Listen to an overview of music from the 1920s, also known as the Jazz Age or the Roaring Twenties. If you're interested in learning the history of Jazz, check out the Ken Burns documentary, Jazz, available on DVD.

• The Roaring Twenties available on CD

• The Jazz Age by the Bryan Ferry Orchestra available on CD

• Nipper's Greatest Hits: the 20's available on CD

• Swingin' the 20's by Benny Carter available through Alexander Street Press

• 101 Strings Orchestra Presents the Roaring Twenties on Hoopla

Try your luck at the Charleston, Lindy Hop, Jitterbug, or Jive.

• 1920s Dance Craze available on Hoopla
• 1920s New Orleans Dance Floor Favorites available on Hoopla
• Charleston by Slim Pickins & His Twenty-Niners available on Hoopla
• All That Jive available on Hoopla

Listen to music from some of the great names in Jazz who were making music in the 1920s.

• Louis Armstrong of New Orleans available on Hoopla
• Irving Berlin Song Book with songs performed by Fred Astaire, Ethel Waters, Boswell Sisters, Tommy Dorsey And His Orchestra, Al Jolson, and more. Available through Alexander Street Press
• Duke Ellington
  • Duke Ellington available on CD
  • The Best of Early Ellington available through Alexander Street Press
  • BD Jazz: Duke Ellington available on Hoopla
• ​George Gershwin
  • The Music of George Gershwin available on Hoopla
  • The Essential Collection: George Gershwin available on CD
• "Empress of the Blues" vocalist Bessie Smith 
  • Bessie Smith: The Collection available on CD
  • Bessie Smith: Bessie's Best available on Hoopla
  • Bessie: Music from the HBO Film available on CD; film available on DVD

Many songs from musicals written in the 1920s remain familiar today, particularly those written by brothers George and Ira Gershwin. It's possible you may recognize a song or two from other musicals of the '20s as well.

• Selections from musicals by George and Ira Gershwin
  • George Gershwin musical excerpts available through Alexander Street Press
  • Fascinating rhythm: the Broadway Gershwin 1919-1933 available on CD
• The New Moon (1928) with music by Sigmund Romberg. Book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, Frank Mandel, and Laurence Schwab.
• Show Boat (1927) available on CD and through Hoopla, with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. This musical was based on the 1926 novel, Show Boat by Edna Ferber
• The Threepenny Opera was originally from Germany, written by Bertolt Brecht (1928), and was later adapted into English by Gifford Cochran and Jerrold Krimsky (1931). 

Interested in listening to what was happening in the classical scene during the 1920s? Check out these albums available through Hoopla.

• Classical Music in the 1920s 
• The Year 1920 In Classical Music