The legendary jazz beef of Miles Davis and Wynton Marsalis

Miles Davis' 'Kind of Blue' changed the genre by pioneering modal jazz

Davis was an adept bebop trumpet player, but he grew tired of the style. With 1959's "Kind of Blue," he pioneered a new style of jazz, called modal jazz, that focused less on improvising on chord progressions and more on open, tone-based expression.

The man who defined the look of jazz

Reid Miles designed almost 500 album covers for the Blue Note label, including John Coltrane's "Blue Note" and Freddie Hubbard's "Hub Tones." Check out this history and gallery of his work to see how it created the genre's dominant visual aesthetic.

Some critics argue bebop and free jazz led to jazz's decline in popularity

Although jazz was once a popular art form, it has largely been confined to the margins of pop culture, with many of the genre's current bestselling albums from previous decades. Some critics argue that this is because the music betrayed its position as dance music and focused instead on musical proficiency.

The best jazz albums of all time

Diving into the history of jazz can be intimidating, but this list is a helpful guide, highlighting the best of the best, with titanic recordings from Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck, Alice Coltrane, Oscar Peterson, and more.

Wynton Marsalis believes syncopation is part of jazz's American character

The trumpeter argues that jazz's approach to syncopation is part of an American tradition that offers the unexpected, citing Jonas Salk, Mark Twain, and fusion cuisine as parallels.

Music was a profound inspiration for Basquiat

The prolific artist loved music, obsessing over David Bowie, Aretha Franklin, and numerous jazz figures. Many of his favorites appeared in his paintings, creating a body of work that also acts as a glossary of influences. Below is a 1984 portrait of Max Roach, the jazz drummer. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

Hear 2 jazz pianists analyze 'Getz/Gilberto'

The 1964 bossa nova classic won the Grammy for album of the year, a rare feat for a jazz record. According to jazz pianists Peter Martin and Adam Maness, that also makes it one of the last truly popular jazz albums. In this episode of their podcast "You'll Hear It," they break down the musicality of the songs in real time, offering technical insights into every quirk and nuance.

The greatest all-time diss tracks

Hip-hop history has its fair share of beefs, going all the way back to the early ‘80s. This list collects the best songs from those artistic battles, with classic tracks from Nas, Jay-Z, Boogie Down Productions, and a few more recent entries from Kendrick Lamar and Drake.

'I'm always thinking about creating. My future starts when I wake up every morning ... Every day I find something creative to do with my life.'

- Miles Davis (1926-1991)

Buddy Bolden assembled the first jazz ensemble

The New Orleans cornetist was a legend in the city, sometimes referred to as "king," for his electrifying performances, which captivated local dance halls by blending ragtime, blues, and gospel music. Unfortunately, recording technology was limited at the time, so there are no recordings of Bolden, though the song "Buddy Bolden's Blues" remains a standard to this day.

The frenemies who shaped Modern Art

Matisse and Picasso are two of the biggest names in Modern Art, with works that redefined the possibilities of painting in the 20th century. While they were often cast as rivals, this Artnet article highlights their more complicated relationship, which was somewhere between a friendship, a mentorship, and an ongoing competition.

The story behind Prince's rivalry with Michael Jackson

The Purple One was often compared to the King of Pop, but Prince considered himself the superior artist. This retrospective details the many contentious encounters between the two giants, but it also highlights the sincere admiration they had for each other's work.

Sun Ra, a free jazz legend, claimed he was an angel

Sun Ra is one of jazz's most storied cult acts, with a career that spans multiple decades, dozens of hard-to-find self-released albums, and a sound that challenged even the most adventurous listeners. Ra, born Herman Blount, claimed to be from Saturn and once told an interviewer that "Star Wars" was "very accurate."

Hughes recorded an album with jazz legend Charles Mingus

1958’s “The Weary Blues” features Hughes reciting poems over jazz. The back half of the album is accompanied by bassist Charles Mingus and his ensemble, just a year before Mingus would release his landmark record “Mingus Ah Um.”

James Brown was considered one of rock's greatest performers

"The T.A.M.I. Show" is a 1964 film featuring live performances from the biggest names in rock 'n' roll: Chuck Berry, the Beach Boys, and the Supremes. The most memorable performance from James Brown and his band the Famous Flames, is regarded as one of the greatest performances in pop music.

The Winstons' 'Amen, Brother' has the most famous break in music

"Amen, Brother," a once-forgotten track from gospel group the Winstons, became one of music's most sampled songs after a six-second snippet was featured on "Ultimate Break Beats."

A small portion of The Winstons' 'Amen, Brother,' an obscure '60s gospel record, is the basis for thousands of hip-hop tracks, making it one of the most sampled records ever that's informally known as 'the Amen break.'

Jay-Z and Marina Abramovic briefly feuded after collaborating

After appearing in Jay-Z’s music video for the song “Picasso Baby,” Abramović publicly accused the rapper of not donating to her institute, as he had previously promised. Jay-Z defended himself and shared his receipt, prompting Abramović to apologize about the misunderstanding soon after.

