The spread of jazz music relied heavily on the immigration or touring of many colored and non-colored musicians. New Orleans musicians began touring across America from a very early age and in every place they were a stimulus for local musicians, which helped significantly in the development and evolution of jazz.
The discovery of the gramophone also contributed decisively to the spread of the new musical genre. The first jazz record was recorded in 1917 by the Original Dixieland Jass Band. The records of this “white” orchestra caused a sensation – although they are classified by many as a kind of “junk” jazz, enriched with commercial musical elements – and served as the landmark of the so-called “jazz era”.At the same time, the large increase in the color population in the American big cities resulted in the appearance of the so-called race record, ie the gramophone record intended exclusively for the “black” audience, to which the basic acoustic information about early jazz is due. Thanks to the remarkable development of this special market, many black artists were able to record although jazz was not limited to these special series.
The advent of radio in the early 1920s also contributed to the spread of jazz. The first radio station in America began broadcasting in 1922 in Pittsburgh. By the 1920s, jazz had become a national American idiom, and European bands were emerging in the late 1990s.
