Blog #5

Albeit a popular genre of music, much of what is known about jazz to the general public is the sound jazz but not how that distinctive sound evolved over the years. Prior to coming into this class I knew very little about jazz and its rich history. Much of my perception of jazz came from the elevator music stereotype that has seemingly become an unfortunate description associated with it.  

Prior to this course, when I thought about jazz I thought exclusively about African Americans. I ignored all other cultures and automatically associated black with jazz. To me, jazz was a musical art form that was bread out of the South and somehow caught on and became a popular genre. Although I was correct in its geographical origin, I was mistaken in its cultural origin. Yes, jazz was primarily a black creation but it is necessary to recognize the cultural gumbo that was existing in New Orleans. (Gioia) There was the creole influence, the Mexican influence with the unique instrumentation they brought, and the influence of African culture that was brought directly from West Africa. After its success in New Orleans and Storyville, jazz had a natural migration towards the North where it would thrive and flourish.

Unfortunately in today’s society, we do not have the same groundbreaking art forms emerging that have as large of an effect that jazz had on culture throughout the 1900s. Much of my perception of jazz was that it was a performance based genre to showcase a particular skill at a particular instrument. What this class taught me is that the performance aspect of jazz, although a defining feature of jazz, was not what jazz was at its deepest roots. Jazz was an expressive art form that captured much of the racial tensions that existed during the 1900s. This was evident when jazz finally made it onto the radio as many black musicians found it difficult to obtain airtime due to the monopoly controlled by the white men. Also, there was seemingly a constant battle over ownership as Miles Davis points out during the rise of the bebop movement during the 1940s. According to Miles, he hated “how white people always [tried] to take credit for something after they [discovered] it.” (Davis,55) This constant struggle between races only solidified the black’s movement toward equality. Jazz served as a constant form of expression at the racial injustices during that day.

Taking history of jazz this quarter has taught that there is much more to the history than the music itself. Jazz was a cultural phenomenon that crossed racial boundaries and in turn shaped much of the cultural aspects of the 1900s in America.  

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