Developing an Understanding and Appreciation of Jazz

Miles Davis’s autobiography describes one man’s path toward artistic immortality as he becomes one of the best and most well known jazz musicians of all time. However, taking a look at the elements of Davis’s success reveals the persistence of African musical traditions within the genre, and their role in his success. Looking at the foundations of the genre, I now realize that I had a serious misunderstanding of jazz prior to taking this course. To me, jazz was was the background music for coffee shops, the filler in elevators, the soundtrack to a rainy day. My concept of the musical genre lacked all of the substance and foundation that this course has revealed, relying instead on a series of assumptions and vague ideas about its development. My biggest misconceptions were especially related to the historical origins of jazz, and to the spontaneity and improvisation of the genre as discussed in Miles Davis’s autobiography.

The only aspect of the development of jazz that I had any prior knowledge of was its roots in Harlem. The “Harlem Renaissance” is emphasized in high school course curriculum, and its often taught as the sole birthplace of the musical tradition. That assumption was immediately challenged in this course as we examined early jazz roots in African tradition, as well as its development in the United States beginning in New Orleans. It came as a surprise to me that cities like New Orleans and Chicago were so instrumental in the development of the genre when all I had been exposed to in the past was New York jazz, when in fact New York was just one of many steps in the formation of the musical style.

I also seriously underestimated the importance of improvisation in the jazz genre. To be honest, I gave little consideration to the form of the music I listened to, taking it at face value instead of recognizing the significance of the improvisational forms present. I’ve enjoyed the way this course has revealed the growth of improvisation within the jazz genre, beginning with the balance between discipline and improvisation present in African tradition and the Congo Square, all the way to Miles Davis’s band and the Kind of Blue album. Improvisation remained a persistent and essential element of modern jazz composition, with Davis going so far as to allow significant room for change and modification up until the moment of recording. He states, “I didn’t write out the music for Kind of Blue... I wanted a lot of spontaneity in the playing, just like I thought was in the interplay between those [African ballet] dancers and drummers” (Davis, The Autobiography, 234). Davis’s commitment to improvisation as an essential component of his music composition reflects a persistence of the African foundations of jazz over time.

Taking a course on the history of jazz has lent me an appreciation of the extensive traditions that brought about the genre, and of the cultural significance that the music has held over time. Jazz is no longer restricted to coffee shops and elevators in my mind, and as I write this last blog with Kind of Blue playing softly in the background I find myself grateful that I’ve been able to expand my music perspective and develop an appreciation for jazz.

Commented on Delia Gratta's blog.

Art & Community: San Juan Hill and Leimert Park

Before Thelonious Monk was known across the country as one of the greatest jazz musicians of all time, he was a young boy growing up in San Juan Hill. As his prestigious musical talent improved, Monk had to maneuver his way through serious racial violence and prejudice in his community to develop his rich musicality. His childhood surroundings influenced his professional career and musical style, as “the daily violence young people endured in San Juan Hill haunted Thelonious for many years to come” (Kelley, 18). As he got older, having seen and lived with the violent repercussions of racial tensions for years, this background lead him to develop a status as a “race rebel.” He was critical of the idea of black militancy, and refused to respond to racism with a more race conscious outlook. Instead, he worked toward the creation of a community that was brought together despite racial or class boundaries, sharing a common interest in music and art that facilitated the development of a more peaceful and bohemian community. By living a life of music and art, Monk introduced factors that transcended the black/white dichotomy that polarized and militarized members of the community, which allowed for a modern and tolerant oasis of musical culture.

The relationship between art and the communities of jazz musicians facilitates an intensely creative and warm social gathering. Much like Monk’s creation of an artistic community following an upbringing in San Juan Hill, the Leimert Park community also came together over creative expression and jazz in order to create a safer city. Just as the daily racial violence of San Juan Hill influenced Monk’s perspective, so too did the Leimert Park community following the Los Angeles riots and other civil rights era movements. Bound together by tragedy and a common interest in art, jazz facilitated a separate subculture for creative innovation, bringing together community members in an artistic social gathering that transformed the street scene. For example, in Leimert Park’s coffeehouse 5th Street Dick’s, people finally had a place to talk to each other and discuss the community, providing a form and place for people to get together and break down the barriers that would otherwise exist. Once a venue for conversation was created, people could discuss solutions to improve the liveability of the city, all while coming together over a celebration of artistic form.

Music and community build off of each other, each tied to the other in a dynamic and prolific relationship: as the community changes, so does the music, and as the music changes, the creative spaces where music is played influence the community. In his statement “Jazz is New York,” Monk describes the direct connection between musical form and the community of its origin. Just as Monk’s upbringing in San Juan Hill influenced his personal opinions and musical form, or as the community of Leimert Park could come together over jazz for discussion and catharsis, Jazz and New York could not be thought of as separate entities, but instead a mutually creative and productive combination of factors.

Commented on CJ Wilken’s blog.

The Racial Climate of the Swing Era

Racial tension during the 1930s was gaining momentum as the country moved further from the Civil War and began to work toward the beginnings of the Civil Rights movement. The “Swing Era” of the 1930s is in many ways characterized by this increased racial tension, as the competition between black and white musicians grew while the audiences, critics and producers remained for the most part white. This dynamic created a progressively more aggressive racial climate, with increasing animosity on both sides. As a result, race became a highly relevant topic in discussion regarding the 1930s and the development of the swing style.

