Jazz is America’s music. It is America’s sole original form of art, yet it had declined in popularity by the 1970s to the point that some musicians resisted even being associated with it. Still, jazz’s influence was felt in popular music by bands like Chicago and Steely Dan. These bands were able to evoke the spirit of jazz while presenting their music in a form that was easier for music fans to accept and interpret. Perhaps no tribute to jazz in the 70s was greater than Stevie Wonder’s “Sir Duke,” which paid homage to Duke Ellington and others who, in the words of Wonder, “gave us something that is supposed to be forever.”

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