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Jazz impact on African Americans
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Jazz is a music of improvisation and expression of true feelings. It's style has two very different origins: African and European. Once brought to America, jazz has been every changing reflecting what was happening in society at the time. Jazz is something that has been in America for many years and effected society in a way no other music of African and European roots ever has.
African music concentrated a lot on rhythm while Western European liked to hear harmonic sounds. The dissonant sounds and polyrhythms of African music was not understood by the Europeans, but jazz musicians took a great liking to it. The reason for this was because Europeans used music for listening enjoyment. In Africa, music was very functional. It was the only form of communication between tribes and a universal language of percussive instruments. The music was used to announce special events such as birth, death, marriage, and the reaching of puberty. Everybody got musically trained very young and when Africans were brought to America as slaves, they brought the music. Some of the most noticeable influences of this African music is seen in work songs, spirituals and field hollers of slaves. When slaves became free, and chose to leave their plantation, there was no work for them. Many became street musicians and sang what is known today as the Blues. European musicians were playing a march style of music known as Rag. The rise in jazz happened when the two styles of music started combining.
New Orleans is the acknowledged birthplace of popular jazz. Despite being in the south, it had a liberal attitude towards pleasure and self indulgence. Being a major navy port, many sailors would need some relaxation when they came in from sea. They liked to go to dance halls, listen to music, and dance with women. Some sailors weren't as conservative and went to one of the hundreds or bars and brothels in a district of New Orleans, nicknamed Storyville. The city was also very racially tolerant. African American musicians were given jobs because they were good. Times are always changing. When World War I began, alert, healthy, and focused sailors were needed. Storyville was closed down.
Many musicians moved to Chicago and jazz was no longer a music of the carefree and lighthearted spirit. Chicago-style jazz reflected the lucrative yet dangerous air of the city. This was during the time period of prohibition.
Although jazz first appeared in New Orleans in the twentieth century, the music it was derived from has been around for much longer. The roots of jazz can be found in both African and European influences that blend together to create a distinctive musical quality and swing character. It encompasses a wide range of music, including that of ragtime and blues, which are two of the most prominent genres that influenced jazz in its early stages. Although there are many differences between the musical styles and instrumentation of ragtime and blues, there are also some similarities in terms of common origin that helped drive the birth of modern-day jazz.
Throughout history, different types of music have been a distinguishing characteristic of varying cultures. One genre of music that harbors such cultural and historical significance is jazz. Jazz originated between the late 1800s and the early 1900s, right here in the United States. Jazz was known for incorporating African American forms of music with that of European music. It was seen as a cultural movement, and interestingly enough, the emergence of jazz coincided with the Harlem Renaissance.
Jazz was introduced directly after World War I by African-Americans (Boundless.com par. 1). Although jazz was composed by many different African-Americans the main founder of jazz was Ethel Waters (McCorkle par. 8). Jazz was first played in New Orleans, but as the African-Americans moved north, white citizens caught on and tuned jazz into a new craze (Lindop 107). Even though jazz was created in New Orleans, Chicago became the home of jazz music (Bingham 8). The first jazz players derived the tune from a mixture of Latin American, African, and European rhythms, making it very popular among many different types of people (“Latin Jazz” par. 1). Jazz was so well-liked because it gave the artists the opportunity to make the predetermined tune their own (“What is jazz par. 1). When listening to jazz the same song is never heard twice because the band members each put their own spin on the way they play their instrumen...
To understand the genesis of Jazz one must also understand the setting of its origin, New Orleans. The city was founded by the French in 1718, then in 1763 the city ceded to Spain and remained under Spanish control until later being returned to the French in 1803, and then was immediately sold to the United States under the Louisiana Purchase. New Orleans was also heavily populated by African slaves making up 30% of the total population of the city at this time; so New Orleans was experiencing a lot of cultural diversity and was being shaped and molded by the many different fashions of people who lived in the city. These different social groups along with their culture also brought with them their deep rooted musical traditions, the fusion and combination of these traditions would give rise to what we know today as modern day Jazz. Jazz is a genre of music that could only have formed in America; it draws from many different cultures and art forms creating a cocktail of traditional European and African music, mixed with a blend of Spanish tinge, with a strong base of blues filtered through the American experience.
