History of Jazz

Finnish pianist Iiro Rantala offers his personal history of the music that captivated him when he was 13. "My history of jazz" takes us from Johann Sebastian Bach's Goldberg Variations, upon which Rantala threads the album like a string of pearls, to George Gershwin, Kurt Weill, Duke Ellington, Juan Tizol, Thelonious Monk and the Swedish cool jazz saxophonist Lars Gullin, alongside five original Rantala compositions. With "my history of jazz" Rantala places himself at the head of a new pianist generation that liberates itself from the inflated cult of the "all new" and instead returns to build on the old jazz tradition of studying the great inventors of the genre.

Jazz is the most colourful and varied art form in the world and it was born in one of the most colourful and varied cities, New Orleans. From the seed first planted by slave dances held in Congo Square and nurtured by early ensembles led by Buddy Bolden and Joe `King' Oliver, jazz began its long winding odyssey across America and around the world, giving flower to a thousand different forms – swing, bebop, cool jazz, jazz-rock fusion – and a thousand great musicians. Now …

"100 jazz hits as featured in the celebrated TV series".