They call themselves the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, and within weeks their record becomes an unexpected smash hit. Americans are suddenly jazz crazy, and the Jazz Age is about to begin. As the Roaring Twenties accelerate, Paul Whiteman, a white bandleader, sells millions of records playing a sweet, symphonic jazz, while Fletcher Henderson, a black bandleader, packs the dance floor at the whites-only Roseland Ballroom with his innovative big band arrangements. As the stock market continues to soar, jazz is everywhere in America, and now, for the first time soloists and singers take center stage, transforming the music with their distinctive voices and the unique stories they have to tell. In 1929, America enters a decade of economic desperation, as the Stock Market collapses and the Great Depression begins.
Factories fall silent, farms fall into decay, and a quarter of the nation's workforce is jobless.
In these dark times, jazz is called upon to lift the spirits of a frightened country, and finds itself poised for a decade of explosive growth. New York is now America's jazz capital. On Broadway, Louis Armstrong revolutionizes the art of American popular song and displays a flair for showmanship that makes him one of the nation's top entertainers. In Harlem, Chick Webb pioneers his own big-band sound at the Savoy Ballroom, where black and white dancers shake the floor with a new dance called the Lindy Hop. And in the city's clubs, pianists Fats Waller and Art Tatum dazzle audiences with their stunning virtuosity.