Essay on Beat Movement In Relation To On The Road

The Jazz Age was a period of radical behavior and care free living. This new music structure started the crazy decade that would change American life. “In the US during the 1920s, jazz was far more than a new musical style or genre”. A Focus on culture, fashion, and mostly freedom became huge. “The Jazz Age became a touchstone for a wide range of social and cultural issues.”1 Also the freedom during the period allowed for many different ethnicities, including African Americans, to gain freedom within society. This new music

This view of women was widely accepted before World War I, but was rejected by most women in  the 1920s, which was partly due to the success of the eighteenth and nineteenth constitutional amendments. Women rebelled against their traditional roles as daughters and mothers. Women wanted to be seen as individuals outside of their familial roles. Jazz provided an outlet for rebellion in several ways. The dance halls, jazz clubs, and speakeasies were  places where women could escape from the traditional roles that were demanded of them by a rigid society. Here, women were allowed greater freedom in their language, clothing, and behaviour. Like the Freudian psychology that was rampant in the 1920s, jazz also encouraged "infantile" behaviour; Flappers who frequented these establishment were often referred to as "Jazz Babies." Jazz encouraged primitive and sexual behaviour through the uninhibited and improvisational feel of the music. Jazz music was rejected by the older generation, and therefore, jazz music and jazz dancing were ideal ways for young women (and even men) to rebel against the society of their parents and

The members of this movement obtained the nickname, hippies, which were greatly inspired by the beat movement back in the 1950’s.

Jazz to me is one of the inherent expressions of Negro Life in America: the eternal tom-tom beating in the Negro soul—the tom-tom of revolt against weariness in a white world, a world of subway trains, and work, work, work; the tom-tom of joy and laughter, and pain swallowed in a smile. Yet the Philadelphia clubwoman… turns up her nose at jazz and all its manifestations—likewise almost anything else distinctly racial…She wants the artist to flatter her, to make the white world believe that all Negroes are as smug as near white in smug as she wants to be. But, to my mind, it is the duty of the younger Negro artist …to change through the hidden force of his art that old whispering “I want to be white,” hidden in the aspirations of his people, to “Why should I want to be white? I am Negro—and beautiful.”

expanding, sharing it’s enthusiasm throughout the world. The evolution of jazz aroused the curiosity of the nation. As Blacks received their freedom, they were able to

In the middle of the 19th century, Congo Square became a center of musical expression. On these Sunday afternoons, a new form of music was born. Pioneered by those on the bottom of a society full of slavery and segregation, the origin of jazz was less a singular event than an evolving movement. None of those pioneers, however, could have anticipated the future of their developing art form. None could have foreseen that their informal rhythmic gatherings would eventually lead to nationally recognized big bands with more than 20 musicians and celebrity band leaders. The trajectory of jazz history is complex and rich, flowing from style to style and from region to region. Each step along the way from the early brass bands to the bebop bands

Never has any decade in American history been so carefree and lively. Most of this craziness was due to the music that was so popular. For the first time, Americans encountered a new perspective on African Americans due to the famous musicians of this time, African American dance moves and crazy nightclubs. They had never taken part in anything of this wild party or of African American traditions or styles until now. This would set the stage for future equality of African Americans and Americas buoyant ways.

People like Langston Hughes, Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway and even Louis Armstrong were some of the regular customers or performers in the Club. In Harlem, you could not find a place that had more black culture. The time period of the Harlem Renaissance also brought us a lot of innovation in music. Jazz music reached popularity in the 1920’s. Artists like Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, and Sidney Bechet. These jazz artists would lead to other music later down the road. Jazz would later turn to rap and lead to even more breakout African American artists. The breakout of African American culture was one that led to great new artistry in the United States. The Harlem Renaissance and the Great Migration led to opportunities for all races and without it, America would not be the same.

A: The “Prohibition” was good for jazz, because the government prohibited the society to produce and sell alcoholic beverages, while people could only have what they want in some speakeasies bars and nightclubs, where it created tons of work for Jazz musicians to perform their Jazz style dance music for the carnival crowd in these speakeasies. As a result, musician got work to do, induce them to create new songs, and the Jazz music spread in an unimaginable speed.

The beat generation was a movement that sought to oppose American society values, and any sort of control. They explored Eastern religions, was somewhat postmodernism, rejected the materialistic culture, spoke about drugs, our conscious mind, and fought for sexual liberation and exploration with their unapologetically offensive language. While reading the novel Jitterbug Perfume written by Tom Robbin, one can witness how the novel exhibits aspects of the beat literature, and thus concluding that the beat generation served as inspiration to Tom Robbin.

The “hippies” of the 1960s had many effects on the American society. The visual appearance and lifestyle of the hippies were in sharp contrast to the conservative nature of the older generation, which defined them as a counterculture. The hippie lifestyle was based on free love, rock music, shared property, and drug experimentation. They introduced a new perspective on drugs, freedom of expression, appearance, music, attitudes toward work, and held a much more liberal political view than mainstream society.

The mystery of Jazz and its powerful impact on the music community can be explained largely by the context of it’s creation. Jazz was born in the United States, and because of this, many have referred to Jazz as “America’s music.” Like America, Jazz has a balance between structure and spontaneity. It capitalizes on the fluidity of the musicians, having several different instruments with independent spirits, coming together as one to form a great piece of music. Unlike other styles of music, Jazz has a certain way about it that makes it stand-alone in the world of genres. It improvises, moves, and transforms itself in a moment’s notice based on the musician’s intuition. Just as America harbors democracy, so too does a jazz ensemble, showing both the responsibility to a larger group, yet still allowing room for individual freedom. It all comes down to how well others can respect the overall framework and structure of the jingle.

The Beat Movement, beginning in the 1950’s, consisted of a group of American writers that went against the social norms of that generation. During that time in America, society bent themselves out

Influences of the Beat Movement can be noted in the next phase of American History: Hippie counter-culture of the 1960s. The Beat Generation was an important political catalyst for those minorities that had no voice. The “beatniks” of the movement were seen as a threat by those Americans that lived in the typical suburbs of American who tried to raise their children in morally upright ways (Silesky, 81).

The 1920’s in American history seem to be very exciting. It was the height of the Harlem Renaissance, where African American literature, poetry, art and music emerged. You had all this African American talent growing and blasting into the mainstream. Historians refer to this time period as “The Jazz Age”. When jazz music was introduced to the public at clubs and dance halls it took off! People were either captivated by it, or appalled by it. Jazz was all about movement; it was driven by syncopation and improvisation, and for some it was considered “the devil’s music.” The novel Jazz by Toni Morrison allows you to wonder down the seductive streets of Harlem where it all began. The book gives a sense of both the scandal of Jazz music and the