The 1920s were an age of culture, excitement, and great music. Many artists moved to different cities pursuing careers and creating life in a time of war and prohibition. The history of jazz dates back to the 1800s in African American slave culture and continues to grow and change to this current day and age. Jazz music not only created a major shift in the music industry, but it also had a major effect on culture as well. The history of jazz music is very rich. In the early 1900s, New Orleans was one of the centers of music in America. The mix of genres could be heard and seen throughout the entire city of New Orleans. With a melting pot filled with opera, military marching bands, church music, blues, folk music, traditional African drumming, …show more content…
In New Orleans however, ethnicity was welcomed in every way. Although jazz music is known to be an Africa American tradition, diversity brought different musical styles and dance styles, which appealed to the natives due to their partying nature. In the late teens, jazz musicians began to move to Chicago to pursue the musical opportunities that were exploding during this era. Prohibition and speakeasy’s offered musicians job opportunities in small cabarets, dance halls, and ballrooms (Tyle). This is the time where some of the greatest jazz artists of all time were …show more content…
Although it had originated in black culture, this is the time where the influence spread to all races and ethnicities. Jazz music began changing the way people were acting. The most shocking metamorphosis of culture was the nature of the women. In the 1920’s, women were expected to emulate class and grace, which quickly began to change. Flappers became popular in this time. A flapper is a woman who dresses and behaves boldly in an unconventional manner. These women smoked, drank, partied, danced, and behaved in scandalous ways. (Spivack). This really became embraced by the culture, but also angered the conventional traditionalists. Jazz dance also became popular due to its liveliness in nature and was often looked down upon by tradition as
What was the Jazz Age in America? Also known as the Roaring Twenties’, it was when American ways were beginning to modernize. Before the stock market had crashed and the Great Depression started, culture was booming in America. Dance was changing rapidly and new styles of dances were being created. Women began to wear shorter clothes, cut their hair, and some even had jobs, while the Flapper girls gave other young women an outlook of freedom. People began to go see films and movie stars became famous worldwide. During the Jazz Age, American culture was changing and Americans were becoming more finically affluent.
As the United States entered the 1920's it was not as unified as one might think. Not one, but two societies existed. The Black society, whose ancestors had been oppressed throughout the ages, and the White society, the oppressors of these men and women. After emancipation the Whites no longer needed the Blacks, but were forced to live with them. The Blacks despised the Whites, but even so they became more like them in every way. Even though these two races had grown so similar over the past century and a half, they were still greatly diversified. One aspect of this great diversity was the difference in music trends. The White society was still in love with the European classical music. The Blacks on the other hand had created something all their own. Jazz, Blues, and Ragtime originated in New Orleans in the 19th century, but by the 1920's it had become famous throughout America. The Whites tried to suppress the Blacks with new laws, but the power of this strengthened race was too great. The Negro music of the 20th century had a huge affect ...
The popularity of jazz grew in the twenties, and its center changed from New Orleans to Chicago. From there it spread to Kansas City and New York. The end of WWI ushered in the Jazz Age in New York, and it came to be associated with the parties and wild behavior of the 1920’s (Verve). Music from this era is also sometimes called “The Chicago Style,” and includes artists such as Bix Beiderbecke on trumpet and Pee Wee Russel, Mezz Mezzrow, and Benny Goodman on clarinet.
In New Orleans, where the jazz music started, music was not a luxury, it was a necessity. Ethnicities represented in New Orleans were as follows: French, Spanish, and African, Italian, German, and Irish (Herbert Asbury, 1938). This unique combination provided a unique mix of cultural influences which gave birth to such unique styles of music: ragtime, blues, spirituals, marches, and of course jazz. The workers needed the music as a way of communication, relief, and hope for freedom, during the mind-numbing labor.
The Roaring Twenties were a time of prosperity, happiness, liveliness, and new ways. One of the many new ideas that were introduced was jazz music. Jazz fit the atmosphere perfectly, with it's upbeat and exciting sounds. Although jazz seemed to be a new world-wide obsession, there were people who saw it in a different light, one that was a lot darker, perhaps even evil. These people had negative opinions about the music, and saw it as a, "cause of loosening morals and frightening dislocation". The different generations had completely different views on the rapid change, and both views were just as correct, but only one was logical. The music brought change, freedom, and brought black America together with white America.
Jazz was introduced directly after World War I by African-Americans (Boundless.com par. 1). Although jazz was composed by many different African-Americans the main founder of jazz was Ethel Waters (McCorkle par. 8). Jazz was first played in New Orleans, but as the African-Americans moved north, white citizens caught on and tuned jazz into a new craze (Lindop 107). Even though jazz was created in New Orleans, Chicago became the home of jazz music (Bingham 8). The first jazz players derived the tune from a mixture of Latin American, African, and European rhythms, making it very popular among many different types of people (“Latin Jazz” par. 1). Jazz was so well-liked because it gave the artists the opportunity to make the predetermined tune their own (“What is jazz par. 1). When listening to jazz the same song is never heard twice because the band members each put their own spin on the way they play their instrumen...
