1902--Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton claims to have "invented jazz" in this year.

1923--Fletcher Henderson forms an orchestra that becomes the first to gain wide fame by playing jazz. Members included Louis Armstrong and Coleman Hawkins.

1930s--Tenor saxophonist Lester Young plays with one of the finest of all jazz orchestras, the Kansas City-based Count Basie band.

1934--Benny Goodman formed his first organized orchestra.

1940s--Beginning of the Modernist movement of jazz, or "bebop," as it was known. Its leaders included "Dizzy" Gillespie and Charlie Parker.

1943--Duke Ellington releases "Black, Brown and Beige," a musical history of African Americans.

1950s--Rise to prominence of Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Thelonious Monk.