Born in the bustling streets, smoky honky tonks, and jumping dance halls of turn of the century New Orleans, jazz is our first -- and arguably our only -- indigenous musical form. Evolving from the polyphony of ragtime and the soulfulness of blues, jazz at once celebrates the American experience and makes us painfully aware of our failures and shortcomings as a society.

The history of jazz is inextricably bound up with the story of race in America. It is a dynamic and powerful narrative brought to life by a pantheon of remarkable people whose legacies have tell as lasting imprint on our cultural heritage. Among them, we meet Jelly Roll Morton, Willie "The Lion" Smith, Sidney Bechet, Louis Armstrong, Bix Oeiderbecke, Doke Ellington, Coleman Hawkins, Count Basie, Billie Holiday, Lester Young, Benoy Goodman, Ella Fitzgerald, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Sarah Vaughn, John Colliane, Thelonius Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, Ornette Coleman, Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon, Charles Mingus, Dave Brubeck, Wynton Marsalis, and many more.