ipl-logo

Culture Expressed Through Sound: A Brief History Of Jazz Music

760 Words4 Pages

Grace Thomas
Culture Expressed Through Sound
"What we play is life," Spoken by a phenomenal jazz musician, Louis Armstrong, this quote conveys that jazz music expresses the life of African Americans (Armstrong 1). During the Civil rights movement, music became a safe space for Black Americans to voice their thoughts and a haven of comfort (Aldrich 1). Black Americans expressed their identity, culture, and struggle through the genres of jazz, R&B, and rap. Music gave people a beautiful way to portray their grim experiences.
Jazz thrived during the early twentieth century, originating in New Orleans. This new genre developed from the combination of African and American cultures to create a unique ragtime sound. This style of music spread rapidly …show more content…

This genre emanated from African Americans traveling to busy cities after living in the "rural south" (Wickham 2). R&B artists started emerging during the nineteen forties and thrived in the nineteen sixties (Wickham 2). Even during the later years of the civil rights act, Black Americans still fought relentlessly for their rights and equality. In 1963, a tragedy known as the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing occurred, in which four innocent Black girls died in an attack by white supremacists. Following this devastating attack, Nina Simone, a renowned R&B artist, composed a song to protest the brutality against African Americans called, "Mississippi Goddam." Simone addressed the biased criminal justice system that let White men commit unforgivable crimes without charge and the minimal progression of racial awareness (Fields 5). Simone "was weaponizing music itself" to voice the issue of oppression in the United States while lifting the nation with her melodies (Fields 1). "We will shape and mold this country," says Simone in an interview, and she did (Fields 12). Her songs played a crucial part in the civil rights act and brought awareness to racial issues. R&B became a way for Black Americans to share their stories and inspired another genre of music,

Show More
Related

How Did Nina Waymone Change The Music Industry

830 Words | 4 Pages

She performed the song live at Carnegie Hall in New York City (5). The chorus of the song is “Alabama's gotten me so upset, Tennessee made me lose my rest, And everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam” (6). The murder of Medgar Evans, a black civil rights activist, in Mississippi on June 12, 1963 and the church bombing in Alabama that killed four little black girls on September 15, 1963 lead Nina Simone to write “Mississippi Goddam” (1). Additionally, in 1960, sit-ins and protests were happening in Nashville, Tennessee, which lead to the bombing of the home of civil rights lawyer Z. Alexander Looby (5). The events that happened in Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee upset Nina Simone tremendously.

Read More

Aretha Franklin's Respect: The Queen Of Music In The 1960s

1436 Words | 6 Pages

The 1960s was a tumultuous decade for the United States. Along with the escalation of the Vietnam War, this decade was rocked by the Civil Rights movement and the second wave of the Feminist movements, creating an immense amount of social tension. As a result, people turned to politically-charged music, predominantly Rock n’ Roll, to release their frustrations. However, an equally important musical genre, Soul, was left in the background. Despite the fact that Soul music was not as popular in the United States, artists such as Aretha Franklin released many politically-charged songs that advocated for social justice.

Read More

Why Was Jazz Important In America

173 Words | 1 Pages

Jazz music has spread around the world. It has drawn on national and regional musical cultures. Jazz has been the most important social factor that black musicians were able to record the blues, gospel and more. These musicians lived through inequality and many discovered their freedom in jazz. It became African Americans freedom because jazz

Read More

What Are The Impacts Of The Creole Jazz Band

419 Words | 2 Pages

Jazz can be characterized by swing, blue notes, call and response vocals, polyrhythms and lastly improvisation. Louis Armstrong would be considered a father of the American jazz genre. He was also considered one of the central musicians in jazz for his contributions as a trumpet player, composer and singer. Although jazz in deeply rooted in the black community, a variety of other cultures have shared their own experience, style and art to

Read More

Comparison Of The House On Mango Street By Sandra Cisneros

260 Words | 2 Pages

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros was definitely a novel that exceeded the expectations I had for it prior to reading it. What intrigued me most about this novel, was the fact that it was written in the form of vignettes, a style of writing I had never read before. “Beautiful and Cruel” was one of my favorite vignettes in this novel. Before this vignette, Esperanza began talking about how she didn’t want to be tamed and have the ability to choose what she wants to do. I really enjoyed reading this vignette because it is where we really begin to see Esperanza taking action and fighting against the expectations that have been placed on her because of her gender.

Read More

Music In The 1920s Essay

894 Words | 4 Pages

In the 1920s, there were many popular kinds of music. For example, there was Jazz, blues, swing, dance band, classical, big band, country, and many more. Almost all of these genres originated from the work of African Americans influenced by their culture and heritage. (Tennant, Amie. "Radio and Music in the 1920s United States.")

