycott
Newport Jazz Festival
George Wein
Jack Kerouac
Sputnik 1

Episode/Class 10: A Masterpiece By Midnight

By the early 1960's, jazz is in trouble. Young people now overwhelmingly prefer rock 'n roll -- though Louis Armstrong manages to outsell the Beatles with "Hello Dolly' and Stan Getz helps boost a craze for Bossa Nova. Desperate for work, some musicians go into exile overseas, including the tenor saxophone master, Dexter Gordon. Critics divide the music into antagonistic "schools" -- Dixieland, swing, bebop, hard bop, modal, free, avant garde, and more. During the Civil rights struggle, some artists mix music with social protest, including Max Roach, Charles Mingus, Archie Schepp, and the Art Ensemble of Chicago. John Coltrane dies young, and Miles Davis decides that if he cannot outsell rock musicians he should join forces with them, creating the enormously popular music called Fusion. Both Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington pass away during the 1970's, and to some, jazz seems to die with them. But just when things seem most desperate, Dexter Gordon returns from Europe, and proves that there is still an audience for mainstream jazz, and a new generation of musicians, led by the trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, emerges, eager to express themselves within the music's great traditions. The musical journey that began in the dance halls and saloons and street parades of New Orleans in the early years of the 20th century continues -- and shows no sign of slowing down. As it enters its second century, jazz is still alive, still changing and still swinging.

Terms to research:
John F. Kennedy Assassination
Apollo Program
Vietnam War
Watergate Scandal
Soviet Union