Changing Assumptions of Jazz

Before this course, I had a limited understanding of the nature of jazz. I thought that an important part of jazz was its somewhat mournful sound and I also believed that jazz was usually had a slower tempo and was a performance art form. I thought jazz was just a genre of music like rock and roll or pop music and knew nothing of its origins. I did not know anything about its pervasiveness in American culture in the 20^th century and no idea about the struggles jazz musicians faced.

               Racism and segregation posed huge problems for black jazz musicians in the early to mid- 20^th century. Black musicians were marginalized in favor of white musicians for gigs in ‘high society’ venues like Carnegie Hall. For example, Benny Goodman played Fletcher Henderson’s music in Carnegie Hall since Henderson could not play there as he was black. Miles explains this phenomenon in his autobiography by citing the discovery of bebop: “white critics tried to act like they discovered it—and us—down on 52^nd Street” (Davis, 55). White people defined bebop according to their own inclinations and ignored the history associated with the evolution of jazz into bebop. Miles’ assertion has roots dating back to the Jazz Age and the Swing Era when artists like Duke Ellington had to employ white agents like Irving Mills who could dictate the terms of employment. Despite this rampant racism, black artists prevailed and spread jazz across the nation.

               This course changed my view on jazz completely. I came into the course expecting to learn only about the big names of jazz like Coltrane and Miles Davis but I realize now that jazz was a collective effort by many artists over a long period of time. Jazz is more than just a genre or style of music. It is the “process of making music” (Stewart, 3/10) but it also a reflection of the racial struggle of black people in America.

Comment: Matt Hirning

Jazz and the Community

Monk’s upbringing in San Juan Hill exposed him to the diversity of cultures and music present in the world. San Juan Hill had the highest “concentration of black musicians in the city” (Kelly, 19) before the migration of music to Harlem. Monk heard Caribbean music, music from the South and from the West Indies. He also learned classical music and jazz from various piano teachers. This exposure to different cultures gave him an advantage when developing his own music later in life. He tried to recreate the swing quality in faster paced music that was the defining factor of bebop. His discordance and dissonant tones represented the violence he saw in San Juan Hills in the form of race riots and also everyday crime. This is what some mean by “Jazz is New York, man!” Jazz brought together the different cultures in New York and combined them to create something new while not forgetting the tensions between the cultures.

This relationship between jazz and the community is opposite to that portrayed in the Leimert Park video. Kelley argues that Monk’s environment and community lead to his music, not his music creating the San Juan Hill community. However, Monk’s music led directly to the popularity of the Five Spots bar, so in this case, jazz created the community. However it is inaccurate to assume that either jazz creates the community or vice versa. Rather, jazz and the community share a cyclical relationship, where one will influence or create the other and then later the created will become the creator.

Jazz musicians are heavily influenced by their childhood experiences, as we see from Monk’s upbringing, as well as Miles Davis’s upbringing. Their culturally and aesthetically diverse environments led to their music, and their experiences are reflected in the music. Ultimately, without the community, there is no jazz.

Comment: Matt Hirning
I like that you explored the connection between San Juan Hill and Leimert Park beyond just talking about them as communities where jazz blossomed, and actually talked about their similarities i.e. the violence and diversity. It works really well to emphasize that jazz needs a specific set of initial conditions to flourish.

Race in the Swing Era

Race was one of the key contradictions of jazz and swing and had been a central instigator in the formation of jazz. In the 1930s, race was thrust into the forefront of discussions on swing more so than the previous decades. The Swing Era, as it was later called, began when the Great Depression was economically devastating the country and many white people experienced a class shift that made them essentially equal to the black people. Competition for jobs increased but white artists were still at an advantage compared to black artists due to the Jim Crow societal norms. The market was dominated by white agents and audiences which made it easier for white artists to get gigs while marginalizing black artists.

One of the biggest reasons for the emergence of racial dialogue during the Swing Era was the jazz critic Hammond. Hammond was a well-educated, cultured, rich and white. He became a man who could make or break a band’s reputation (Swing Changes P 58). He criticized Duke Ellington for making deals with Irving Miller and the Cotton Club and for his “racial insensitivity to the troubles of ‘his people’” (Stewart 2/12). Hammond held the belief that black artists played “superior swing” than white artists and that Ellington compromising so worsened the status of black people in American society (Swing Changes P60). This compromise brought black artists further under the control of the “white hegemony” in jazz (Stewart 2/12). Paradoxically, Hammond was instrumental in furthering the hegemony.

