How Did Langston Hughes Contribute To Jazz

Langston Hughes was born on February 1, 1902 and died May 22, 1967. Among many of his other accomplishments, Hughes was primarily known for his contribution to Jazz music in the early 20th century. His colorful, artistic, and descriptive works of literature was published and sold all throughout New York City, making him a contributor to the Harlem Renaissance movement as well. Interestingly enough I got the chance to attend a Jazz band performance by the Jazz Big Band at Westfield State University. This band showcased multiple different styles of Jazz such as swing, cool, experimental, and big band. They also played a lot of blues music, which is its own genre but incorporates Jazz elements into the songs. When observing the performance and reading a few of Hughes poems I can see that there are a few parallels between the two, such as repetition, race collaboration and rhythm.

One very evident

comparison between Hughes’s work and the performances by the Westfield State University big band was the use of repetition. In Hughes work he repeats several lines at different points throughout the poem to prove a point. This is seen in the poem Dream Variations, when he say’s “To fling my arms wide
In some place of the sun, to whirl and to dance… To fling my arms wide
In the face of the sun, Dance! Whirl! Whirl! “ I believe that this was his way of make himself herd and to prove his points about African American slavery, and music. Evidently, we see this type of style in music as well. The Jazz Big Band Incorporated repetition in many of their songs such as Bernie’s Tune, and No place like down Home. I believe that this was also used with the purpose of emphasizing meaning into the song.
Another comparison that I noticed between the poems and the jazz performance was the racial terms. In the poem The Trumpet player Hughes explains that an African American man is the main instrumentalist. This is noted when he says “The Negro with the trumpet at his lips has dark moons of weariness beneath his eyes” I can see why he choose to mention that a African American man was playing the trumpet, considering that Jazz was a heavily used and sung and herd by several African- American artist. In addition, I noticed that one African American man was the lead musician in several songs. This man stood out among the rest for his skill with the saxophone, just like the man Hughes describes in the Trumpet player.
In addition, another comparison that I noticed was the rhythm that some of the pomes followed.

This is seen in the poem The Weary Blues. In this poem Hughes sends out a sort of funk feel when he says, “In a deep song voice with a melancholy tone, I heard that Negro sing, that old piano moan… Thump, thump, thump, went his foot on the floor. He played a few chords then he sang some more”. This type of style was seen in my favorite song done by the Jazz Big Band called Squib Cakes. This song is a funky up-beat jazz song that is filled with energy, hip, and grove, which fits the theme seen in Hughes work, The Weary Blues.

Over all, I can honestly say that I never really had an appreciation for Jazz music until I read some of Langston Hughes’s work and was able to attend the Jazz Big Band performance. I really enjoyed seeing and listening to the different styles of Jazz music. By attending this performance I noticed that are parallels between Hughes work and some of the Jazz music herd today. Some of these comparisons consist of repetition, racial collaboration, and

rhythm.