April 30th was International Jazz Day, a day where all around the world people come together to celebrate the roots and rhythms of one of the most loved genre’s of music.

Jazz has been around for over a century, finding its roots in West African culture and African-American music traditions mixed with things like the blues or ragtime, with influences from the European musical tastes. Jazz was most directly rooted and born in New Orleans in the early 20th century.In the early 1900’s Buddy Bolden started his first band, in time becoming one the very first jazz makers in New Orleans. The jazz era quickly rose in the Great Depression period. Since one can not dance and be sad at the same time, jazz’s odd rhythmic beats, blaring drums, brass instruments, the smooth and powerful voices all brought joy to the hardships faced in this period. Legends like, Duke Ellington, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington, and Louis Armstrong, all come to mind when hearing the term “Jazz Legends” and should be remembered on this day as they and many more brought a large culture shift in the world we live in and in some dark times.