Somewhere between a lovingly sculpted scrapbook and an interactive infographic, The History of Jazz brings a whole musical genre to life. From its century-old roots in ragtime up to present day artists, you’ll enjoy a tactile and fluid interface. Names, songs, and faces come alive; woven together into a family tree of sorts. The elements that make this app fabulous also make it a bit niche, though. So keep reading to find out if this iPad app is for you!
Note: This app is currently on sale at half price ($4.99) while the developer prepares some updates. If you think you want it, act now! I’m going to assume they’re working on fixing a few obvious things, and look forward to seeing what new features they incorporate in the update.
How it Works
The History of Jazz app has brains and beauty. That’s why it was a Featured App of the Week a few months back. At its core, you’ll learn about musicians and sub-genres of jazz. Each featured artist has his/her own screen with hand-selected videos, biographical info, and photos. There are two main methods to get to this detailed information – chronological or genre-based browsing. In addition, there’s a screen-saver mode, a nice help screen to get oriented, and an integrated iTunes store. Keep in mind you’ll need internet access for videos and music streaming, but you can use the rest of the app regardless.
The crowning design feature of this app is the timeline. Made of long, vertical buttons reminiscent of piano keys, it’s fun to run your fingers across it and watch the wave of movement follow. Each vertical slab represents a segment of time. Simply tap a key to bring up the artist teasers, and swipe through pages of goodies. You can also switch from a chronological timeline to a genre-picker. Really, the only thing that’s missing is holographic representation of the artists. Can you guys get on that, please? 
The Price Justification
This app draws heavily on “free” information: content from Wikipedia, videos from YouTube, and music from iTunes. At first blush, you might think, why the heck do I want to spend $10 on it then? And the answer is simple. It’s packaged and curated beautifully. Think about it. Practically anything can be interesting (or boring) based on presentation. What’s a good joke without the right delivery? A poem spoken in hast? Or an irrelevant history lesson? Music is inherently interesting, I know. But this app is about more than factoids and sound bytes. It leads you through the history of jazz like a masterful 4-course meal…which makes it great for the jazz novice or enthusiast, but overkill for the jazz expert.
Quirks and Bugs
- Broken videos The app was published in January, and some of the videos have since been removed from YouTube. When I tap on a video and see a big X instead, It’s a big bummer.
- Accuracy of Information in question? I’m not a jazz aficionado myself so I can’t verify these claims. But some app store reviewers say that there are a couple artists that are improperly categorized.
- Links within the Wikipedia content don’t work. I go back and forth on this once, actually. It’s nice to take this musical journey in a cocoon, without distractions. On the other hand, I would appreciate an integrated browser that would allow me to tap links and dive a step further.
Feature Requests
- An in-app search would help novices like myself who are more apt to know an artist by name (Dizzy Gillespie) than by genre (bebop).
- Simplify movements in the interface. I love the moving parts, but some of it could be scaled back. The artist page for example, could show everything by default rather than hiding the lower half.
- Video descriptions, because after awhile the little bio blurb gets redundant. When I’m watching a video, I would love to see information relevant to that movie.
- More Photos and photo enlargements
- More user-driven action. I’m not sure what exactly I want in this respect. The sliding timeline keys seem like a teaser for something more, though. How cool would it be to have a few mini music lessons in the app? Something integrated with sheet music that lets you deconstruct the song, instrument by instrument; rhythm by rhythm. Or, some kind of instrument-loop to make your own music to.
- Optional narration. If there was a jazz artist narrating or providing supplemental commentary in this app, it would take it to a whole new level. That would tie it together and make it a teaching tool, rather than a tool for discovery.
Closing Thoughts
I am the perfect demographic for this iPad app – a jazz novice with an addiction to coffee-table books. The eye candy drew me in, and the content kept me engaged. But. It is expensive, and there’s a limit to what you can do with it. I definitely recommend you buy it while it’s on sale! This review has given you a good overview of what to expect while we wait for the update. And if all this jazz exposure brings on a new quest for mp3s, check out Gramophone HD, a retro inspired music player that will add instant patina and extra eye-candy to your music.
