Jazz is North America's gift to the world of music. Jazz has evolved into many forms and continues to do so, It has been a big influence on a variety of styles of music throughout the 20th century and still continues to do so. Dance music, Pop, R&B, Rap, Hip-Hop all owe a great debt to jazz.

"The Evolution of Jazz" was originally a live show created by playright and actor Rudy Webb and jazz drummer Archie Alleyne that featured a cast of Toronto musicians called The Evolution of Jazz Ensemble. The show tells the amazing story about the birth of jazz starting with traditions in West African music that were transported to America through the hearts of enslaved people who held on to their culture and how that music eventually melded with a variety of cultures in New Orleans, Louisiana to become jazz. These recordings narrated by Paul Kennedy originally aired on CBC Radio and were recorded with a live audience at Glen Gould Studio in Toronto.