The History and Influence of Jazz in America Essay example

The Jazz Age was a cultural tectonic shift that took place in America during the 1920’s, or "the Roaring Twenties”, from which both jazz music and dance emerged. This movement was coupled with both the equally phenomenal introduction of mainstream radio and the conclusion of World War I. Although the era ended as the Great Depression victimised America in the 1930's, jazz has lived on in American pop culture.

The Jazz Age was a national undertaking that took place in America during the 1920’s, also known as “the Roaring Twenties” from which both jazz music and dance emerged. Despite the era ending with the beginning of The Great Depression in the 1930’s, jazz has lived on in American pop culture. The birth of jazz music is often credited to African-Americans, but it soon expanded to America’s white middle class. This resulted in jazz being combined by both African-American traditions and ideals with white middle class society.

What was the Jazz Age in America? Also known as the Roaring Twenties’, it was when American ways were beginning to modernize. Before the stock market had crashed and the Great Depression started, culture was booming in America. Dance was changing rapidly and new styles of dances were being created. Women began to wear shorter clothes, cut their hair, and some even had jobs, while the Flapper girls gave other young women an outlook of freedom. People began to go see films and movie stars became famous worldwide. During the Jazz Age, American culture was changing and Americans were becoming more finically affluent.

Jazz is a music genre that has complex characteristics and history of development and thus many musicians and scholars face troubles in defining what jazz is. In general, jazz is believed to have born in New Orleans. Jazz developed for the pleasure of the social dancers. According to the “Understanding Jazz: What Is Jazz?” of John F. Kennedy center for the Performing Arts, Jazz was created mainly by Afro-Americans, and had elements of European and Afro-American culture. Also, it emphasizes few elements of Jazz, which are swing-feel, syncopation, and improvisation. These different culture and elements of jazz may be explained by how jazz

Jazz was an important part of we can see in the brass band funerals as well as the music for the picnics in the ball games or parks where jazz is played most. New Orleans has a great tradition of celebration due to the Jazz music that united the people as well as the music used to accompany the spiritual work and the social functions of the citizens in New Orleans (Tanner & David p41). Louis Armstrong played a significant role in the development of jazz music in New Orleans as he was one of the most influential artists in the history of musicians born in New Orleans. He perfected as well as improvised the jazz solo as we all know it today. Swing is the basic rhythm of jazz and swing means being in sync and loving

New Orleans, Louisiana, a city most known for its tasty seafood, its French cuisine, and its largest celebration of Mardi Gras in the nation, also has a long history of being innovative when it comes to the subject of music. This can be proven when looking at the creation of multiple musical genres including jazz. Most notably, Dixieland Jazz or New Orleans style jazz took root in the city throughout the early 20th century. Throughout this period, many artists began to implement this new style of music that derived ultimately from the roots of jazz. In this, New Orleans became an incubator for an expansive and igniting fuse in the music industry and set the stage for one of the greatest African American jazz musicians: Louis Armstrong. Because of Armstrong’s innovative improvisation, music, and singing, he became the leading trumpet player and one of the most influential artists in jazz history.

Louis was born in New Orleans where he grew up and learned to play the trumpet. He also learned to sing. Because of his long improvised solos, he inspired jazz so that long solos became an important part of jazz pieces and performances. (Cayton, 462) Armstrong was the king of jazz trumpet players. The new style that he created gave a voice-like quality to his horn. (Hakim, 58) Although Jazz was very popular itself, a majority of the fans and listeners were younger people. Flappers were commonly known during this time. They danced to the jazz music with a whole new style.

     The unique art form know as Jazz, was able to thrive initially in New Orleans. The most celebrated part of New Orleans was known as Storyville because it was a melting pot for Jazz. Storyville was so celebrated because it was the only region in the city that had brothels and pubs that allowed African Americans. Unfortunately, in 1970, President Roosevelt shut down the district in fear of violence between the natives and sailors. This resulted in a dispersion of jazz. Many artists traveled directly to Chicago after the closing of Storyville to restart their music.

The big stars that ousted the New Orleans jazz style were about to be ousted themselves. About this time in the mid 1930s, the economy was beginning to collapse due to several drastic changes in american culture. Meanwhile advances in radio allow consumers to buy household models to listen to music at home. These two factors lead to the demise of Soloist jazz, promoted Big band and brought about the beginnings of Swing. “A single band could now entertain countless listeners through the magic of radio. By implication, a few instrumentalists were doing work that previously required hundreds, maybe thousands, of bands” (Gioia 128). Because of this convenience going out to the local speakeasy was more of an inconvenience.

At the mention jazz music, that person will first think of is likely to be a great figure with a clown image, nicknamed Satchmo. The man was Louis Armstrong. He is a husky singer, often with a trumpet in his hand. He played dramatic works of simple structure in Orleans jazz style and with the accompaniment of Dick jazz music. Each of the books on jazz music will mention his name. Louis Armstrong was to jazz music what Bach is to classical music, Presley is to rock music (Berrett 230). This essay will have an introduction of the king of jazz music -- Louis Armstrong and his great influence on jazz history.

The first jazz was played in the early 20th century. The work chants and folk

Jazz is a uniquely American style of music that developed in the early twentieth century, first emerged in the black cultures of New Orleans, a place with great ethnic diversity and blending backgrounds. This made it possible for different musical styles and techniques to fuse, giving rise to the birth of jazz and since grew in popularity and influence in today’s music industry, evolved into many contrasting subgenres including smooth jazz, bebop, fusion and free jazz to name a few. Jazz has been known by its two main characteristics, namely, improvisation and swing feeling that will make people feel like moving and dancing. It is created primarily out of a combination of a popular music style of 1800s to entertain social dinner and also is

The second generations of Jazz musicians were some like Joe “King” Oliver, Kid Ory, and Jelly Roll Morton. These people formed a small band and started to reshape the way the original Jazz music was played. They have made it into a different style with more complications and twists and turns. And so it became known as “Hot Jazz”. King Oliver found a young artist by the name of Louis Armstrong. He soon grew to become the greatest Jazz musician anyone has known. He is still a big star in the world today. By the 20th Century, African-American musical styles became the dominant force.

Jazz, a genre of music that was born from fear and unfortunate circumstances, is to this day one of the most loved music genres. Jazz, by definition, is “a type of music of black American origin characterized by improvisation, syncopation, and usually a regular or forceful rhythm, emerging at the beginning of the 20th century. Brass and woodwind instruments and piano are particularly associated with jazz, although guitar and occasionally violin are also used; styles include Dixieland, swing, bebop, and free jazz.” (Google Definitions) However, despite how popular and loved this upbeat music was, it caused a lot of controversy in its time.

Thesis: Although Jazz music was first introduced over 80 years ago, the genre still influences artists and the new music they make to this day.