Timeline

Year	Developments in Jazz	Historical Events
1970	Pianist Chick Corea records The Song of Singing, a successful experiment with atonal jazz. Chick Corea and bassist Dave Holland quit Miles Davis' band and form the group Circle. Pianist Keith Jarrett joins Miles Davis' group on electric organ. Bassist Charles Mingus and bandleader Sun Ra record in Berlin. Saxophonist Jan Garbarek visits the U.S. Pianist Joshua Rifkin records ragtime composer Scott Joplin's rags.	Artist Mark Rothko dies. The U.S. army enters Cambodia. Guitarist Jimi Hendrix dies from a drug overdose. Singer Janis Joplin dies from a drug overdose. The voting age is lowered to 18. Student demonstrators are killed at Kent State University and Jackson State College. U.S. Supreme Court case Roe vs. Wade defends women's right to abortion. The World Trade Center in New York City becomes the tallest building in the world.
1971	Keyboardist Joe Zawinul's and saxophonist Wayne Shorter's new fusion group, Weather Report, records in New York. Guitarist John McLaughlin's newly formed Mahavishnu Orchestra records in New York. Pianist Thelonious Monk records in London. Sun Ra's Arkestra tours Egypt. Bassist Charles Mingus publishes his autobiography, Beneath The Underdog. Trumpeter Louis Armstrong dies.	Composer Igor Stravinsky dies. The U.S. bombs North Vietnam. Filmmaker Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange is banned in the UK. Louis Armstrong's death is reported on the front pages of newspapers all over the world.
1972	Weather Report records I Sing the Body Electric. Keyboardist Chick Corea records with his newly formed fusion group Return to Forever. Bassist Charles Mingus performs at the Philharmonic Hall in New York. Hard bop trumpeter Lee Morgan is shot dead by his former mistress in New York. Pianist Thelonious Monk goes into retirement. Free jazz saxophonist Ornette Coleman's Skies of America is performed by the London Symphony Orchestra. The Mahavishnu Orchestra records Birds of Fire and Love Devotion Surrender.	British troops kill 13 people in Northern Ireland. The UK joins the European Economic Community. The SALT agreement limits U.S. and U.S.S.R. nuclear weapons. Eleven Israelis are murdered by Arab terrorists in Munich at the Olympics. The U.S. makes its final bombing of North Vietnam. President Richard Nixon visits Communist China and the U.S.S.R. Reggae star Bob Marley is signed to Island Records and brings Jamaican music and culture into the mainstream. The first Polaroid cameras go on sale.
1973	Keyboardist Herbie Hancock records the jazz-rock (fusion) album Headhunters in San Francisco, the album's sales breaking all records in jazz. The movie The Sting features Scott Joplin's music, creating a renewed interest in ragtime. Trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie arranges a comeback appearance for trumpeter Chet Baker. Guitarist John McLaughlin disbands the first Mahavishnu Orchestra.	The Vietnam War ends. Painter Pablo Picasso dies. The Watergate Scandal occurs. The mountain bike is invented in California.
1974	Trumpeter Thad Jones and drummer Mel Lewis take their big band to Tokyo. The Akiyoshi-Tabackin big band records in Los Angeles. The Modern Jazz Quartet gives a farewell performance at New York's Lincoln Center. Pianist Oscar Peterson visits the Soviet Union. Saxophonist Grover Washington Jr. records his crossover hit Mr. Magic. Duke Ellington dies from lung cancer and pneumonia.	Turkish forces invade Cyprus. Patty Hearst, daughter of newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst, is kidnapped. The "streaking" craze (running in the nude for shock and laughs) hits college campuses and other public places. President Richard Nixon resigns. Gerald Ford becomes president.
1975	Saxophonist Michael Brecker and his brother, trumpeter Randy, record together. Return to Forever records No Mystery. Miles Davis performs in Japan, New York, and at the Newport Festival before going into retirement. Guitarist Pat Metheny records his first album, Bright Sized Life, with electric bassist Jaco Pastorius. Pianist Bill Evans records the album Alone. Fourteen-year-old trumpet virtuoso Wynton Marsalis performs with the New Orleans Symphony Orchestra.	The Khmer Rouge takes control of Cambodia. North Vietnam invades South Vietnam. Filmmaker Steven Spielberg's Jaws is released.
1976	Pianist Dave Brubeck's quartet reunites for an anniversary concert. Pianist Thelonious Monk performs for the last time at the Newport Jazz Festival. Pianist Herbie Hancock records live at Newport with his group, VSOP. Guitarist John McLaughlin disbands the second Mahavishnu Orchestra. Weather Report, now with electric bass virtuoso Jaco Pastorius, records its best selling albums Black Market and Heavy Weather.	The Viking space probe transmits pictures from Mars. Writer Alex Haley's Roots is published. The U.S. celebrates the bicentennial of its independence with 4th of July festivities. Punk rock becomes popular in Britain. Scott Joplin is awarded a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for his contributions to American music.
1977	Pianist Errol Garner dies. Alto saxophonist Paul Desmond dies. The World Saxophone Quartet is founded. Drummer Kenny Clarke returns to the U.S. Multi-instrumentalist Roland Kirk dies. Pop jazz group Spyro Gyra records its first album.	The U.S. space shuttle makes a test flight. Singer Elvis Presley dies. Filmmaker George Lucas' Star Wars is released. Jimmy Carter becomes president.
1978	President Jimmy Carter hosts a jazz concert at the White House in honor of bassist and composer Charles Mingus. The Cuban band, Irakere, promotes Afro-Cuban music in Europe and the U.S. Pianist Chick Corea records with vibraphonist Gary Burton. Keyboardist Bob James composes a popular fusion theme for the TV series Taxi. The Pat Metheny Group is formed.	Revolution occurs in Afghanistan. The hit film musical Grease is released. The first video arcade game Space Invaders is a hug hit worldwide. Television reporter Max Robinson is the first African American to anchor network news.
1979	Bassist Charles Mingus dies in Mexico. Sue Mingus forms the Mingus Dynasty in honor of her late husband. Drummer Jack DeJohnette collaborates with saxophonist David Murray on Special Edition. Pianist Keith Jarrett and saxophonist Jan Garbarek record live. Bandleader Stan Kenton dies in Los Angeles. Dizzy Gillespie publishes his book, To Be or Not To Bop. Pianist Bill Evans makes his final recordings.	Margaret Thatcher becomes Britain's first female prime minister. Filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola's movie Apocalypse Now is released. Nuclear disaster occurs at Three Mile Island. The first Sony Walkman is introduced.