"the Evolution of Modern Jazz" with Willard Jenkins at Montpelier Arts Center

Beginning in the 1940s, a core of restless musicians became weary of the creative restrictions of performing in the style of the Big Bands. In that large ensemble context, otherwise known as the Swing Era, even the greatest soloists were restricted in improvisational expression, sometimes to just one feature spot per show. After their Big Band shows in downtown venues, a small group of musicians began jamming, creating, and expanding their sense of the music at late-night after-hours sessions in Minton’s Playhouse and Monroe’s Uptown House in Harlem. This resulting evolution eventually shifted the music called jazz from dance halls to listening environments, into what became known under the general rubric as Modern Jazz, which is the essence of the art of the improvisers and broad universe of expression that extends to today...

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Beginning in the 1940s, a core of restless musicians became weary of the creative restrictions of performing in the style of the Big Bands. In that large ensemble context, otherwise known as the Swing Era, even the greatest soloists were restricted in improvisational expression, sometimes to just one feature spot per show. After their Big Band shows in downtown venues, a small group of musicians began jamming, creating, and expanding their sense of the music at late-night after-hours sessions in Minton’s Playhouse and Monroe’s Uptown House in Harlem. This resulting evolution eventually shifted the music called jazz from dance halls to listening environments, into what became known under the general rubric as Modern Jazz, which is the essence of the art of the improvisers and broad universe of expression that extends to today.

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