JAZZ begins in New Orleans, where the sound of marching bands, Italian opera, Caribbean rhythms, and minstrel shows fills the streets with a richly diverse musical culture. Here, in the1890s, African-American musicians create a new music out of these ingredients by mixing in ragtime syncopations and the soulful feeling of the blues. Soon after the start of the new century, people are calling it jazz. In this episode we meet the pioneers of this revolutionary art form: the half-mad cornetist Buddy Bolden, pianist Jelly Roll Morton, Sidney Bechet and Freddie Keppard. The early jazz players travel the country until in1917, when a group of white musicians, the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, from New Orleans arrives in New York to make the first jazz recording. It becomes an unexpected smash hit, and the Jazz Age is about to begin. Produced by Ken Burns. DVD includes music information cards.