Questions in this quiz: Jazz Legends

Jazz across the 20th century. Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Thelonious Monk. Bebop, cool jazz, modal, fusion.

1. Which 1959 album is widely credited with bringing modal jazz to a mass audience? — Options: Giant Steps, Kind of Blue, Time Out, Mingus Ah Um
2. Which pianist and bandleader composed 'Take the A Train,' which became another bandleader's signature theme? — Options: Billy Strayhorn, Fletcher Henderson, Count Basie, Mary Lou Williams
3. The 1917 recording often cited as the first commercially released jazz record was made by which group? — Options: King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, The Original Dixieland Jass Band, Fletcher Henderson Orchestra, James Reese Europe's Society Orchestra
4. Charlie Parker's nickname 'Bird' is most commonly explained by which origin story? — Options: His habit of soaring improvisations in the upper register, A car accident involving a chicken on the way to a gig, A childhood pet canary he kept in Kansas City, His fondness for ornithology magazines on tour
5. Which arranger, working with a Miles Davis-led nonet in 1949-50, is most associated with shaping the sound that became known as cool jazz? — Options: Gerry Mulligan, Gil Evans, Tadd Dameron, George Russell
6. 'Strange Fruit,' the haunting protest song about lynching, was originally a poem written by which author? — Options: Langston Hughes, Abel Meeropol, Countee Cullen, Richard Wright
7. Which 1959 John Coltrane composition, built on rapidly modulating major-third cycles, became a notorious harmonic test piece for improvisers? — Options: Naima, Giant Steps, Moment's Notice, Countdown