Jazz in Pennsylvania

Loud, improvizational, rebellious, and youthful, jazz was the sound of modern America. John Coltrane, Mary Lou Williams, Billy Eckstine, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Billy Strayhorn, and other legendary figures all made jazz history in Pennsylvania.

Bring this subject into focus through the following chapters. These stories take exploration of the main story further by providing more detail for you to learn and explore.

Overview: Jazz in Pennsylvania
Chapter One: Jazz in Pittsburgh
Chapter Two: Jazz in Philadelphia and Towns Across the Commonwealth

	American Bandstand (Philadelphia)		Billie Holiday (Philadelphia)
	Eddie Lang (Philadelphia)		Francis Johnson (Philadelphia)
	Fred Waring (Blair)		Joe Venuti (Philadelphia)
	John W. Coltrane (Philadelphia)		Les Brown [Show Business] (Schuylkill)
	Marian Anderson (Philadelphia)		Standard Theatre (Philadelphia)
	The Dorsey Brothers (Schuylkill)		The Dunbar Theatre (Philadelphia)
	Tindley Temple (Philadelphia)		Union Local 274, American Federation of Musicians (Philadelphia)

Take your students back in history with these discussions and activities for the classroom

• Crawford Grill: Opening the Doors of Opportunity
• Eckstine, Strayhorn, and the Dorseys: Masters of Swing
• Mary Lou Williams: Composer, Arranger, Pianist

• Publication Guide
• Web Guide

Garvin Bushell Recalls Playing Philadelphia in the early 1920s

Joe Venuti Plays a Prank on Bix Beiderbecke in the 1920s.

Joe Venuti Recalls His Early Days with Eddie Lang, 1955.

Bassist Reggie Workman Reminiscences on the Philadelphia Jazz Scene, 1988.

Miles Davis on the Death of Billie Holiday, 1989.

Saxophonist Archie Shepp on First Hearing John Coltrane at the Red Rooster Club in Philadelphia, 2000.

1838 Black Philadelphia bandleader Frank Johnson and his musicians play for Queen Victoria in Britain.

1897 Black musicians in Pittsburgh establish Local 471 of the American Federation of Musicians.

1914 The Standard Theatre becomes the first black-owned and operated theater in the city of Philadelphia.

1920 Prohibition begins in the U.S. Soon widespread disregard for the law, coupled with the interest in jazz music from a younger generation of whites and blacks, leads some to label this era, "the Jazz age."

1921 Ethel Waters releases her first recordings for Black Swan Records.

1929 Joe Venuti and Eddie Lang join Paul Whiteman's Orchestra.

1934 Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey co-found their own swing band.

1941 Mary Cardwell Dawson starts the National Negro Opera Company in Pittsburgh, the first black opera company in the nation.

1941 Kenny Clarke begins working with Thelonious Monk in Harlem.

1944 Billy Eckstine leaves the Earl Hines orchestra to form his own band.

1957 Philadelphia's American Bandstand is broadcast nationally on ABC.