Boogie-woogie was a style of improvised piano music played during the '20's in Chicago. This style "consists of the constant repetition of an ostinato-like bass line with the left hand" (Davis 109). The repeating bass line allowed for pianists to improvise melodies played on the right hand. The leading boogie-woogie pianists of the Jazz Age included CowCow Davenport, Clarence "Pine Top" Smith, Meade "Lux" Lewis, Albert Ammons, and Pete Johnson (Davis 109).
The roots of boogie-woogie can be traced to the mining areas of the Midwest. It was in the mining camps of the Midwest that boogie-woogie was first played on guitar, not piano, in shacks built as temporary bars. Boogie-woogie is also the predecessor of the Midwestern shuffle style made popular by Count Basie (Davis 109).
The second style of jazz popular in Chicago was known as Chicago Jazz. This style tended to be very aggressive with usually abrupt endings, and was played mainly by white musicians (Kenney). Most of these musicians were influenced by New Orleans musicians such as Freddie Keppard, Louis Armstrong, and Joe Oliver. However, these musicians took a more scholarly approach to the music, which may explain why the style had an aggressive and forceful feel to it. Some famous Chicago Jazz musicians include Benny Goodman, Frank Teschemacher, and Bud Freeman (Davis 112).
Many new forms of Jazz developed in Chicago because of its numerous nightclubs and thriving night life. Chicago had many more clubs than New York at the time and was much geographically closer to the southern states. In fact, it wasn't until after the stock market crash of 1929 that New York took over as the Jazz Capital (Kenney).
Another style of Jazz that developed in Chicago during the 1920s was known as Society Dance Bands. These were mainly big bands designed primarily for dancing. These bands were so successful that earlier "giants" of Jazz such as King Joe Oliver tried to copy their sound ("Jazz, the First Thirty Years").