New Orleans flourished with Creole traditions; creole is a person who is French and African American descent. Nonetheless, New Orleans revolutionized jazz music and its lifestyle. During the time period, New Orleans was a melting pot of races and religions; however, it united many European immigrants and blacks to create untraditional music. The society was chaotic, due to great change after the civil war, but the birth of jazz played a big role in shaping up America. New Orleans was different, it was not New York City.
On arrival in America, they were exposed to western musical styles that include harmonies, tonal sounds, along with unique beats and rhythms. This resulted in a raw version of what we know as Jazz. Some components of early jazz are still found in the many modern forms of music such as soul and reggae. Ragtime, considered to be the earliest type of jazz, was introduced in the very late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Also, ragtime was considered one of the most decorative and popular styles of music.
They were forced to migrate to the north. These areas had poverty. Luckily, African Americans could overcome this hatred by creating a new age called the Harlem Renaissance. Making the North well known for its gargantuan transformation and making it a success. The connection towards Gatsby is that Gatsby had hired a band that played jazz.
They were reminiscent of African griots, singers, and storytellers. The blues mirrored American race relations, documenting the struggle and conflict on the one hand, but also suggesting a future based on cooperation and understanding. Jazz was initially considered a lesser form of music or not music at all. Many notable 20th century composers, Aaron Copland, Maurice Ravel, and Igor Stravinsky, embraced jazz as a powerful music genre. Sam Cooke is the first great figure in soul.
The United States rests upon a foundation of freedom, where its citizens can enjoy many civil liberties as the result of decades of colonial struggles. However, African Americans did not achieve freedom concurrently with whites, revealing a contradiction within the “nation of liberty”. It has been stated that "For whites, freedom, no matter how defined, was a given, a birthright to be defended. For African Americans, it was an open-ended process, a transformation of every aspect of their lives and of the society and culture that had sustained slavery in the first place." African Americans gained freedom through the changing economic nature of slavery and historical events like the Haitian Revolution policies, whereas whites received freedom
He addresses the "no connections" arguments in chapters 6, 7 and 8. He outlines the claims made by scholars Franklin Frazier, Stanley Elkins, Sidney Mintz and Richard Price. Frazier and Mintz believe that the extreme trauma and disruption experienced by Africans during the process of enslavement and the middle passage minimized the possibility that they maintained aspects of their cultures in the new world. They argue that this process "had the effect of traumatizing and marginalizing them, so that they would became cultural receptacles rather than donors" (152). Mintz and Price have argued the slave trade had the effect of "permanently breaking numerous social bonds that had tied Africans together..." (153).
Bebop was a modern type of Jazz that became more and more popular after World War II. Black musicians began to feel bitter about white bands infiltrating Bebop music and gaining popularity in a black-established music genre. Some bebop artists changed the style by creating their own style of dress and they would sometimes perform facing away from the audience. Artists began scat singing, a type of nonsense syllabic singing. After Bebop, Jazz changed into the Cool Style, which replaced the intense swing style.
Music evolves through time due to different cultural influences. Since their unfortunate immigration through the trans-Atlantic slave trade into America, Africans brought their musical backgrounds with them to separate the western musical identity compared to European music. Once freed from oppression, African American culture and music diversified the sound of the Christian church. As the acceptance of African Americans increased, their music also was also accepted into white society and directed where music evolved. Without the influence of black culture, the progression and sounds of western music would have never been possible.
This same type of feel is one of the most defining characteristics of modern jazz music. The idea of this pulse allows different players to play different rhythms at the same speeds. These complex rhythms mashed together, or polyrhythms, were introduced to the United States as the slave trade began to take its course. Afterwards, spirituals blossomed from “plantation Blacks who fused Western European harmonies with African songs, modalities, and practices” (Banfield, 96) such as polyrhythms. Spirituals were quite popular among the slave community and eventually gave birth to the next musical stepping stone to jazz, blues.
This theme is logical, and correct. When we now think of the 1920’s we first think of jazz. Jazz was the voice of the era that shaped political, economic, and social views. It allowed for speakeasies and changes in society to occur in this era. Cabarets are the norm for the roaring 20’s because they were the home of jazz.