The Jazz Age
The Jazz Age was more than merely a musical revolution—“The Jazz Age denotes not only a period of early big band, but also the events and fashions of an era”. During this decade a number of modern developments were invented, which included an expanded telephone service, network radio, electric inventions, and records set in aviation. These modern developments had a profound effect on American culture, creating a rise in leisure, specifically mass leisure. Automobiles, movies, and the radio overtook the lives of Americans, becoming necessities and part of everyday routines. This period also marks the beginning of films with soundtracks, an audio component, marking the rise of the musical and giving the American people another vehicle for leisure activity. The Jazz Age shaped the culture and attitude of America, “it was the first truly modern decade and, for better or for worse, it created the model for society that all the world follows today”.
The Jazz Age was also a response to the First World War and to Edith Wharton’s “Old New York”. We see the youth generation of America disenchanted with the nation’s leaders following World War I, believing that, “the delicacy and pettiness of the older generation… led to the most horrible war in human history”. This way of thinking led to a new mood, “one composed of a new toughness of mind, a fresh repudiation of the Victorian ethic, and a very deep distrust of the rhetorical flourishes of the successful economic and political leaders”. Therefore the younger generation in the 1920s chose to rebel against the leaders of the older generation in the only way they knew how—expressing themselves through partying and acting out against the old Victorian guidelines for socie...
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...tates, as the youth generation looked for distractions to pull them away from the terrible memories of the First World War. It was almost as if they thought that if they danced provocatively enough, dressed raunchily enough, and drank enough alcohol, illegally or otherwise, the memory of the war would just disappear.
Works Cited
Web Sources
http://faculty.pittstate.edu/~knichols/jazzage.html
http://www.cottonclub-newyork.com/
http://www.jass.com/cotton.html
http://www.redhotjazz.com/
www.btinternet.com/~dreklind/whyjazz.htm
www.geocities.com/flapper_culture/
Hard Sources
Baritz, Loren. Ed. The Culture of the Twenties. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1970
Cowley, Malcom and Robert. Fitzgerald and the Jazz Age. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1966
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2003
Fass, P. S. (1977). The Damned and the Beautiful: American Youth in the 1920s. New York: Oxford University Press.
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Méon, P.G. & Weill, L. (2009). Is corruption an efficient grease? World Development, 38(3), 244-259.
The word “jazz” is significant to America, and it has many meanings. Jazz could simply be defined as a genre or style of music that originated in America, but it can also be described as a movement which “bounced into the world somewhere about the year 1911.”. This is important because jazz is constantly changing, evolving, adapting, and improvising. By analyzing the creators, critics, and consumers of jazz in the context of cultural, political, and economic issues, I will illustrate the movement from the 1930’s swing era to the birth of bebop and modern jazz. As the 1930’s began, the effects of the Great Depression still ravaged the United States, which in turn caused a dramatic change in the music industry.
When the United States were showing signs of economical growth, the unimaginable happen. When the 1929 stock market crash marked the day that the United States slowly crept into the Great Depression. The Great Depression caused nationwide panic. There was a decrease of production and the sale of goods. Many businesses started to collapse and close. Banks closed down since they took people’s money and invest in stocks. When the stocks crashed, banks went bankrupt and people lost their money and savings. Then there was a rise in unemployment and thousands of workers lost their jobs. Countless amount of people were homeless and they were trying their best to save their money. People were trying to figure out how to deal with their economic difficulties. During that time, people wanted to escape from their problems. They would watch movies and listen to music. At the time Jazz music was very popular. Jazz music had musical freedom and the songs show the way many people felt. It had the power to lift the gloomy spirits of the people affected. Jazz music has a style that appeal to many people, both young and old. One of the earlier Jazz
Fitzgerald does not associate the Jazz Age with jazz music, but he does associate it with free going men and women. Fitzgerald believes that the Jazz Age was a was a time of no care and living life to the fullest. He says “wherefore eat, drink, drink and be merry, for to-morrow we die”(16). This is showing that the people of the Jazz Age did not care what happened tomorrow as long as they lived today to its fullest. When he says “that something had to be done with all the nervous energy stored up and unexpended in the War,” (13) he shows why people were so free going. Fitzgerald is saying that people did not know if there was going to be another war or if when they were going to die, so they had to live life today and not wait for tomorrow. He says that people will do whatever they can to make sure that they have the most fun they can while they were still on earth. This was not only a lifestyle but a social trend during the 20’s. Girls changed how they felt about their husbands and their lives. Fitzgerald says that “a world of girls yearned for the young Englishman; the old America...
What comes to mind when thinking of the 1920’s? Most people think of the freedom the United States felt after World War I and that is exactly what jazz and the Charleston symbolize (Boundless.com par. 1). Jazz and the Charleston were extremely controversial in the 1920’s because they promoted a new way of thinking, which outraged the older generations (Knowles 160). Older generations did not like the fact that young people were becoming more and more daring with their actions just by playing music and dancing (Boundless.com par. 6). Today, jazz and the Charleston are thought of as out of date, but without them, music today would be completely different. Jazz and the Charleston revolutionized modern music and dance by altering the rhythm of classical music, changing the culture of American society (Boundless.com par. 1).
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.
Drago, F., Galbiati, R. & Vertova, P. (2011). Prison conditions and recidivism. American law and economics review, 13 (1), pp. 103--130.
The “Jazz Age” was a term F. Scott Fitzgerald coined to describe the ostentatious era that began after World War I during the Roaring Twenties. It was a joyous time full of great prosperity. He published many famous books during this time like The Great Gatsby and Tender is the Night. Fitzgerald claimed to know a great deal about the glitz and glamour of the Roaring Twenties, while he never actually experienced those aspects himself. Although F. Scott Fitzgerald had many struggles with alcoholism and his marriage, he is considered to be one of the greatest American writers of the twentieth century.
Jazz is a treasure to American culture, which originally came from New Orleans of South part of America in 19th century. It’s a special music because it contains changeable rhythm and improvisational performance. But what makes jazz so special in 1920s is that Jazz could not only be performed by an individual but also could be performed by a group of people. This music performance style shows important things about American society and culture itself.
Zhang, S. X., Roberts, R. E. L., & Callanan, V. J. (2006). Preventing parolees from returning to prison through community-based reintegration. Crime & Delinquency, 52(4), 551-571.
Sambol-Tosco, Kimberly. “Historical Overview: Education, Arts, & Culture.” Slavery and the Making of America. PBS. 2004. 2. Web. 29 September 2013. .
Also known as the Jazz Age and the Roaring Twenties, the American people felt that they deserved to have some fun in order to forget the emotional toll and social scars left from the war. The Jazz Age was appropriately named due to the illegal activities and good times, which included music, parties, and flapper girls. Jazz was a new style of music that originated out of the New Orleans area, where one of the greatest jazz musicians of all time – Louis Armstrong – began his career. The energy of jazz was a very new and almost uncomfortable style for the very traditional, rigid family of the 1920s. Young people in particular seemed to enjoy this new music the most, as it made them feel carefree. The energy of jazz was symbolic of the era’s trans...
Recidivism is a major problem in the United States, as nearly two-thirds of those released from prison, reoffend. In fact, in many cases those who were initially incarcerated for non-violent crimes, often escalate to violence, after release from prison. A U.S. Department of Justice special report released in 2014, entitled: Recidivism of