Maps of Music

Jazz (1978)

Where the lyrics of Jazz take you, and where it was really made.

The band recorded Jazz abroad after a heavy UK tax bill, and a chance meeting with David Bowie at a Montreux festival led them to record in Montreux.

Key places

Recording at Mountain Studios in Montreux (1978)

Recording site Mountain Studios — Bowie convinced the band to record at this studio, and the first weeks of the album's recording took place here. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Recording at Super Bear Studios in France (1978)

Recording site Super Bear Studios — After mid-August the band moved production back to France and worked here, and the album was officially completed in a mastering session at this studio. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Studio Miraval listed as a recording site (1978)

Recording site Studio Miraval — The album's recording credits list this studio in Correns as one of the places where it was recorded. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Jazz: seventh studio album by the British rock band Queen
• Co-produced by Roy Thomas Baker
• Released 10 November 1978 by EMI Records in the UK and Elektra Records in the US
• Reached number two in the UK Albums Chart
• Musical styles drew both praise and criticism at release

Background

• The band received a large tax bill in the month before July 1978
• They decided to record outside the UK because of the bill
• Brian May had to leave the UK on 2 July because of these tax issues
• May's first child, Jimmy, had been born shortly before
• May moved to Canada while the rest of the band flew to Nice, France, to begin rehearsals
• The band attended the nearby Montreux Jazz Festival, which likely inspired the album title
• At the festival they met David Bowie, who was working on his album Lodger between tour dates
• Bowie convinced them to record at Mountain Studios in Montreux
• On 19 July the band attended the 18th stage of the 1978 Tour de France, which inspired Freddie Mercury to write the lead single

Recording

• Rehearsals began during the first week of July 1978
• Four songs were finished before the move to Montreux
• Three weeks at Mountain Studios focused on Fun It, Jealousy, Leaving Home Ain't Easy and Let Me Entertain You
• On 26 July the band trashed a Montreux hotel while celebrating Taylor's 29th birthday
• After a brief holiday in mid-August the band moved production back to France, to Super Bear Studios
• Overdubbing was completed in September
• Mastering in New York was completed on 14 September
• Jazz was officially completed on 14 October during a mastering session at Super Bear Studios

Cover

• Roger Taylor suggested the artwork after seeing a similar design painted on the Berlin Wall

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1970 by Freddie Mercury (lead vocals, piano), Brian May (guitar, vocals), and Roger Taylor (drums, vocals).
• John Deacon (bass) joined in February 1971, completing the classic line-up.
• Mercury suggested the name "Queen".
• Early works were influenced by progressive rock, hard rock and heavy metal, later expanding into arena rock and pop rock.

Members

• Freddie Mercury (lead vocals, piano, 1970–1991, died 1991).
• Brian May (guitar, vocals, 1970–present).
• Roger Taylor (drums, vocals, 1970–present).
• John Deacon (bass, 1971–1997, retired).
• Paul Rodgers (vocals, 2004–2009) and Adam Lambert (vocals, 2011–present) toured as "Queen +".

Career

• First UK chart hit with Queen II (1974); international success with A Night at the Opera (1975) and "Bohemian Rhapsody", which topped the UK chart for nine weeks.
• News of the World (1977) contained "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions", now sports anthems.
• Greatest Hits (1981) is the best-selling album in UK chart history.
• Live Aid performance (1985) is ranked among the greatest in rock history.
• Estimated record sales of 250–300 million, one of the world's best-selling music artists.
• Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001; received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018 and the Polar Music Prize in 2025.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Rolling Stone critic Dave Marsh panned Jazz in 1979 as more of the same dull pastiche from Queen
• Marsh accused Queen of elitist notions in some of their musical choices and lyrics
• Marsh said Fat Bottomed Girls treated women as objects, not as sex objects
• Marsh finished by calling Queen the first truly fascist rock band
• Creem's Mitchell Cohen gave another negative review, calling Jazz absurdly dull
• Cohen found the album filled with dumb ideas and imitative posturing
• Village Voice critic Robert Christgau said the album was not wholly bad
• Christgau found Bicycle Race humorous but compared Queen to 10cc in a crude way
• The Los Angeles Times concluded that the band showed a maturity suggesting more advances were possible

Reappraisal

• AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine described Jazz as one of Queen's sleekest albums
• Erlewine said its diversity and exaggeration made it more fun than any of their other albums
• The Guardian's Alexis Petridis wrote that the music press completely failed to get the joke, particularly in the US
• In 2006 Jim DeRogatis of the Chicago Sun-Times included Jazz in his list of The Great Albums
• DeRogatis praised it as a genre-hopping tour of diverse musical styles
• The Chicago Tribune was less favorable, awarding the album one-and-a-half stars
• Louder ranked Jazz fourth when it ranked every Queen album from best to worst
• Ultimate Classic Rock placed Jazz third on its list of the band's greatest albums
• Rolling Stone later listed it among the 10 classic albums it had initially panned

Records

• UK Albums Chart: number two
• US Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart: number six

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The band reportedly trashed a Montreux hotel on 26 July while celebrating Taylor's 29th birthday.
• Mercury was reportedly seen swinging on a cut-glass chandelier in the hotel during that party.
• The album's Berlin Wall-inspired artwork was suggested by Roger Taylor.
• The album's lead single, Bicycle Race, was inspired by the 18th stage of the 1978 Tour de France watched on 19 July.
• David Bowie, working on Lodger between tour dates, encouraged the band to record at Mountain Studios in Montreux.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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