Analysis Of Kansas City Jazz In Black Like Me By John Howard Griffin

Kansas City is accustomed to being off the radar. For a solid amount of time, the city was often overlooked, forgotten, or completely undiscovered. It was not until two years ago when the beloved Kansas City Royals put this amazing city back on the map by defeating the New York Mets and proclaiming the title of the World Series Champions. With this news being spread around ever so quickly, and human nature to be curious, eventually crowds began to flock towards this said location. Similarly, in the book Black Like Me, John Howard Griffin exhibits some of the more extreme effects of curiosity. As he medically transforms his body into being another race through pills and UV lights, documenting his journey showing the poor treatment and life of

A multitude of people enjoyed Kansas City jazz, and there was a sufficient reason for it. First, was the fact that it allowed jazz players to push musical boundaries and explore what they can or cannot do. A second reason Kansas City jazz was adored is because it granted various artists, such as Jimmy Rushing and Big Toe Turner, the ability to be band vocalists and parts of an orchestra when needed. Its freedom in jazz was impeccable and liberating; no one was fastened to just one part of it. In Black Like Me, Griffin gets his own taste of southern jazz, as well. “Here at noon, jazz blared from jukeboxes and dark holes issued forth the cool odors of beer, wine and flesh into the sunlight” (Griffin 48). When Griffin makes his way south and documents his journeys, jazz is steadily rising in popularity. The music is blared throughout these clubs- separating the blacks and whites, as blacks played a majority of these tunes for people of all races. The invention of jazz by early African Americans, when they were suffering from racism and its effects, is deeply rooted in the sounds of the artists’ music. The majority of listeners nationwide could sense a uniqueness about jazz, no matter the color of one’s skin. While jazz embodies its own unique sound, it simultaneously holds its deep - and dark - history. "Jazz was a people's music, never the property of the

Griffin, too was able to steadily desegregate and show the poor mistreatment of the races, in the 1950s. All of these key points were reviewed during the migration in history, the public segregated areas in Kansas City along with their abilities to heighten African Americans’ musical careers, Kansas City’s personal jazz sound, and musicians impacting career. Even to this day, the great jazz still lives on and will never die. It is possible for Missourians to state that their very own Kansas City played a key role in helping to desegregate matters during this time period. Its historic center of jazz may still be a unknown to others, but as long as Kansas City honors its past, and represents the jazz era, which once existed, its richness will never