Jazz in EuropeThat Europeans quickly embraced jazz was not surprising. From 1900 to 1920, they welcomed ragtime as the first musical genre distinctive to the United States and were as excited by it as Americans themselves. Certainly, ragtime and related forms of music, such as black musical theater, flourished in Europe soon after their establishment in the States. African American music, for example, was heard in London as early as 1903, when In Dahomey, a black musical that featured Bert Williams, brought the cakewalk to England. James Reese Europe’s 369th Infantry “Hell Fighters” Band toured France in 1918 and was extremely popular. EvenA musical form of the classical European tradition, the suite most often denotes a piece containing several sections, each with distinctive melodies and moods. The sections may or may not be related thematically. Often composerswill extract the most popularor most effective sections from extended works, such as operas or ballets, to create a suite for concert performance.