Watch a 1934 short film starring jazz legend Cab Calloway, a major figure in the Harlem Renaissance's music scene

Quincy Jones' 'Big Band Bossa Nova' helped introduce bossa nova—a jazz-influenced Brazilian genre—to the US

A dissenting take on the Lamar's Pulitzer win

Not everyone thought that Kendrick Lamar’s historic Pulitzer win was a good thing—even his own fans. Writer and hip-hop aficionado Ismail Muhammad lays out the case for why "DAMN" deserved the award, but the Pulitzers don’t deserve praise for giving it. Was the decision more about the organization’s image than the work itself? See if Muhammad’s argument convinces you.

The Oscars of food

Every year, the James Beard Awards spotlight the best in food, media, and hospitality—often called the "Oscars of the food world." But behind the prestige is the story of James Beard himself: a failed actor turned culinary icon.

The strange 1966 meet-up between Bob Dylan and John Lennon

The 1972 documentary "Eat The Document" featured a short clip of this interaction between the two stars, who'd become friends. The extended cut, though, shows the tension at the heart of their relationship, which was close to an artistic rivalry. Lennon was self-conscious that critics claimed his more serious turn was inspired by Dylan; Dylan, meanwhile, was annoyed by a comment Lennon had made earlier that week about his song "Forth Time Around" sounding like a copy of The Beatles' "Norwegian Wood."

The Bone Wars turned paleontology into a rivalry fraught with public scandal

Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope were friends-turned-enemies competing for the glory of discovering dinosaurs. It became so intense that when Cope died, he donated his body to science to prove he had a bigger brain than Marsh.

Read the Beats' poetry

The Beats were alike in their willingness to experiment and transgress, though the movement’s writers were distinct artists with varying styles. This collection showcases the breadth of the Beat Generation’s work, with authorized texts from Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Diane di Prima, Richard Brautigan and others.

Read an early piece of journalism on country music

This 1904 Harper’s Weekly article from Emma Bell Miles offers an early example of country music criticism. Miles traces the music’s roots to the mountaineers who pioneered it. It’s a famous piece for music writers: Miles saw a phenomenon building in the hills long before any major record label.

The word 'jazz' evolved from 'jasm,' 19th-century American slang for 'energy'

Mark Rothko demanded a high-end restaurant remove his paintings

The artist was commissioned to paint murals for a Four Seasons restaurant on the ground floor of New York's Seagram Building. After attending the restaurant, he demanded his paintings be taken down and agreed to return his $35K payment, saying, “anybody who will eat that kind of food for those kind of prices will never look at a painting of mine.”

The history and success of the mysterious Mars Inc.

Mars, Incorporated manufactures some of the world’s favorite treats, including M&M’s, Snickers, and Milky Way bars. Despite their success, you’ve probably not heard of them. The privately held company is largely unknown to the world despite being owned by the second-richest family in the US. This podcast discusses the mysterious Mars family and their remarkable entrepreneurial feat. Listen to uncover more.

One disco producer saw 'Star Wars' four times on its opening weekend and was so inspired that he recorded the album 'Star Wars and Other Intergalactic Funk,' which produced a chart-topping single.

A century of Billboard issues documenting the evolution of popular music.

A researcher recently discovered an interview from 1967 between groundbreaking journalist Joan Didion and the Grateful Dead, years before the band became an institution.

The Mona Lisa's celebrity status and repeated restorations have obscured what made the painting so revolutionary for its time

After her fellow cult members tried to kill her with an LSD-infused hamburger, one member of the Manson Family, the murderous cult led by Charles Manson, decided to testify against the group's leader.

American dance legend Martha Graham, sometimes called 'the Picasso of dance,' refused to perform at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and conceived the piece 'Chronicle' in response to the experience.

Exploring the Larry Bird punch that almost changed March Madness

The rivalry between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson centered on federalism—the question of how much power the federal government should hold relative to the states.

Mid-century modern graphic designers, known for their bright colors and bold lines in advertising, also found success with children's books.

Prince's sexually explicit 1984 track 'Darling Nikki' attracted the ire of the Parents Music Resource Center, an advocacy group that inspired the Parental Advisory sticker, even though the song ends with a Christian message.

Warren Buffett's former professor Benjamin Graham is known as the 'father of value investing,' a strategy in which investors seek to buy stocks trading below their intrinsic worth.

See how Budweiser's famous Clydesdales spend their days at Warm Springs Ranch, where roughly 70 to 80 of the beer brand's giant horses can be found at any given time.

The Great Salt Lake's distinct dual coloration results from high-salinity organisms that only live in the northern portion and produce a purple protein.

Against his wishes, Albert Einstein's brain was removed before his cremation, and the pathologist responsible stored it for decades in mason jars within a beer cooler.

Many legends about George Washington, including his supposed wooden teeth and the story of cutting down the cherry tree, lack evidence.

Track the location of the Voyager probes, currently between 13 and 15 billion miles away from Earth.

The identity of the Tank Man in the iconic photo from the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests remains unknown and was possibly killed.

Existentialist writer Jean-Paul Sartre coined the famous phrase 'Hell is—other people' in his play 'No Exit'

Explore a list of the 100 best novels of all time, compiled by some of the world's best living writers, including Salman Rushdie, Stephen King, and Jennifer Egan.

The US dollar is the most widely circulated currency in the world, and is involved in nearly 90% of global transactions

Louisiana's 'Cancer Alley' is infamous for having some of the highest industrial pollution, toxic air emissions, and cancer risks in the US.