1. Jazz

2. Mazurka The folk origins of the mazurek are two other Polish musical forms—the slow kujawiak, and the fast oberek. The mazurek is always found to have either a triplet, trill, dotted eighth note (quaver) pair, or an ordinary eighth note pair before two quarter notes (crotchets). In the 19th century, the dance became popular in many ballrooms in different parts of Europe. The Polish national anthem has a mazurek rhythm but is too slow to be considered a mazurek. There are many Polish versions of the mazurek but the most notable one is the mazurka.*

3. Ragtime composer and pianist Scott Joplin is born in Texarkana, TX on November 24, 1868.* Hot cornet player Buddy Bolden is born in uptown New Orleans, La. in 1868. Buddy is considered by many to be the first person to play the Blues form of New Orleans Jazz. *

4. Scott Joplin

5. Ragtime (alternatively spelled rag-time or rag time) is a musical genre that enjoyed its peak popularity between 1895 and 1918. Its main characteristic trait is its syncopated, or "ragged," rhythm. It began as dance music in the red-light districts of African American communities in St. Louis and New Orleans years before being published as popular sheet music for piano. Ernest Hogan was an innovator and key pioneer who helped develop the musical genre, and is credited with coining the term ragtime. Ragtime was also a modification of the march made popular by John Philip Sousa, with additional polyrhythms coming from African music. The ragtime composer Scott Joplin became famous through the publication in 1899 of the "Maple Leaf Rag" and a string of ragtime hits such as "The Entertainer" that followed, although he was later forgotten by all but a small, dedicated community of ragtime aficionados until the major ragtime revival in the early 1970s. For at least 12 years after its publication, the "Maple Leaf Rag" heavily influenced subsequent ragtime composers with its melody lines, harmonic progressions or metric patterns.

7. Buddy Bolden

8. Cornetist Joe "King" Oliver is born on a plantation near Abend, LA on May 11, 1885. Pianist and composer Jelly Roll Morton (Ferdinand La Menthe) is born in Gulfport, LA. on September 20, 1885. Jelly Roll learns harmonica at age 5 and is proficient on guitar at age 7.

9. Joe “King” Oliver

10. King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band

11. Jelly Roll Morton

12. Blues singer Ma Rainey (Gertrude Malissa Nix Pridgett) is born on April 26, 1886 in Columbus, Ga. Thomas Edison invents the first motor-driven phonograph. Phonographs are improving but are still a long way away from being commercial. Stride piano player Willie "The Lion" Smith is born in 1893. Stride piano great James P. Johnson is born on February 1, 1891 in New Brunswick, N.J. Blues singer Mamie Smith (believed to be the first black to make a record) is born on September 16, 1890 in Cincinnati, OH. First use of the word Ragtime appears in the song title "Ma Ragtime Baby" by Fred Stone in 1893. Blues singer Bessie Smith is born on April 15, 1894 in Chattanooga, TN. Band leader Benny Moten is born on November, 13, 1894 in Kansas City, MO. Boogie Woogie piano player Jimmy Yancey is born in 1894.

13. In the Supreme Court, Plessy vs. Ferguson establishes the "separate but equal" concept that will allow segregation and "Jim Crow" to flourish. 1896 Buddy Bolden organizes the first band to play the instrumental Blues (the fore-runner of Jazz). The band's repertoire consists of Polkas, Quadrilles, Waltzes, Mazurkas, Ragtime and Blues. 1897 Storyville (the famed red light district of New Orleans) opens. It was named after New Orleans alderman Sidney Story. The Ragtime craze is at full tilt.

14. Dixieland Turn of the century Jazz has been coined “Dixieland”

15. Satchmo! July 4, 1900 is the day that Louis Armstrong always claims as his birthday. Armstrong's nickname will be Satchmo. He will receive this nickname in England in the early 1930's when the British hear his original nickname, Satchelmouth, incorrectly. Armstrong will be recognized as the first genius of Jazz because the entire concept of swinging will be attributed to him.