OK, this is a little niche — but stick with me…
This website (like roughly 40% of the internet) runs on a platform called WordPress.
You don’t see it. You don’t need to think about it. It’s the invisible engine that quietly powers millions of blogs, magazines, shops, and communities around the world — including this one.
But here’s the fun part.
Every major WordPress update is named after a jazz musician. Miles. Ella. Coltrane. Monk. Oscar. Shirley. Not tech terms. Not random numbers. Jazz legends.
Which raises an obvious question.
Why would the world’s biggest website platform quietly pay tribute to jazz every time it releases new software?
And what does that say about the people who built it?
Let’s take a look.
The Short Answer: The co-founder Who Loved Jazz
The tradition goes back to WordPress’s earliest days.
Matt Mullenweg, WordPress’s saxophone-playing co-founder, has long been a serious jazz fan. So have many of the platform’s early core developers.
When WordPress 1.0 launched in 2004, it was given the codename “Miles”, after Miles Davis.
The idea stuck.
Instead of dry internal labels, major releases would honour musicians who had shaped jazz history.
From that point on, WordPress updates quietly became tributes.
‘Listen’ To Some Famous WordPress Jazz Releases
Over the years, WordPress has honoured dozens of major figures. Since WordPress 1.0, major releases have been named after jazz musicians. Below is the complete list of official jazz codenames used for major versions.
1.0 – Miles (Miles Davis, 2004)
1.2 – Mingus (Charles Mingus, 2004)
1.5 – Strayhorn (Billy Strayhorn, 2005)
2.0 – Duke (Duke Ellington, 2005)
2.1 – Ella (Ella Fitzgerald, 2007)
2.2 – Getz (Stan Getz, 2007)
2.3 – Dexter (Dexter Gordon, 2007)
2.5 – Brecker (Michael Brecker, 2008)
2.6 – Tyner (McCoy Tyner, 2008)
2.7 – Coltrane (John Coltrane, 2008)
2.8 – Baker (Chet Baker, 2009)
2.9 – Carmen (Carmen McRae, 2009)
3.0 – Thelonious (Thelonious Monk, 2010)
3.1 – Django (Django Reinhardt, 2011)
3.2 – Gershwin (George Gershwin, 2011)
3.3 – Sonny (Sonny Stitt, 2011)
3.4 – Green (Grant Green, 2012)
3.5 – Elvin (Elvin Jones, 2012)
3.6 – Oscar (Oscar Peterson, 2013)
3.7 – Basie (Count Basie, 2013)
3.8 – Parker (Charlie Parker, 2013)
3.9 – Smith (Jimmy Smith, 2014)
4.0 – Benny (Benny Goodman, 2014)
4.1 – Dinah (Dinah Washington, 2015)
4.2 – Powell (Bud Powell, 2015)
4.3 – Billie (Billie Holiday, 2015)
4.4 – Clifford (Clifford Brown, 2015)
4.5 – Coleman (Ornette Coleman, 2016)
4.6 – Pepper (Pepper Adams, 2016)
4.7 – Vaughan (Sarah Vaughan, 2016)
4.8 – Evans (Bill Evans, 2017)
4.9 – Tipton (Billy Tipton, 2017)
5.0 – Bebo (Bebo Valdés, 2018)
5.1 – Betty (Betty Carter, 2019)
5.2 – Jaco (Jaco Pastorius, 2019)
5.3 – Kirk (Rahsaan Roland Kirk, 2019)
5.4 – Adderley (Cannonball Adderley, 2020)
5.5 – Eckstine (Billy Eckstine, 2020)
5.6 – Simone (Nina Simone, 2021)
5.7 – Esperanza (Esperanza Spalding, 2021)
5.8 – Tatum (Art Tatum, 2022)
5.9 – Josephine (Josephine Baker, 2022)
6.0 – Arturo (Arturo O’Farrill, 2022)
6.1 – Misha (Mikhail “Misha” Alperin, 2022)
6.2 – Dolphy (Eric Dolphy, 2022)
6.3 – Sonny (Sonny Rollins, 2023)
6.4 – Shirley (Shirley Horn, 2023)
6.5 – Regina (Regina Carter, 2024)
What This Tradition Says About WordPress
This small detail reveals something important.
WordPress was never built as a purely corporate product. It grew as a cultural project.
Naming releases after jazz musicians signals (to us, at least!) a respect for creative history, collaboration over hierarchy, long-term thinking over short-term hype and craft over shortcuts
In tech, that mindset is rare.
Will WordPress Keep Using Jazz Names?
So far, there’s no sign of stopping.
If anything, recent releases suggest renewed interest in highlighting lesser-known but deeply respected musicians.
That fits WordPress’s broader mission: surfacing quality over hype.
Expect more jazz names in the future.