Social Effects Of Jazz Research Paper

The purpose of this paper is to answer the question: How are the history of black ethnic problems in the United States and the history of jazz connected?

To understand the social effects of jazz on black history you need to understand the importance of music to black Americans and how jazz came to exist. In Africa, music was central to people's lives. Music permeated important life events and daily activities including informal gatherings, bush meetings, or camp meetings. At the meetings, participants would sing, chant, and dance.

The origins of jazz can be traced to several different cultures and societal influences. Most significant, was men and women taken from Africa to work as slaves in early America. The two types of African-American

Bebop ceased to cater to popular audiences and instead became solely about the music and the musicians who played it. The music, which appealed to whites and blacks alike, provided a culture in which the collective and the individual were inextricable. The most notorious architects of Bebop were Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Kenny Clarke. These players chose to perform in small bars and nightclubs in Harlem rather than in large dancehalls. Their style of music was known for improv and faster tempos so did not support dancing the way swing music did. The players were also known for the “hipster” audience following. Dizzy Gillespie followers frequently copied his beret, goatee and horn-rimmed glasses. Ironically, this more austere type of black music alienated the blacks of the ghettos; the original audience of jazz music. Instead, it attracted a new audience of white intellectuals and eccentrics, an audience that had nothing to do with historical background of jazz music. Dizzy Gillespie also found himself drawn to the Afro-Cuban elements in jazz. Since the 1940’s, Latin music has had a major presence in jazz music. It was also in the 1940’s that jazz musicians and their audiences started mixing publicly in clubs-tentatively at first, but then freely and openly, in violation of local laws and more (4

During the Civil Rights Movement jazz helped to create peace and hope, but due to the legality of whites and blacks performing together African Americans still found themselves playing jazz after hours. These performances allowed them to share their feelings about their turmoil through the movement instead of picking up a weapon. The Civil Rights Movement was a historic period in which black America suffered from discrimination and segregation, but music grew passionate for equality. As dangerous as the consequences may have been, many Americans protested segregation laws and fought for their freedom.

During the 1950’s, jazz styles splintered into several directions with the most notable being “cool jazz” and “hard bop” also known as funky or soul jazz (5). This was largely because jazz was considered an art and as such needed to be progressive so as not to remain constant. New jazz venues also started appearing which introduced jazz to larger audiences both local and international. The fifties also brought about several very influential artists to the jazz community. One of the most notable would be Miles Davis whose style set the standard for cool jazz, but was also closely associated with hard bop. His recording released as Birth of the Cool was said to set the tone of jazz for the decade to come. Davis also became somewhat of a cult figure in the late fifties