Notes on The History of Jazz: The Prehistory of Jazz

Congo Square Dances: Documented around 1819 by Benjamin Latrobe; public dances continued until circa 1885, possibly earlier cutoff before 1870.

Ring Shout: Recorded in the American South as late as the 1930s-1950s in private contexts; Library of Congress recordings in 1934.

Moorish Influence: Moorish conquest of Iberia (early 700s A.D.); Battle of Tours in 732 A.D.

Haitian Refugees: Arrived in New Orleans in 1808.

Blues Form: Typically a twelve-bar structure using I, IV, V chords.

Race Records: Emerged in the 1920s; Mamie Smith's "Crazy Blues" (1920–21) catalyzed demand.

Scott Joplin (Ragtime):

• Born around 1868.

• "Maple Leaf Rag": Composed circa 1897; published 1899; sold over 1,000,000 copies by 1900.

• Treemonisha: Score published in 1911; Harlem performance in 1915.

• Died in 1917.

• Ragtime revival in the 1970s.

Key Figures:

• Congo Square/Jazz Roots: Benjamin Latrobe, Ned Sublette, Sidney Bechet, Buddy Bolden, Samuel Floyd.

• Blues Artists: Blind Lemon Jefferson, Charley Patton, Robert Johnson, Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, W. C. Handy.

• Ragtime Artists: Scott Joplin, James Scott, Tom Turpin, Louis Chauvin.

• Jazz/Latin Influence: Jelly Roll Morton, Basile Barès, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, James P. Johnson, Benny Goodman, Charley Mingus, Stan Kenton, Art Tatum, Wynton Marsalis.