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AMY SANCETTA/AP/APJazz and rock are always borrowing and always inspiring each other. Here are a few rock songs shaped by jazz, where improvisation, rhythm, and harmony push the music beyond boundaries. -
Evan Agostini/Evan Agostini/Invision/AP/InvisionJazz left an indelible mark on rock music. Take Van Morrison’s “Moondance," a jazz waltz turned pop hit, complete with swing feel, walking bass, and jazz-inspired solos, blending sophistication with accessibility.
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Lily Pearl Woodard, better known as Pearl Woods, was born in Saint Matthews, South Carolina, in 1933 and moved to New York City in 1951. -
Webster Young was born in Columbia, South Carolina, on December 3, 1932. Though he left South Carolina as a toddler, the musical seeds planted there would flourish elsewhere.
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Composer, singer, and percussionist Nick Ashford was born in 1941 in South Carolina. As an infant, he moved north to Michigan, eventually settling in New York City, where he dreamed of becoming a dancer. -
Mac Arnold, born in 1942 in Ware Place, South Carolina, is a powerhouse in jazz and blues whose career spans decades and coasts. -
Ken Burns’ Jazz documentary, first aired on PBS in 2001, is more than a history lesson—it’s a celebration of an American art form. -
"Lady Sings the Blues" is one of Billie Holiday’s signature recordings, and it’s a masterclass in vocal jazz. -
Ellen Schlaefer, director of Opera Studies at the University of South Carolina School of Music, shares insights into Gian Carlo Menotti's Pulitzer Prize-winning opera ahead of three performances Nov. 7-9. -
Jazz helped reshape the visual arts. Artists like Romare Bearden and Jackson Pollock translated jazz's energy, rhythm, and improvisation onto canvas. -
Colson Whitehead’s fiction often pulses with the spirit of jazz, shaping both rhythm and structure in his narratives. -
Throughout American literature, jazz has been a storytelling tool. Writers like Ralph Ellison and Toni Morrison didn’t merely write about jazz — they wrote with it.
