Jazz has shaped the world we know today. Jazz would have never been as popular without the help of the famous musicians: Jelly Roll Morton, Joe King Oliver, Sidney Bechet, Louis Armstrong, and Duke Ellington. These people helped spread the new genre through radio, railroads, and the records that they played. Where did this all start? The jazz age began in New Orleans where a certain King was born.
1920’s CRQ The early 20th century distinguished the America we are familiar with today so well, the era received the title: The Roaring Twenties. One may assume the phrase is overdone, but the nickname rather suits for the events that helped America take off. However, whenever there is a change, contention always follows its wake.
In the realm of music, African Americans celebrated blues music. The blues music that spread during the 1920s “expressed the longings and philosophical perspectives of the black working class” (). In addition to blues music, jazz became a dominant musical form which established Harlem as an exciting cultural center, resulting in abundant dance halls created where famous musicians such as the trumpeter Louis Armstrong, pianist Duke Ellington, and pianist Fats Waller could perform their unique solos and share their musical talents in an environment that embraced the freedom of self-expression. These developments that occurred in this period called the Jazz Age indeed empowered African Americans to use their musical talents in an effort to strengthen their traditions, culture, and racial status in an anti-black prejudiced society: “"Wild Dreams of Bringing Glory and Honor to the Negro Race," addresses the composer's difficulties in overcoming negative stereotypes, myths, and perceptions that were most often based in racial prejudice” (). Similarly, African Americans contributed to the field of drama, forming all black theatre groups and creating productions that often focused on portraying the folk experience (the experience of blacks in the South) and protesting racial oppression and black stereotypes.
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
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
Jazz is most often thought to have been started in the 1920s as this explosive movement, but that is in fact not the case. Starting in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century many African American musicians have started to explore their taste in improvising, and where better to do that than New Orleans (Anderson). Before the 1920s these jazz musicians have already been going around sharing the unique sound, but up until then, jazz had remained majorly in New Orleans. Interestingly during this period, a common jazz band would consist of a cornet, a clarinet, a trombone, and a rhythm section when at this period of time the clarinet is not commonly associated with being a jazz instrument, it moved into being the saxophone rather. A big
Harlem, after all, was the capital of jazz music. Jazz music united Blacks and whites because this was a new, fun type of music that they had never seen. Performers like Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington would perform in the Cotton Club. The Cotton Club would only accept whites to go in, even though many of the performers were African American, but they would still perform. Jazz music was so new and unique to the country because it used many new beats, sounds, and rhythms that were unheard of to the whites.
Beginning in the early twentieth century, jazz spread quickly amongst clubs and bars across the poorer urban areas such as cities like New Orleans. Due to jazz artist’s unique musical swing, jazz quickly became recognized all around the world. Throughout history, many jazz artists have made their unique sound known. Three artists, in particular, that enlightened others by their outstanding talent include Louis Armstrong, Thelonious Monk, and Billie Holiday. Each of these artists have their own method of performing jazz in an inimitable manner which no one can deny.
19th Amendment Changes Lives! Article by Sophie Champ Breaking news for the first time ever women have the ability to vote! This is a huge step for women 's equality throughout the world. After much fighting and arguing for rights, women have come a long way and are very proud of their achievements. After years and years of battling the men who lead the government, the 19th amendment has been ratified.
By 1920, the Jazz age was well underway as a direct challenge to the prohibition of alcohol. Famous Jazz players of the 1920s where: Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Earl Hines, Fats Waller, Ella Fitzgerald, and Joe Venuti. This was one of the first times in American history that the majority of non-African Americans accepted parts of African American culture. It was the moment that many African Americans were able to enter into the mainstream. Though African Americans lived under constant fear of death and pain in the Gilded Age, all was not pain and sorrow.
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.
Since New York was a diverse state, all types of people started to become interested in jazz music. This was the first time that the African Americans were considered to be valuable members of the American society. Jazz music eventually led the creation of jazz poetry. These poems were very important because they proved that jazz music appealed to the American society on a spiritual, intellectual and philosophical
This type of music has lasted through almost a hundred years now, and still brings people the same freeing feeling it did when it was first discovered. Jazz is a type of music that is improvised. Each instrument in the band will get a mini solo that they improv to show off their skills. The swinging rhythms and varying tempos tell the story of the composer. Music from the Harlem Renaissance tells the stories of those who lived through it, and continues to inspire people today.
In life, there are few things as organic as jazz music. With its raw sound and scrappy roots, one cannot help but feel life head-on whilst witnessing players produce such a sound right before their eyes. Its origins and arch are a product of the United States’ national culture and identity. Jazz exists not only as a deeply rooted form of art but as a cultural marker, particularly during its commercial peak in the first half of the 20th century. Its impact transcends borders, and it is one of the most beloved musical genres worldwide.
By the late nineteenth century, a mix of cultural diversity and outside societal pressures within the port city of New Orleans in Louisiana pushed the progression of the jazz genre. At this time, New Orleans was the most cosmopolitan city in the United States and it thereby fostered an unprecedented blend of culture and ethnicity. This cultural melting pot allowed the mixing of many different genres, primarily ragtime and blues, which helped mold a new, innovative music style. Furthermore, the implementation of Jim Crow laws in the 1870s unexpectedly contributed to the growth of jazz by connecting musicians of different backgrounds with one another. This allowed for the intermingling of previously divided social classes, which created a unique