Bootlegging, dancing, and music, the 1920s was a very exciting time period to live in. The Jazz Age was a distinct era in American life. It was full of many traditions and technologies that had never been used in the years previous. People managed to make the best out of every situation and were always busy. The Jazz Age was a very unique time period for people to live in, full of history, literature, new technologies and arts, and a new style.
To understand the genesis of Jazz one must also understand the setting of its origin, New Orleans. The city was founded by the French in 1718, then in 1763 the city ceded to Spain and remained under Spanish control until later being returned to the French in 1803, and then was immediately sold to the United States under the Louisiana Purchase. New Orleans was also heavily populated by African slaves making up 30% of the total population of the city at this time; so New Orleans was experiencing a lot of cultural diversity and was being shaped and molded by the many different fashions of people who lived in the city. These different social groups along with their culture also brought with them their deep rooted musical traditions, the fusion and combination of these traditions would give rise to what we know today as modern day Jazz. Jazz is a genre of music that could only have formed in America; it draws from many different cultures and art forms creating a cocktail of traditional European and African music, mixed with a blend of Spanish tinge, with a strong base of blues filtered through the American experience.
Jazz has greatly impacted American culture and has been a positive outlet for cultural diversity and free thinking. This module has focused on the evolution of jazz from the early 1910’s to the mid-1920. During this time in American culture, the separation of races was still very dominant. Since jazz music speaks of freedom of social minorities, the genre was only beginning to become popular amongst the larger population. Ragtime was developed at the turn of the century; it was an outlet for African American music. As Jazz continued to evolve in the 1920’s social conflict began to arise. Prohibition of alcohol went into effect. This affected American society and the jazz culture, crime rates began to rise, people were demanding alcohol. Music, however, was still being created, and jazz music was still impacting the era. While there were many songs to listen to in
Jazz was a unique form of music, there had never been anything like it before. It was rebellious, rhythmic, and it broke the rules- musical and social. It started a musical revolution, “With its offbeat rhythms and strange melodies, jazz was blamed for everything from drunkenness and deafness to in increase in unwed mothers.” Jazz was seen as immoral and worried the older generation that their kids would lose interest in classical music. It was also seen as against society because it came about from the African- American culture, but despite all of that, jazz led to a new era of music that still prevails today.
Why was New Orleans the hotspot for Jazz? It was located on a seaport. Being on a seaport is beneficial because it provides tourists and is also where goods go through. Also, it provided the party-like atmosphere and still does so today. People in the 1920’s didn’t have the technological advances such as iPhones and television so the performance took place in a social setting such as local bars and red light district establishments. The music evolution of jazz provided not only the music itself but a reason to get up and dance. According to Gridley, “The evolution of new dances and the overall popularity of dancing were big factors” (40). This was a big factor in jazz because it provided a brass band feel.Brass bands influence from Europeans brought a model for jazz music such as the trumpet, trombone, tuba, saxophone, and clarinet. These factors wouldn’t have been possible without culture and also individuals.
“Anthropologists call this process "syncretism"--the blending together of cultural elements that previously existed separately. This dynamic, so essential to the history of jazz, remains powerful even in the present day, when African-American styles of performance blend seamlessly with other musics of other cultures, European, Asian, Latin, and, coming full circle, African.”(Gioai, 1997) The diversity of ethnicities in New Orleans played a crucial role in the development of jazz. Due to there being so many different ethnic groups living in New Orleans, the city was more tolerant in accepting unorthodox practices. This enabled jazz to be able to grow and develop, eventually reaching into new areas of the United
During prohibition, many musicians fount places with a good crowd where they could dance which was illegal at the time. Many speakeasies were owned by Al Capone’s Gang which was in Chicago, and the Italian Mafia in New York. Jazz style in New Orleans can sometimes differs from style in Chicago due to Chicago’s greater emphasis on individual solos, a less relaxed feeling, and a smaller reliance on elements of 19th-century black ethnic music. When comparing the two forms, it may seem difficult because New Orleans was recorded before the time both the black and the white New Orleans bands had already been in Chicago long enough to influence each other. These styles employed simple accompanying rhythms and improvised counterlines among the melody instruments such as trumpet, clarinet, saxophone, trombone, and occasionally
As it grew in influence and popularity, Jazz brought many young people together. It was such a social movement it brought mixed young people together to dance “The Charleston, The Cakewalk, The Black Bottom, The Flea Hop.” Since Jazz was such a influential and persuasive musical style. It had its time as a great social leveler and unifier. It brought together African Americans and Americans, in a love of fast, rhythmic music, which was multiplied through the radio and the recording industry. “What a crowd! All classes and colors met face to face, ultra aristocrats, bourgeois, communists, park avenue galore, publishers, broadway celebs, and harlemites giving each other the once over.” Jazz became attractively to popular Jazz Bands, it traveled widely playing all kinds of venues from restaurants, to dance halls, and even nightclubs. One of the many best renowned nightclubs would have to be the Cotton Club its where hollywood, paris and broadway rubbed elbows, people who came from all over the United States wanted to experience what was going on Harlem in the
Not only is it nearly impossible to pinpoint jazz’s conception in time, many locations are accredited with its origin, the United States allowed for jazz to start gaining popularity and leading into the change it had to the music scene. When jazz is brought up, many first think of its birth place being New Orleans, Louisiana. New Orleans has always been a big musi...