Jazz History: 10 Questions About New Orleans, Armstrong and Bebop

Test your knowledge of American jazz history, jazz instruments, influential recordings and the birth of bebop.

Choose one answer per question. There’s no timer. You can skip a question; unanswered questions count as incorrect.

QUESTION 01Which American city is strongly associated with the beginnings of jazz?

SeattleNew OrleansPhoenixBoston

QUESTION 02Which earlier genres helped shape the development of jazz?

Blues and ragtimeDisco and technoOpera and punkBluegrass and house

QUESTION 03Which instrument is Louis Armstrong especially famous for playing?

ViolinOboeHarpTrumpet

QUESTION 04Which 1926 Louis Armstrong recording helped popularize scat singing?

Maple Leaf RagTake the A TrainHeebie JeebiesSo What

QUESTION 05What does scat singing use in place of conventional song lyrics?

Only whistlingImprovised syllablesSilent gesturesSpoken weather reports

QUESTION 06Which jazz period was especially associated with big dance bands in the 1930s?

SwingBebopFree jazzJazz fusion

QUESTION 07Which bebop pioneer was known primarily as an alto saxophonist?

Dizzy GillespieLouis ArmstrongDuke EllingtonCharlie Parker

QUESTION 08Which instrument did bebop innovator Dizzy Gillespie play?

CelloFluteTrumpetBassoon

QUESTION 09Which musician composed the 1899 ragtime piece Maple Leaf Rag?

Miles DavisScott JoplinCharlie ParkerBenny Goodman

QUESTION 10How many CDs make up the 2011 Jazz: The Smithsonian Anthology set?

SixTwoFourTen

Keep your curiosity going.