Jazz music is a musical art genre that developed in the African-American communities in New Orleans. Although jazz was originally thought to be a lower class movement meant for the impoverished black communities, jazz music quickly developed to become a major form of musical expression in the 1920s. The musical elements of jazz permeated throughout American literature, as a means of exposing the struggles of African-Americans living in a racist society, while providing comfort and healing through the universalities of suffering. The musical techniques of jazz, including call and response, syncopation, and improvisation, provide a means of communication and an expression of hardships to provide comfort and healing
The location to where jazz originated and the people involved in it have been a mystery to many and the subject to much controversy. Jazz was known to have been born in the U.S from non-jazz elements: the Blues, Ragtime band music, Hymns and Spirituals, etc. So why then was New Orleans singled out at the sole birthplace of Jazz? Writers and historians soon came to realize that there was one factor New Orleans contained that other places needed, that made the era of jazz rise which was the black Creole subculture.
Imagine you are walking the streets of New Orleans. You are standing right where jazz was established in the United States of America. Jazz wasn’t just about music, it also affected the culture involving social, economic, artistic and jazz leaders.
Jazz music is one of the only musical genres originally developed in the United States. Almost all other forms of music come from other parts of the world, obviously predating the creation of the jazz. This is perhaps why jazz music is one of the most diverse, original, spontaneous, and wild forms of music. Jazz music draws from a rich history of African, Latin American, and European influences. Jazz was created at time in which women in the United States were making great progress in securing equal rights. However, this progressive form of music still held fast to deep seated discrimination against allowing the involvement of women.
Though jazz has changed, the background behind it still inspires those today. Even though each artist has their particular style or expression, they all can agree that music is art. They can all agree that music is about emotions and feelings. Through the years, just as all things do, Jazz and Bebop have grown and flourished across America and the World. All in all, Jazz for African Americans opened the doors in America, jazz alone opened doors and ears all across the Earth.
In New Orleans however, ethnicity was welcomed in every way. Although jazz music is known to be an Africa American tradition, diversity brought different musical styles and dance styles, which appealed to the natives due to their partying nature. In the late teens, jazz musicians began to move to Chicago to pursue the musical opportunities that were exploding during this era. Prohibition and speakeasy’s offered musicians job opportunities in small cabarets, dance halls, and ballrooms (Tyle). This is the time where some of the greatest jazz artists of all time were
Before jazz was a thing people would listen to classical music which is a music style with a large orchestra with a conductor. To listen to classical music people would have to wait until a orchestra would come to town and then pay to be able to see the orchestra in a concert hall. Another type of music before jazz was Ragtime which was music people could buy from local general stores to bring home and play. Ragtime was a kind of dance music which most people know form music like the Maple Leaf Rag. Blues was also coming in to play at this time. The Blues were mainly about bad times and other such things with a hopefulness aspect to it. When combining all the previous music styles jazz is made. People no longer had to wait for an orchestra to listen to music or had to be able to play the piano to play Ragtime music. There were many jazz bands all over the place and all people had to do to listen to them was go to a dance hall and have fun (Jam 24-26). Jazz helped to make music available to
Jazz is a form of art that brought American’s together during turbulent times, for example, the youth effected society with their rebellious acts, the blacks had a voice in the world, and middle-class whites fought traditionalism. The world was being molded by jazz, the music created by African Americans, whom were former slaves. Jazz was such a compelling movement in the 1920’s, it was so compelling that it united an entire
Jazz has been a style of music for about a century. It is one of the only types of music that has changed with the times. It has created so many subgenres with itself, like Funk Rock, Swing, Bebop and many others. Many schools even have a Jazz band for the students. That is just one-way how Jazz music effects music today. There are also many other ways that Jazz has affected music today, like without it, African-Americans would not have the same rights as whites, because Jazz was one of the things that helped with the Harlem Renaissance, and the Harlem Renaissance is what started the pathway to civil rights for African-Americans. With so many different styles and artists, Jazz has survived to today, since the early twentieth century, and has become a popular style of music.
Now a days, many believe that jazz is not that important of music genre, but with our history, jazz plays a big role. “Jazz does not belong to one race or culture, but it is a gift that America has given to the world.”, quoted by Ahmad Alaadeen. Jazz in the 1920’s opened the eyes of whites and invited them into African American culture; it evolved Americans to where we are today since it brought a change to the music scene, an acceptance of African Americans, and a change of lifestyles.
This brought many musicians and their audiences to major cities such as Chicago, Detroit, and New York. Jazz music stemmed from African American folk traditions, but as the music progressed throughout the cities, it became mainstream for all races.