• 1950s •
The development of cool jazz – a more restrained, laid back, style of music that is an alternative to bebop.
• 1949 •
Miles Davis and composer/arranger Gil Evans record Birth of the Cool (released in 1957).
• 1949 •
Jazz club Birdland, named after Charlie ‘Bird’ Parker, opens on Broadway.
• 1952 •
The Modern Jazz Quartet forms
• 1956 •
Humphrey Lyttelton’s Bad Penny Blues becomes the first jazz single to make the UK top 20.
• 1956 •
Release of Thelonius Monk’s Brilliant Corners (chosen, 50 years later, by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry).
• 1957 •
Dave Brubeck records Time Out, which includes the hit Take Five.
• 1959 •
A pivotal year, with the release of Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue and John Coltrane’s Giant Steps.
• 1959 •
Ronnie Scott’s club opens in London’s Soho.