The History of Jazz: The Great Cultural Influencer and Uniter
By Renessa Drainer
The great Jazz genre is an American musical phenomenon that was curated and expressed by African American musicians by way of musical hybridity. By combining popular songs and marches with African American Folk forms, a new birth of sound was expressed through syncopation and improvisation. The impact of Jazz goes beyond musical influence as it helped to redefine social and cultural history.
The Jazz sound defied the Western music tradition of precision by score and started expressing through a diverse cultural mixing pot of sound, emotion, and improvisation. The first commercial jazz recording of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band increased visibility into the public ears, creating a craze and demand for this new unique expression of sound. Due to the music increasing in popularity, employment opportunities encouraged a Northern musical migration from the heart of New Orleans, creating the opportunity for further hybridity of cultural sound and new styles of Jazz. This migration was not only significant to the evolution of Jazz but also marks a cultural shift in history for racial integration.
The audience of Jazz had increased with a significant decrease in racial segregation. Thanks to the “King of Swing'', American Jazz Clarinetist and bandleader, Benny Goodman, racial segregation was also decreasing among the big band scene and performance stage. Goodman marked another great American cultural movement in history when he hired African American Pianist, Teddy Wilson to join his trio, making this the first time a black musician took to the stage with a white band. Electric vibraphonist Lionel Hampton and Electric Guitarist Charlie Christian were also among the African American Musicians that later joined Goodman's band. Here is a time in History where both Jazz and Race were combined and universally accepted.
Another great shift in American culture was the rise, acceptance, and praise of the Great Louis Armstrong. Louis proved that race was no longer a defining factor for talent or excellence. Some claim that just being an excellent artist and rising to global recognition makes Armstrong one of the most powerful and influential keys to civil rights. His legacy is one that is marked forever in history and a reminder of the journey of African Migration and rise to Freedom in spirit and expression.
Without the history of Jazz, the music genres that we have today would most likely cease to exist. Improvisation ushered in a sense of freedom to experimentally express through sound. It further detached the creation of music to be bound by traditional sound and form. Barriers of ethnicity and gender were broken, which is one of the most beautiful gifts the power of music can provide.
Want to learn more about the beauty of Jazz? Shock City School of Music offers jazz lessons for guitar, bass guitar, and piano.