1919 in jazz

This is a timeline documenting events of jazz in the year 1919.
Births in that year included Art Blakey and Nat King Cole.

Events

The Red Summer took place in the United States. Although 70 blacks were killed by white mobs, a monumental step was made when the NAACP promoted the slogan "The new Negro has no fear", which helped the cause of jazz.
The Original Dixieland Jazz Band visited England in 1919 and generated new interest in the new music. Swiss conductor Ernest Ansermet also delivered an accolade to Sidney Bechet in Revue Romande, considered the first serious article on jazz in history, and Bechet is lauded as a gifted musician by many classical European musicians.
Sidney Bechet moves to New York City and joins Will Marion Cook's Southern Syncopated Orchestra and later travels to Europe where he discovers the soprano saxophone.
February -James Reese Europe and his Hellfighters return home and soon go on a tour of the states.
May 9- James Reese Europe is stabbed to death by Herbert Wright.

Standards

In 1919 the popular standard "Baby Won't You Please Come Home" was published.

Deaths

; February18 – Henry Ragas, American jazz pianist who played with the Original Dixieland Jass Band on their earliest recording sessions.
; May9 – James Reese Europe, American ragtime and early jazz bandleader, arranger, and composer.
; Unknown date

Births

; January1 – Al McKibbon, American upright double bassist.3 – Herbie Nichols, American pianist and composer.15 – Steve Jordan, American guitarist.19 – Israel Crosby, American upright bassist.
; February3 – Snooky Young, American trumpeter.8 – Buddy Morrow, American trombonist.
; March1 – Kenny Trimble, American trombonist.11 – Mercer Ellington, American trumpeter.14 – Luther Henderson, American pianist.15 – Randy Brooks, American trumpeter.17 – Nat King Cole, American pianist and vocalist.19 – Lennie Tristano, American pianist.
; April5 – Tío Tom, Afro-Cuban musician.21 – Don Cornell, American singer.23 – Benny Harris, American trumpeter.
; May4 – Mary Ann McCall, American singer.19 – Georgie Auld, American saxophonist and clarinetist.23 – Johnny Bothwell, American alto saxophonist.24 – Herbie Fields, American saxophonist.26 – Calvin Jackson, American pianist.30 – Joe McQueen, American saxophonist.
; June8 – Erwin Lehn, German musician and composer.10 – Moultrie Patten, American actor and pianist.16 – Al Viola, American guitarist.18 – Thore Swanerud, Swedish pianist, vibraphonist, arranger, conductor, and composer.22 – Ella Johnson, American singer.
; July15 – Sadik Hakim, American pianist and composer.20 – Arnold Fishkind, American jazz bassist.23 – Jim Chapin, American drummer.29 – Vic Lewis, British guitarist and bandleader.
; August13 – George Shearing, British pianist.17 – Irv Williams, American jazz saxophonist and composer.
; September6 – John Malachi, American pianist.11 – Peck Morrison, American jazz bassist.12 – Bill Jennings, American guitarist and composer.17 – Peggy Mann, American singer.21 – Herman Fowlkes Jr., American musician.25 – Shadow Wilson, American drummer.28 – Fred Lange-Nielsen, Norwegian bassist and vocalist.
; October4 – Joe Benjamin, American bassist.8

* Flavio Ambrosetti, Swiss vibraphonist, saxophonist, and engineer.
* Hal Singer, American bandleader and saxophonist.11 – Art Blakey, American drummer and bandleader.14
* Bernard Anderson, American trumpeter.
* Johnny Desmond, American singer.23 – Anita O'Day, American singer.27 – Babs Gonzales, American vocalist.

; December1 – Ike Isaacs, English guitarist.18 – Barry Galbraith, American guitarist.20 – Reinhold Svensson, Swedish pianist, Hammond organist, and composer.22 – Lil Green, American singer and songwriter.24 – Henry Coker, American trombonist.25 – Joe Carroll, American vocalist.27 – Booty Wood, American trombonist.