Jazz Appreciation Month or JAM was established by the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in 2001 to recognize and celebrate the heritage and history of jazz.
Jazz is considered to be America’s only original art form, rooted in the fields as enslaved Africans worked and sang songs to express themselves and keep their traditions and culture alive.
New Orleans is where what came to be known as jazz was born. Jazz is believed to have traveled north to Chicago on Mississippi riverboats after the closing of New Orleans’ Storyville district in 1917.
JAM is intended to stimulate and encourage people of all ages to participate in jazz – to study the music, attend concerts, listen to jazz on radio and recordings, read books about jazz, and more. Some great resources to listen to and learn more about this beautiful and fascinating art form are as follows:
- About Jazz Appreciation Month
- Cannon’s Café, Windy City Jazz Music – Online radio
- The Love of Jazz – A brief history of Jazz and its Chicago presence
- SOUL – A jazz movie and the first Pixar film featuring an African-American leading character
