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This course covers two main areas of focus: people and methods. It surveys the chronological origins and proliferation of jazz through various styles and artists. The development of jazz as an art form will be traced from the acculturation of Africans in America to the present day by learning about its major instrumentalists, ensembles, composers, arrangers, innovators, revivalists, and revisionists. It also explores the techniques and processes that have been employed by jazz musicians to help make it into the highly structured and evolved art form that it is today. Students will read a wide array of primary and secondary sources and listen to a range of recordings — all with the goal of discovering the various processes, meanings, functions, and experiences of jazz. This class places a strong emphasis on developing listening skills.