"They are taking a southern American idiom and moving it into the 21st century, " he told Zane Lowe.

BBC: Newsbeat - Music - U2 fear The Killers and Coldplay

The earliest recordings were made in the blues idiom, aimed solidly at the African-American "race" market.

WSJ: Playing Hand to Mouth | By Will Friedwald

Twenty years after his pioneering "Early Jazz: Its Roots and Musical Development, " Schuller turned to the swing era, a glorious period in American music, when Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Billie Holiday and Duke Ellington developed an idiom that was accessible yet also innovative and artistically satisfying.

WSJ: Five Best