Jazz Age

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music alike ( Windfield 240). A lot of musicians were involved, from Louis Armstrong to Duke Ellington. The Jazz movement affected United States history and the future music industry in a variety of ways.

Initially, the first jazz is said to have been played by funeral bands that wailed music full of soul and sadness as the followed horse drawn hearses down the streets of New Orleans. It was blues music though (Winfield 157). Many historians mark the start of the “Jazz Age” on November 12, 1917- the day the Department of the Navy closed a thirty-eight square-block neighborhood known as storyville in the city of New Orleans. Fearing the health of its sailors, the navy shut the doors of Storyville’s brothels and nightclubs, forcing hundreds of New Orleans musicians to search elsewhere for the livelihoods (Friedwald 157). After storyville was closed down, jazz musicians began moving north to take up permanent residence-several dozen of them landing in the great migratory target of Chicago alone (Shipton 132). From Chicago, jazz quickly migrated to New York City. That is where jazz became popular on the radio (Shipton 137). Jazz grew up in variety of venues as diverse as America itself-in taverns, ballrooms, gambling clubs, and hotels. Musicians at little clubs with their tiny audiences was where their music flourished (Shipton 143). Many Jazz musicians spent the most part of their adult lives in clubs, drank there, ate there, avoided the draft, and met their ends (Shipton 144).

In addition to how Jazz started, there were plenty of musicians involved in the movement. One of the most impactful players were Louis Armstrong. Louis hardly had a family at all and raised in New Orleans’ Negro red light district (Friedwald 342). From th...

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... like in places such as Britain, Germany, and France. That was helped on having it being radio broadcasted. Jazz introduced other stuff like the birth of Bebop, Free Jazz, and Smooth Jazz (Shipton 850).

In conclusion, November 12, 1917 was an important day since it was the start of “Jazz Age when the Navy closed down a neighborhood named Storyville in New Orleans. Every musician involved helped to shape the music of Jazz. African Americans were able to express their feelings and make some money to play in bands. People in the music industry now use some jazzy kind of music and do not even know (Winfield 427). If was not for the jazz movement we probably would not be able to enjoy the music going on now. Many people call jazz America’s most original art form of music, but the great trumpet player Louis Armstrong would say its form is just unknown. (Szwed 457).

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