April 30th is celebrated as International Jazz Day. This holiday was established in 2011 during the 36th session of the UNESCO General Conference. The organization aimed to popularize the genre and highlight the cultural contribution of jazz music to international communities.
But the question remains – what does this have to do with WordPress? Let us explain!
WordPress loves jazz!
Jazz is a genre of music with a broad audience of enthusiasts. Without a doubt, the most popular CMS is one of them! You may not have noticed before, but every version (update) of WordPress has a so-called code name. As it happens, since the inception of this tool, these names have been inspired by the biggest stars of jazz music.
This musical tradition was initiated by none other than Matt Mullenweg, co-founder and one of the lead developers of WordPress. Before becoming the owner of the tech giant Automattic, he studied jazz saxophone at the University of Houston. So far, Mullenweg has honored thirty-nine musicians this way. In the fifth version alone, there were five! The first-ever WordPress version, released on January 25, 2004, was named Miles, after Miles Davis, an extraordinary musician, visionary, and trendsetter not only in jazz but in all of 20th-century music.
WordPress 5 Versions
- WordPress 5.0 – Code name Valdés, after Bebo Valdés (1918-2013), a Cuban pianist, composer, and arranger;
- WordPress 5.1 – Code name Betty, after Betty Carter (1929-1998), an American jazz singer;
- WordPress 5.2 – Code name Jaco, after Jaco Pastorius (1951-1987), an American jazz multi-instrumentalist and bass guitar virtuoso;
- WordPress 5.3 – Code name Kirk, after Rahsaan Roland Kirk (1935-1977), a blind American jazz multi-instrumentalist;
- WordPress 5.4 – Code name Adderley, after Julian Edwin “Cannonball” Adderley (1928–1975), an American alto saxophonist;
- WordPress 5.5 – Code name Eckstine, after Billy Eckstine (1914-1993), an American jazz musician, vocalist, bandleader, and trumpeter.
The “Hello Dolly” plugin
But that’s not the only jazz connection in WordPress. Every WordPress user is familiar with the Hello Dolly plugin. It is automatically installed every time a new WordPress instance is launched. What is its purpose? In practice, nothing. Theoretically, it serves to demonstrate to new users what plugins are and how they work.
The creator of the plugin is none other than Matt Mullenweg himself, who claims that “this is not just a plugin, but a symbol of hope and enthusiasm of an entire generation, summarized in two words sung by Louis Armstrong.” Most users delete Hello Dolly immediately after installing WordPress. As you can see, it is just another nod from the creator toward the jazz scene, and from a functionality perspective, it is completely unnecessary.
