May 30 is International Jazz Day. Jazz was born in early 1900s New Orleans, where African American musicians mixed blues, ragtime and a whole lot of soul into something brand new. With legends ...

He's worked with legends in his over 60 years as a bassist. Grammy Award-winning jazz musician Chuck Israels joined us to share stories from his new book, "Bass Notes: Jazz in American Culture".

To many, composed music and improvised music seem to be opposites, but in jazz, they merge in a unique fashion. It has been said that the best improvised music sounds composed, and that the best ...

Holiday Gift Books: Music Jazz, country, hip-hop, rock—and ancient music too. Reading to harmonize with any music lover. Illustration by James Joyce for the WSJ. By . John Check. Share.

The book’s first half covers the development of jazz before 1900, depicting a distinctly African American style of music that drew inspiration from the experience of slavery.

The author of now 11 books on popular music — covering everything from Robert Johnson to the Beatles to the proto-rap game of ... He’s a grinder,” New Orleans jazz icon Danny Barker ...

SEND ME DOWN—Henry Steig—Knopf ($2.50). A first novel by the brother of New Yorker Artist William Steig is the best story so far about hot jazz and the people who make it. Dorothy Baker’s ...

'Tokyo Jazz Joints' Spotlights Japanese Jazz Kissa Culture: A look inside Japanese "kissas," longstanding bars and coffee shops devoted to playing jazz music.

His mother encouraged his music-making and arranged for him to study with good teachers, one of whom, a hotel-bar headliner in Manchester, N.H., showed him, at age 7, how to be “spontaneously ...