Duke Ellington scores his first hit record with East St. Louis Toodle-oo, which hit the charts in July of 1927. 1927 was the also the year in which Ellington began his famed three-year stint in Manhattan's Cotton Club. It was at the club that Ellington gained national attention through regular radio broadcasts of his orchestra.

Automatic Music Instrument Co. of Grand Rapids (AMI) introduced the all-electric coin-operated phonograph, the jukebox to replace coin-operated pianos, but few built before 1934.

The Ballet Mecanique, a highly rhythmic, often brutalistic piece which captured the sound of the Industrial Age, causes a tremendous controversy at its premiere at Carnegie Hall in New York. As composer of the piece, George Antheil's career as a serious composer never recovered from the debacle.

Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein premiere Showboat in New York City. With an integrated storyline between musical numbers, Showboat is considered the first truly modern American musical.