According to music historians Bruce Crowther and Mike Pinfold: "During his time he was the best known and most popular all-around entertainer America (and probably the world) has ever known, captivating audiences in the theatre and becoming an attraction on records, radio, and in films.
He opened the ears of white audiences to the existence of musical forms alien to their previous understanding and experience... and helped prepare the way for others who would bring a more realistic and sympathetic touch to black musical traditions."
Black songwriter Noble Sissle, in the 1930s, said "[h]e was always the champion of the Negro songwriter and performer, and was first to put Negroes in his shows".
Of Jolson's "Mammy" songs, he adds, "with real tears streaming down his blackened face, he immortalized the Negro motherhood of America as no individual could."

However, Jolson's signature style, loud and passionate, was soon eclipsed by the cooler and more intimate style of the crooners, singers such as Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra, who dominated the pop charts in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s.
While Jolson could and did croon, his basic style was formed in the era when a singer needed to project to the back of a theater with his own physical power; later singers who developed in the microphone era were freed from this constraint.

A few of the people and places that have been influenced by Jolson:
Tony Bennett
My father... took us to see one of the first talking pictures, The Singing Fool, in which Al Jolson sang "Sonny Boy".
In a way, you could say that Jolson was my earliest influence as a singer.
I was so excited by what I saw that I spent hours listening to Jolson and Eddie Cantor on the radio.
In fact, I staged my first public performance shortly after seeing that movie... to imitate Jolson.... I leaped into the living room and announced to the adults, who were staring at me in amazement, "Me Sonny Boy!"
The whole family roared with laughter.

Irving Berlin
As the movies became a vital part of the entertainment industry, Berlin was forced to "reinvent himself as a songwriter".
Biographer Laurence Bergreen wrote that while Berlin's music was "Too old-fashioned for progressive Broadway, his music was thoroughly up-to-date in conservative Hollywood."
He had his earliest luck with the landmark sound film The Jazz Singer (1927), in which Jolson performed his song "Blue Skies".
He wrote the music for Jolson's film Mammy (1930), which included hits such as "Let Me Sing and I'm Happy", "Pretty Baby", and "Mammy".

Bing Crosby
Music historian Richard Grudens writes that Kathryn Crosby cheerfully reviewed the chapter about her beloved Bing and his inspiration, Al Jolson, where Bing had written, "His chief attribute was the sort of electricity he generated when he sang.
Nobody in those days did that.
When he came out and started to sing, he just elevated that audience immediately.
Within the first eight bars he had them in the palm of his hand."
In Crosby's Pop Chronicles interview, he fondly recalled seeing Jolson perform and praised his "electric delivery".
Crosby's biographer Gary Giddins wrote of Crosby's admiration for Jolson's performance style: "Bing marveled at how he seemed to personally reach each member of the audience."
Crosby once told a fan, "I'm not an electrifying performer at all.
I just sing a few little songs.
But this man could really galvanize an audience into a frenzy.
He could really tear them apart."

Bobby Darin
Darin's biographer, David Evanier, writes that when Darin was a youngster, stuck at home because of rheumatic fever, "[h]e spent most of the time reading and coloring as well as listening to the big-band music and Jolson records.... He started to do Jolson imitations... he was crazy about Jolson."
Darin's manager, Steve Blauner, who also became a movie producer and vice president of Screen Gems, likewise began his career "as a little boy doing Al Jolson imitations after seeing The Jolson Story 13 times."

Neil Diamond
Journalist David Wild writes that the 1927 movie The Jazz Singer, would mirror Diamond's own
According to music historians Bruce Crowther and Mike Pinfold: "During his time he was the best known and most popular all-around entertainer America (and probably the world) has ever known, captivating audiences in the theatre and becoming an attraction on records, radio, and in films. He opened the ears of white audiences to the existence of musical forms alien to their previous understanding and experience... and helped prepare the way for others who would bring a more realistic and sympathetic touch to black musical traditions." Black songwriter Noble Sissle, in the 1930s, said "[h]e was always the champion of the Negro songwriter and performer, and was first to put Negroes in his shows". Of Jolson's "Mammy" songs, he adds, "with real tears streaming down his blackened face, he immortalized the Negro motherhood of America as no individual could."
However, Jolson's signature style, loud and passionate, was soon eclipsed by the cooler and more intimate style of the crooners, singers such as Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra, who dominated the pop charts in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. While Jolson could and did croon, his basic style was formed in the era when a singer needed to project to the back of a theater with his own physical power; later singers who developed in the microphone era were freed from this constraint.
A few of the people and places that have been influenced by Jolson:
Tony Bennett
My father... took us to see one of the first talking pictures, The Singing Fool, in which Al Jolson sang "Sonny Boy". In a way, you could say that Jolson was my earliest influence as a singer. I was so excited by what I saw that I spent hours listening to Jolson and Eddie Cantor on the radio. In fact, I staged my first public performance shortly after seeing that movie... to imitate Jolson.... I leaped into the living room and announced to the adults, who were staring at me in amazement, "Me Sonny Boy!" The whole family roared with laughter.
Irving Berlin
As the movies became a vital part of the entertainment industry, Berlin was forced to "reinvent himself as a songwriter". Biographer Laurence Bergreen wrote that while Berlin's music was "Too old-fashioned for progressive Broadway, his music was thoroughly up-to-date in conservative Hollywood." He had his earliest luck with the landmark sound film The Jazz Singer (1927), in which Jolson performed his song "Blue Skies". He wrote the music for Jolson's film Mammy (1930), which included hits such as "Let Me Sing and I'm Happy", "Pretty Baby", and "Mammy".
Bing Crosby
Music historian Richard Grudens writes that Kathryn Crosby cheerfully reviewed the chapter about her beloved Bing and his inspiration, Al Jolson, where Bing had written, "His chief attribute was the sort of electricity he generated when he sang. Nobody in those days did that. When he came out and started to sing, he just elevated that audience immediately. Within the first eight bars he had them in the palm of his hand." In Crosby's Pop Chronicles interview, he fondly recalled seeing Jolson perform and praised his "electric delivery". Crosby's biographer Gary Giddins wrote of Crosby's admiration for Jolson's performance style: "Bing marveled at how he seemed to personally reach each member of the audience." Crosby once told a fan, "I'm not an electrifying performer at all. I just sing a few little songs. But this man could really galvanize an audience into a frenzy. He could really tear them apart."
Bobby Darin
Darin's biographer, David Evanier, writes that when Darin was a youngster, stuck at home because of rheumatic fever, "[h]e spent most of the time reading and coloring as well as listening to the big-band music and Jolson records.... He started to do Jolson imitations... he was crazy about Jolson." Darin's manager, Steve Blauner, who also became a movie producer and vice president of Screen Gems, likewise began his career "as a little boy doing Al Jolson imitations after seeing The Jolson Story 13 times."
Neil Diamond
Journalist David Wild writes that the 1927 movie The Jazz Singer, would mirror Diamond's own 
Al Jolson