Hammond’s rise to fame occurred with his insistence to Benny Goodman to integrate his band which pushed Goodman away from the mainstream and resulted in the declaration of Benny Goodman as the King of Swing (Swing Changes P55). This move exemplified the racism of the times where a white man was declared the best in what had previously been touted as a black art form. White bands did not have to perform as well as black bands because white audiences did not demand it (Stewart 2/12). Events such as this made race a central topic of discourse in the Swing Era.

Comment- Phil Coren < http://blst14philcoren.blogspot.com/ >

New York: The Center of 1920s Jazz

New York was more important to jazz in the 1920s than Chicago due to its socioeconomic situation and the prevalent culture in New York. New York, and Harlem in particular, experienced a massive influx of African Americans from the Southern United States after the end of World War 1. They came seeking better economic opportunities and formed a black community in Harlem. In Chicago, artists were contracted to and limited by the gangs of Chicago and received no support from the Black middle class.  The migration to New York led to cramped conditions in Harlem but provided an economic freedom and brought together the “traditional highbrow culture” of the Black middle and White upper echelons and the “lowbrow nightlife” through the piano (Gioia, 91). At this time, the soloist had been solidly established and New York responded with enthusiasm.

After World War 1 though, New York saw the birth of a new style of jazz that celebrated both the solo and the ensemble and responded to New York’s call for music the patrons could dance to. This was the emergence of the big band. Composers such as Fletcher Henderson and Duke Ellington gathered many jazz players and formed dance orchestras that entertained clients in both high class venues like Carnegie Hall and nightclubs like the Cotton Club. New York was the “center of American Theatre” and provided many opportunities to spread jazz to many audiences through revues that brought together what would be later called “The Street” and Broadway (Stewart 2/3). The revues evolved jazz to a performance art, unique to New York and provided a “stage on which to display that jazz was more than music” (Stewart 2/3). Most well known for playing this New York style, Duke Ellington and his band flourished through the 1920s and 30s. During this time, most audiences tended to be white and the performers black. Radio took over as the primary form of disseminating information and music and racism led to black performers not getting the same opportunities as the white performers.

Fletcher Henderson lost his band due to this racism but not before becoming the epitome of New York jazz. He furthered jazz’s multi-genre reach by increasing its speed and improvisation to make it swing. His band played at the Roseland ballroom which later became the “best known dance club in New York” (Stewart 2/3). This epitomizes the New York jazz style, one of collaboration between the art genres.

Commented on Leah Bleich’s post at < http://leahbleichblst14.blogspot.com/ >

New Orleans Jazz

New Orleans emerged as center of commerce in the southern United States in the 19^th century. This status also made New Orleans a melting pot for many different cultures “unlike anywhere else in North America” (Stewart). The majority of the population was of West African descent and as such, music became an integral part of everyday society. This tradition allowed jazz to borrow from many different styles of music and to flourish as an entertainment form. Jazz has multiple origin stories, from the brothels of Storyville, which was “kind to hot music,” to the churches of New Orleans where Buddy Bolden is rumored to have gotten ideas for his music (Gioia 29-30). Gioia writes that many of the musicians would play in “cabarets and dance halls” in Storyville, not in the brothels, which he claims was probably what tabloids would write (Gioia 29).

Another source for jazz music rests with the 8^th Regimental Band from Mexico who came to New Orleans during the 1884 New Orleans Exposition. These musicians were classically trained and brought woodwind instruments and stayed in New Orleans after the exposition. Many aspiring Black and Creole musicians were trained classically by the members of the Mexican national band and later went on to become great jazz musicians. Undoubtedly, we can say that the Mexicans left “unquestionable imprints upon jazz and blues in New Orleans” (Johnson 229). Jazz, however would not have formed without influences from many other cultures, most notably, African culture and the distinctive Creole culture in New Orleans.

I think the most important factor in the birth of jazz in New Orleans was the class conflict that lay at the heart of the city. The Creoles in New Orleans wanted to distance themselves from what they considered the black underclass and tried to imitate the European culture present in New Orleans. After the Civil War, the Creoles were brought down to the same level as the lower class due to legislature passed in 1894. The better trained Creole musicians had to compete with the “less schooled, more boisterous black band” who ended up dominating the music scene, albeit they did integrate many parts of Creole music. New Orleans jazz, thus became a musical genre not exclusive to a single ethnicity, but an integral piece of identity for many cultures.

Commented on Phil Coren's post at <blst14philcoren.blogspot.com>

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