Improvisation

When signing up for the History of Jazz, I really had no idea what to expect. The only thing I assumed that I would learn was about the many different jazz artists who made a huge impact in the genre and the type of styles and their songs that made them to be perceived as legends. I also thought that the intensity of the class would be more laid back and that there would not be a lot of work but again I was completely wrong and did not know what I was in for.

The History of Jazz has been a very well thought out course that really opened my mind and broaden my horizons of music. We went through the timeline of jazz from its origins all the way up to recent years. One of the biggest surprises for me was the amount of impact the different cities had in the development and growth of jazz. New Orleans which was the birthplace of jazz provided the beginning by bringing a lot of different cultures and ethnicities together, particularly African. As jazz moved north into Chicago and New York it started to arrive into popular cultures as jazz music and newly developed styles such as swing and bebop into the eyes of the public by having legends such as Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. One of the biggest surprises that I was expecting from this class was the amount of racial tensions which was critical in jazz. It all started with the slave trade union where slaves were abruptly taken from their home in Western Africa. There was also the racial tensions in Chicago in the 1930’s that led to the riots and “black capitalism” and “black nationalism.” There was division in New York as well, as there was tension between blacks and whites, as black musicians were known for making jungle musicians and white people were known to attend and critic.

One of the topics that I wanted to talk about was the idea of Genius. This word was used a lot by Professor Steward about particular artist who transcended generations and made their stamp on jazz and it is clear to see that when listening to their works compared to other jazz artists during that time. Buddy Bolden was one of the biggest individual jazz that was fundamental to the growth of jazz and was instrumental role model for legends such Louis Armstrong and James P. Johnson who were the founders of their respective arts, Swing and Classical Piano styles respectively. Those artists were also considered Genius because they brought a new element of jazz that had not be seen before. With the word “genius” I think the main thing Professor Steward was trying to across as “genius” in terms of intelligence but in terms of being ahead of their generation and being original and unique that set them outside the norm and into the legendary status that they are currently in, when discussing the history of jazz.

The Story of the Thelonious Monk

In this quote Thelonious Monk is discussing the daily violence that is taking place on the youth  in San Juan Hill, which is where Monk grew up. When he brings up “Black Power” he talks about how it brings vivid memories of the kind of interracial and interracial violence that consumed his neighborhood during his years there. Each block according to Monk in his quote was almost like a different city, each with different rules and lifestyles. There was so much division between people and particularly Blacks and Whites, which led to violent outbreaks and danger in New York.

Because he was subjected to racism all his life, particularly in school, as well as from cops of New York and elsewhere, it had a huge influence on his life as well as his music in the fact that he didn’t want his music to resemble the daily violence and racism that consumed his neighborhood. Monk refused to respond by becoming more race conscious which was the whole idea of the “black power shit” he was referring to in his quote. Monk does not let his troubled background affect his music. In his art Monk creates a new community, an informal and unconventional community bound together by a tolerance for modernity, something he did not have in San Juan Hill, using an unorthodox combination of notes to create and unusual style that defined his style and who he was as an artist.

Another source of Monk’s music came from his piano lessons that he took when he was young. It was another source of inspiration in his village and gave him access to diversity through his Jewish immigrant classical pianists, who introduced Monk to classical music and how to play the piano, another aspect that greatly affected his music and messages. Although it did provide a rough lifestyle San Juan Hill offered Monk something that a family member or anyone else could not, and that was insight and support from music

It seems like in his music Monk was trying to transcend the race and class lines that had separated blacks and whites in his neighborhood. He soon became adopted and adopted the young generation of Blacks and Whites who were rebelling against the structures of American society, creating a community and solidifying his tenure in the Five Spot in 1957. He also had a very serious relationship with Nica (Kathleen Annie Pannonica Rothschild) a famous Jewish jazz player at the time, breaking more boundaries by living what he preached.

While Monk was able to see the racial tensions in his neighborhood and break away from it with his music, the racial 
discrimination during that time seemed to follow him which is seen in Delaware in 1958, where Monk was wrongfully 
arrested. Monk was beat by cops while he was handcuffed and the police unconstitutionally searched without a warrant Nica and arrested her on possession of narcotics, even though Monk was ill. Overall life was not simply just Black and White to Monk like most people thought during those times in New York City. Monk’s music embodies a vision of an artistic soul that would not fall under the social barriers that were taking place in his neighborhood at the time which allowed him to grow as an artist and create the community he wanted to be apart of which solidified his career as one of the legends of jazz.

Swing Era in the 1930's

Jazz has always been a genre of music that had racial discourse in its history. Whether it was the tension between the Europeans and West African slaves that arrived to America that created the concept of jazz or the evolution of it in Chicago that was highlighted through “black nationalism” starting the assimilation of a black popular culture, race has always caused controversy in the history of jazz. There may not have been more explicit then in the1930’s and the swing era. 

The swing era, which is highlighted for the jiggerbug and white jazz. There was often tension between white and black musicians because they were in competition with one another for the financial awards and cultural respect for mastery of this role art form. Duke Ellington talked about how black people had to make a compromise with the racial and economic dynamics of success for a Black man by performing in front of predominately white crowds despite segregation policy and hiring an agent to mainstream his music. White critics and audiences were extremely rough on black musicians for not capturing the true essence of jazz.

In fact in order for black musicians to survive the racial barriers of the 1930’s they had to disguise a willingness to tolerate racial indignities for the sake of commercial success. This demonstrated another big point in racial tension: the artist vs critic in which the Black artist is asked to be a “representative” of the race that is not as fortunate to have access to the economies of commercial jazz. It stings so bad because jazz have been White. In conclusion swing was jazz as politics. And with it a popular audience- a largely White audience that could now critique Black jazz artist from a new subject position in American society and culture.

