Though the term "Chicago jazz" means different things to different people, its most generic definition refers to a music that emerged here in the 1920s and flourished through the '50s and beyond. In essence, it's a style of music closely related to New Orleans jazz of the period, which took root in Chicago.
But in Chicago the music changed, picking up tempo, energy and-most important-the role of the star soloist. Think of Louis Armstrong's brilliant trumpet solos, Bix Beiderbecke and Jimmy McPartland's poetic cornet passages. Add to that a hard-driving rhythm section and you have the bare essence of classic Chicago jazz.
In subsequent decades, the term has been used to loosely describe the "tough tenor" sound of Chicago be-bop in the '40s and '50s (as epitomized by the playing of Von Freeman, Johnny Griffin and Gene Ammons, among others); and it has referred to the Chicago avant-garde experimenation of the '60s to the present day.
For those who would like to hear the sounds of classic Chicago jazz, following are a few recommended recordings:
Louis Armstrong: The Hot Fives and Hot Sevens, Vols. 1-3, Columbia. These are the records that helped redefine jazz as a soloist's art, in the 1920s.
The Complete Jelly Roll Morton, 1926-1930, RCA/Bluebird. Morton's ensemble pieces fused elements of New Orleans traditional music with the more aggressive sounds of Chicago jazz, as these recordings with his Red Hot Peppers attest.
Bix Beiderbecke: Vol. 1, Singin' the Blues, Columbia. The melting lyricism of Beiderbecke's cornet represented a counterpoint to Armstrong's larger-than-life sound in the 1920s.