The History of Jazz on the iPad

I’ve loved jazz since the early 1970s, and I have tried to study its history off and on for several years. While there are some very good books on the subject, reading about Louis Armstrong's inventive cornet and trumpet playing without having specific music references on hand is now a thing of the past. Sure I could pop open iTunes and select my Armstrong playlist, but a more seemless approach might be to use the The History of Jazz app for the iPad.



955Dreams’ multimedia app mixes words, videos, song tracks, and photos illustrating the history of jazz from 1890 to 2010. It starts off with ragtime tunes of Buddy Bolden and Scott Joplan, moves on to Swing era of the 1930s, to the Bebop sounds of the 1940s, the Cool Jazz works of Gil Evans, and Billy Taylor, the Jazz Fusion sounds of the 1970s, including Miles Davis’s “Bitches Brew“, on up to the Smooth, Acid, Nu jazz eras of today.

(Note: if you have read this far, you can enter a drawing for a free copy of this iPad application, simply by posting a comment at the end of the article. Be sure you post with a valid email address (To avoid spam, do not include your email address in the comment itself.) I will randomly select the winner based on the posts in the next 24 hours.)

Much of the content for the The History of Jazz app was compiled from Wikipedia bios and YouTube videos. This means the developers can if they choose add links to more content in future updates. It also means that the app is not a huge download.



This History of Jazz app can only be viewed in landscape mode. Sort of like a large coffee table book, you can navigate the interactive timeline and genres simply by scrolling the pages to the left or you can tap and select individual dates.

The sections for each major musician includes a short bio, live video performances, and a sample listing of their essential albums and songs, which include links for purchase on the iTunes Music Store.

You can also tap the Genre view button navigate from one genre to another. Sadly, however, there’s no search feature for quickly finding specific artists.

While The History of Jazz is not a comprehensive history by a long shot, it’s a great overview of the major artists who contributed to the art form.

No doubt many jazz aficionados will find some important artists missing from this history, or not given enough coverage. But the simplicity and style of the application make up for the few artists who might not be included. If you're a novice or intermediate student of jazz, the application should be very instructive and a joy to use.

The app is $9.99, which is not bad for the collection of information provided and simplicity and beauty of the app’s interface.