The Importance of the Chicago Style

In my eyes Chicago was single handedly the most important city for jazz in the 1920’s. It was the first city that fully embraced what New Orleans developed and led the transition of jazz from the south to the north as musicians began to migrate up. Chicago and its jazz movement was the reason why the swing era style of music developed and was home to some of the greatest jazz musicians ever to live.

One of the first and biggest reasons that led to the development of jazz in Chicago was King Oliver’s Creole Band who was offered a residency at a big dance hall on Chicago’s South Side called the Lincoln Gardens. Oliver’s band was one of the first Chicago dance bands and led the transition to going above and beyond the New Orleans style. “Oliver’s band were not traditionalists so much as a pack of modernist, looking to make commercial records by taking pieces from the past and arranging them in new shapes.” (Allen Lowe. Lecture Notes)

Social roles and racial communities played a huge part in shaping the expression of jazz in Chicago. Between 1915 and 1920 5 million black people migrated North and 1 in every ten lived in the South Side of Chicago. It was during this time that the Chicago Race Riot of 1919 occurred, one of the bloodiest conflicts in American history. Soon after the black population learned the lesson of self reliance and developed a racial nationalism that had never been seen before in American history. This led to what is called “black capitalism” as well as “black entrepreneurialism” and most importantly a newly created thirst for American popular culture.

This thirst of popular culture created an opportunity of jazz musicians, dancers, singers, and others performers to flourish in Chicago since jazz was entertainment music that was to performed in ballrooms or dance floors unlike folk music or the country blues. This in its own demonstrates that Chicago had its own style of love and theft.  The Chicago style is brash, sparkling, upbeat, with spectacular trumpet playing that usually includes a bluesy swinging rhythm section. What made Chicago stand out was how danceable the music was. It moveable style led the shift from the brothel to the dance pavilions in Chicago for middle and working patrons. 

It seemed like as jazz moved to Chicago, the role of the soloist became more prominent, and the ensemble became more complex. New Orleans was much different because the collective style prevailed over the individual for the most parts although there were standouts such as Buddy Boldens, who’s talents far surpassed era. Chicago individual players were allowed more freedom to improvise probably due to the free-spirit the city offered. 

There may not be an individual who resembles this Chicago style more then Louis Armstrong, the genius of swing. There was a difference in the way he sounded his trumpet. He sustained powerful long notes that sounded like lyrics. He was much bluesier and captured that style of music that was played in late night jazz dance halls in Chicago.

You can make the argument that New York had just of much of an effect on jazz as Chicago but to me the reason why I felt like Chicago was more important was because it had a true style led by one of the best jazz musicians ever. New York advocates would argue that they had the essence of jazz far earlier then Chicago and that there piano jazz style was very important but the whole social background and history of how jazz came to be in Chicago and the fact that it led to the swing style in the 1930’s gave it the edge over Harlem and New York.

The Relationship between Jazz and the City of New Orleans

New Orleans is often considered the birthplace of jazz, and rightfully so, since it is the first city to fully recognize and embrace its unique sound. However when you look back further the reason why jazz was able to reach New Orleans was because of European colonization and slavery in West Africa, where africans were captured and shipped to America in order to work their plantation systems. 

One of the biggest cities that welcomed these slaves was in fact New Orleans during the nineteenth-century. Slaves usually were allowed to perform slave dances every Sunday in the open area of Congo-Square in order to keep in touch with their culture from back home. This exposure caused by Congo-Square is the beginning of the mixture between African and European culture which is essentially how jazz music was formed. But it was not only European culture that was affecting the creation of Jazz but the fact that New Orleans was also the home of Spanish and French influences as well. Spanish culture in particular had a huge effect influencing many local instrumentalist and providing one more link to the complex relationship of Latin and African-American style.

The musicological impact demonstrated by the Latin-Catholic culture influenced nineteenth century New Orleans, and helped bring about the development of jazz music.  As Jelly Roll Morton, one of the pioneers for New Orleans jazz musicians, describes the relationship between spanish culture and jazz, “if you can’t manage to put tingles of Spanish in your tunes, you will never be able to get the right seasoning, I call it, for jazz.” However this culture was also going through it’s share of discrimination, but was more more tolerant in accepting  unorthodox social hybrids than the English-Protestant ethos that prevailed everywhere else in the New World. Put simply, the music and dance of Congo Square, as well as the blend of multiple cultures in one city would not have happened in the more Anglicized colonies of the Americas, which is why Jazz could not be founded by anywhere else besides New Orleans

As I already discussed earlier the sources of jazz came primarily from the Congo-Square which was the first exposure given to the New World about African culture and led to the eventual blend with European culture. Later on New Orleans which was constantly switching possession from France to Spain, was passed on the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase. It is because of this event as well as the addition of settlers from Germany, Italy,  England,  Ireland, and Scotland that was able to play a decisive role in shaping what made New Orleans what it was in the nineteenth century. 

To me the most important factor that led to jazz in New Orleans was the one of a kind cultural gumbo, that led to the creation of jazz. New Orleans was the only city where African and European culture, as well as all the other cultures that were residing in the city at the time could merge together to form jazz.  This laissez-faire environment led the way to not only jazz but influenced other types of music that soon followed after such as the blues and ragtime. Its because of this accepting and mixed culture that is why i feel like why it is the single most important factor for why jazz formed in New Orleans.