Read More

How Did John Coltrane Influence The Civil Rights Movement

824 Words | 4 Pages

His song “Alabama,” which was released on Coltrane Live at Birdland , was especially gripping, both musically and politically (Tramell). The notes and phrasing of Coltrane’s lines are based on the words Martin Luther King spoke at the memorial service for the girls who died in the Birmingham bombing. Coltrane's “Alabama” sheds its sad mood for igniting energy in listener and reflecting the strengthened determination for justice. In a way, Coltrane’s music impacted people’s emotion and led them to join the

Read More

Social Changes In The 1920s

786 Words | 4 Pages

African Americans created the music genre “jazz” in

Read More

Jazz And Racial Identity

233 Words | 1 Pages

Despite Jazz being formed out of two cultures, the issues of social stratification and racial identity never had to be addressed in early jazz history. But as Jazz grew in popularity in a prewar 1930s America, the issue of racism started to form. As Jazz prospered within the economy and as a musical style, it’s roots revealed it’s racial identity. Jazz emerged from the music used formerly to entertain slaves and was a tool of rebellion against the white man, Jazz’z roots were very much embedded in slave culture. As free slaves moved north, they brought their Jazz influence to parts of the country such as Chicago and New York.

Read More

African American Influence On The Economy Of The 1920s

1035 Words | 5 Pages

The radio itself contributed to the culture and education of America, because now sports were stimulated and politicians had a new audience to speak to as larger crows finally heard their promises and pleas. A large significance to the culture of America during the 20’s came from African Americans. The new music genre of Jazz, which rooted from African Americans in New Orleans during the migrating of blacks, became popular among flappers and the rebelling society. Handy, “Jelly Roll” Morton and Joseph “Joe” King Oliver are commonly associated with the birth of jazz. The surge of Jazz came from the new racial pride within African Africans, blossoming from black communities in the North.

Read More

Compare And Contrast The Harlem Renaissance And The Civil Rights Movement

957 Words | 4 Pages

These approaches paved a way for African Americans to voice their freedom, and to show that they have rights as well. Many music artists like Louis Armstrong and Billie Holiday sang blues, a famous type of music for the black community, to speak of their troubling times. These artists spoke of many casualties like the massive arrests and the mass amount of murders happening at the time. Poets such as W.E.B DuBois and Langston Hughes wrote about similar situations. They mentioned times that they went through in a way way for readers to visualize the tragic times.

Read More

The Importance Of Contribution To Jackie Robinson's Life

970 Words | 4 Pages

There are many factors, decisions and aspects of American History that contributed to Jackie Robinson breaking barriers in his life, but the most significant to impact it were his values of courage, persistence, and justice. Courage was one of values that contributed to Jackie Robinson’s life. Jackie Robinson showed great, honorable courage when he enlisted into the U.S. Army. In 1942 Robinson was inducted into the Army during World War II.

Read More

Jazz Influence On American Culture

1090 Words | 5 Pages

The history, popularity and influence of jazz on human culture make it the seminal American art form. The origins of jazz music are central to its identity and its importance in the American story. Firstly, ragtime

Read More

The Role Of Music In The Civil Rights Movement

875 Words | 4 Pages

Music is not only used to capture peoples hearing but it is used to power peoples minds through the power of an individuals voice. Music served a critical role in the African American’s lives, as it was used to uplift their spirits as well as providing them with hope and strength to fight for civil rights and overcome segregation between white superiority and the unfair treatment of the inferior black. Music was defined as the voice of the people that lived through the oppression of the civil rights movement. During the civil rights movement, there were many different types of music genres sung, dependent on the culture, this included spiritual music; gospel and even folk music, which was performed by musicians, singers and even people of any musical talents. Through this, it brought about the uniting of people to join together and sing songs that helped them go through the oppression of the civil rights movement.

Read More

Jazz In New Orleans Essay

992 Words | 4 Pages

The biggest impact on the style, particularly jazz music was the African drumming and dancing traditions. In the 1880s brass marching bands gained popularity, which spread across America briefly. Cakewalks and minstrel tunes also gained much popularity with the influence of African-American traditions. By the 1890s, ragtime, syncopated piano compositions, became a major music sensation, in addition, brass bands began to accompany such compositions and music was obtaining new repertoire. Brass bands such as Excelsior and Onward were bands that had formally trained musicians.

Read More

More about Culture Expressed Through Sound: A Brief History Of Jazz Music

Related Topics

Open Document