American Music Timeline: 1917–1945

Vocabulary flashcards reviewing key musical figures, works, and milestones from 1917 to 1945 in American music history.

The Original Dixieland Jazz Band

The band that brought New Orleans jazz to New York in 1917.

Mamie Smith

Blues singer who recorded "Crazy Blues" in 1920.

Radio broadcasting

A major mass communication medium that began in 1920.

Rhapsody in Blue

Work written in 1924 by George Gershwin, demonstrating that a Tin Pan Alley songwriter could reach the heights of symphonic music and opera.

Electrical recording

A sound recording technology that began in 1925.

Grand Ole Opry

Country music radio show whose broadcast began on WSM in Nashville in 1925.

Hot Five and Hot Seven

Groups with which Louis Armstrong recorded in Chicago between 1925 and 1928.

NBC's 1926 Boston Symphony broadcast

The first live network symphony broadcast, aired by NBC in 1926 featuring Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony.

Red Hot Peppers

The ensemble with which Jelly Roll Morton recorded in Chicago between 1926 and 1927.

Show Boat

Musical production that opened on Broadway in 1927.

Ralph Peer

Talent scout who "discovered" the Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers in Bristol, Tennessee, in 1927.

"If You See My Savior"

Thomas A. Dorsey's gospel song introduced at a Baptist convention in Chicago in 1930.

Afro-American Symphony

Symphonic composition written by William Grant Still in 1931.

John and Alan Lomax

Folklorists who "discovered" Leadbelly in 1933.

Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers

Performers who made nine films for RKO between 1933 and 1939.

Four Saints in Three Acts

Opera composed by Virgil Thomson in 1934.

Porgy and Bess

Opera composed by George Gershwin in 1935.

Federal Music Project

Music program inaugurated by the U.S. government in 1935.

Lester Young

Musician who played in Count Basie's orchestra from 1936 to 1940.

Benny Goodman's orchestra (1938)

Orchestra that gave a landmark performance at Carnegie Hall in 1938.

Marion Anderson's Lincoln Memorial concert

Historic Easter Sunday concert performed at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, in 1939.

Almanac Singers

Musical group formed in 1941 by Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, and others.

Cash Box

A trade journal for the jukebox business, first issued in 1942.

Black, Brown, and Beige

Work composed by Duke Ellington and performed at Carnegie Hall in 1943.

Oklahoma!

Musical that opened on Broadway in 1943.

Appalachian Spring

Composition written by Aaron Copland in 1944.

Zodiac Suite

Work recorded by Mary Lou Williams in 1945.