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Jazz, to me, is a living music. It’s a music that since its beginning has expressed the feelings, the dreams, hopes, of the people.

Dexter Gordon

As April winds down, there’s still time to honor Jazz Appreciation Month (JAM) and reflect on the incredible contributions of jazz musicians throughout history. Established by the National Museum of History in 2021, JAM shines a light on jazz as a vital part of American culture, offering educators a unique opportunity to explore its rich legacy with students.

Whether you’ve been incorporating jazz throughout the month or are just diving in now, these interactive resources provide engaging ways to bring jazz into the classroom, fostering appreciation and deeper connections to its historical significance.

1. All That Jazz: Exploring Jazz Music (reviewed here) – Use this site to learn about the history of jazz in the United States. In addition, take advantage of a book list with lesson ideas and student activity suggestions. The extension activities offer additional ideas for integrating jazz into American History lessons, using Venn Diagrams to compare and contrast music genres, and providing a resource for students to “Paint with Music.”
2. National Museum of American History – Jazz (reviewed here) – Enjoy visiting the jazz classes available from this branch of the Smithsonian Institution to learn the basics of jazz and participate in courses from Benny (Carter) and Duke (Ellington). Groove to jazz by accessing thirty-one recordings with lesson plans for intermediate-level (ages 8-13) and middle-level (ages 13-15) students. Today in Jazz History includes daily jazz highlights to feature during your JAM celebrations. 
3. Interactive: Roots of Jazz (reviewed here) – This interactive part of a Ken Burns series on jazz explores the cities and scenes that made Jazz. Highlights include visits to famous New Orleans, Chicago, and Harlem locations.
4. MathScienceMusic (reviewed here) – Select the link to Scratch Music to find a Scratch (reviewed here) Jazz Tutorial that combines coding with creating a unique jazz tune. Visit the Scratch Jazz Design Studio and search for jazz to find examples to share with students, such as The Power of Smooth Jazz.
5. Suno AI Song Creator (reviewed here) – Suno makes it easy to create music of any genre, including jazz. Ask Suno to generate a song for any topic or as an instrumental as a jazzy tune. Play your song for students as a schema activator or as background while students complete do-now activities. This example uses the prompt, “Create a jazzy song about growing plants.”
6. Perplexity Pages – Perplexity (reviewed here) is a chat tool similar to ChatGPT (reviewed here) and Claude (reviewed here).  Perplexity recently began rolling out a new feature called Pages. Find Pages in your Perplexity account as a link in your library; if Pages is unavailable, access it here. Perplexity Pages use AI to generate customizable articles with embedded media to publish and share with students. Use Pages to create an informative article about Jazz Appreciation Month like this one that includes videos, then use the chat feature together as a class to ask questions and interact with the content on the page.

As Jazz Appreciation Month comes to a close, let’s remember that jazz is more than a genre—it’s a living, evolving part of American culture. Keep the spirit of exploration alive by using these engaging resources to continue studying and celebrating jazz throughout the year. By weaving jazz into your curriculum beyond April, you help students deepen their understanding of its historical significance and lasting influence

How does your class recognize Jazz Appreciation Month? Share your ideas with our readers as we learn together.