American author and dramatist Edna Ferber publishes the novel Show Boat, popularizing life in the Southern United States. Although Ferber never visited the south and invented her story from fictional minstrel themes, the real American Show Boats were steeped in the black Riverboat Jazz music of Mississippi and the Ohio Valley.[1]
American ragtime jazz pianist, bandleader and composer Jelly Roll Morton is signed by Victor and begins recording with the Red Hot Peppers, featuring Kid Ory, Omer Simeon, George Mitchell, Johnny St. Cyr, Barney Bigard, Johnny Dodds, and Baby Dodds.
Duke Ellington and his band record "East St Louis Toodle-o" on November 29.
August: David Stanley Smith (1877–1949) Professor of Music at Yale University, dismisses Jazz as a serious art form in The Musician.[7]
November: Andrè Coeuroy (1895–1980) and Andrè Schaeffner publish Le Jazz.[8]
Jacques Émile Blanche (1861–1942) criticizes Jazz music and dance in La Revue nouvelle as a foreign import that threatens the nationality of France.[9]
Unknown date
Edmund Jenkins, African-American composer during the Harlem Renaissance (born 1894).
Ratliff, Ben "The New York Times essential library: Jazz"a critic's guide to the 100 most important recordings." Times Books, 2002, Page 17. ISBN978-0-8050-7068-2