One factor that lead to the increased attention on race during the 1930 was the heightened competition between black and white musicians following the development of the swing genre. This increased competition was in a large part due to the Great Depression. While the country fell into economic ruin, a successful musician could escape the ubiquitous poverty of the period but, given the present economic condition, more and more people found themselves jobless and desperate for success. For example, Kansas City during the 1930s was a popular destination for musicians, who were brought to the city due to economic necessity. In cities like these, jazz and swing were tied to leisure and alcohol, and the music became a style of performance that called for dancing and a festive climate . However, in contrast to the music “sanctuaries” present in Chicago during the 20s, where black people could enjoy the freedom and relaxation of a friendly atmosphere, these kinds of clubs saw the emergence of the white jazz audience. No longer a genre performed for and by black people, swing opened the doors for increased competition between white and black musicians and therefore heightened racial tension.

Another component of the increased relevance of race during the 1930s was the dynamic of the “white jazz critic,” where white musicians and audience members were put in the position of judging and interpreting jazz music according to their own schema for what jazz “should” be. Though jazz was becoming an integral part of the musical world, no longer necessarily perceived as low class, it was only through its presentation by white musicians and to white audiences that it was able to do so. As a result, black musicians were stunted in their exposure and success, and even successful musicians were told how they should and should not sound. For example, Duke Ellington was a highly successful jazz musician whose career was to a large degree so prosperous because he evolved his music in response to white tastes, cultivating a facade of willingness to tolerate the inequalities of the industry to achieve commercial achievement. However, he was also criticized by his white producers for not being “connected to Black subculture,” demonstrating the irony of the dynamic of the white critic. While black musicians like Duke Ellington were being judged and criticized by their white audiences, white musicians became increasingly dominant in the swing genre, with artists like Benny Goodman taking over and perpetuating the social and political dominance for white people as a whole.


Commented on Jacob Weverka's blog

Chicago: A Cultural and Creative Hub

Both Chicago and New York offered outstanding creative cultures for the development of Jazz in the 1920s, but while New York jazz was sterilized and limited by predominantly white audiences and distributors, Chicago’s music culture allowed for the productive furthering  of the jazz sound as the new “American” music. The city reached its status following the Great Migration, a period of time during which hundreds of thousands of African-American people migrated from away from the painful history of the South to the promise and intrigue of the North. Of these numbers, an estimated 60,000 black people migrated from the South to Chicago alone. Though the movement was initiated in an attempt to seek better living conditions, as the music industry grew so too did the numbers of talented musicians from the South that sought employment and publicity in Chicago. In addition, the closing of Storyville in New Orleans eliminated the club culture that had previously enabled jazz to thrive, and musicians found themselves in need of something to fill that void. This migration of mass talent brought the seeds of jazz development from New Orleans to Chicago, where a mass new black urban culture began to take hold.

Within Chicago, jazz was able to take hold as an indication of culture beyond simply musical form. Within the city of immigrants, black culture took hold, with black stockyard workers as patrons of the developing entertainment culture.The city’s nightclubs and ballrooms became musical “sanctuaries” for both musicians and audience members, in which all involved could be free to openly express themselves and enjoy the merits of a self determined culture. This setting, free from the constraints and concerns of “whiteness,” allowed jazz music to become an embodiment of racial difference. These clubs also opened doors for musicians to play in a new environment free from the “rules” of New Orleans style playing, with fresh audiences and consistent employment. As time went on, the music became the focal point for audible entertainment, dance, and general social culture.

As the culture surrounding the music developed, so too did the music itself continue to evolve. The Chicago style of jazz featured a much more prominent soloist with a large ensemble background, with each member including their own degree of improvisation. The musician that best embodies the style and development of jazz during this period and location is Louis Armstrong, an outstanding character that came to become the most widely recognized cultural icon for the genre. Armstrong’s distinctive soloist style “closed the book on the dynastic tradition in New Orleans jazz”, marking a distinct new chapter in the evolution of the genre (Gioia, 53). His trailblazing as a soloist led the way for a countless other jazz musicians, modeling their band dynamic after his work or popular imitations of the same nature.

The entertainment culture of Chicago in the 1920s played a fundamental role in the development of the jazz genre. The clubs and ballrooms of the city created a cultural hub for black patrons and musicians, fostering a sense of community and creative expression. The city offered promise for those that sought the sanctuary of music clubs, and as the New Orleans style began to fade, the emergence of the soloist and the beginnings of the swing era took hold.

Commented on: Sven Joshua Walderich's blog post

Blog #1: New Orleans Jazz

 New Orleans: A Cultural and Musical Catalyst

The cosmopolitan hub, the bustling culture, and the contagious commotion of changing times and new world perspectives embodied by New Orleans in the early 20th century shaped the ideal location for the formation of Jazz. Following the Louisiana purchase and the lifting of trade restrictions, New Orleans began to grow into the vivacious cultural epicenter that allowed this new musical genre to emerge. As a city with active commerce and an intriguing promise of wealth, New Orleans attracted people from a variety of backgrounds and locations, a dynamic that allowed for the production of a new culture entirely. New Orleans jazz became a distinctive genre that embodied an urban lifestyle and city culture, reconciling the differences of its founders to create a new form of music. The combination of European musical tradition through Creole culture, African polyrhythms, classical training from Mexico, and a general climate ripened by musical history and change created a melting pot of talent and perspective that ultimately created jazz.

As the economic strength of the city began to decline, New Orleans saw a corresponding rise in the business of sin.This economy of licentiousness is best embodied by Storyville, one of the acclaimed sources of jazz, where piano music and prostitution paired in a devilishly prolific combination (Gioia, 29). The impish institutions provided a catalyst for the furtherance of boisterous music, where many musicians were able to try their hand at performance and experimentation.

Another factor in the creation of jazz was the dynamic of local brass bands, formed by groups of passionate musicians that played at “almost every type of social event” (Gioia, 31). These bands would play a gamut of genres, including the increasingly popular genre that was ragtime.  A source and predecessor of jazz, ragtime was a combination of European marches, waltzes, and dances, and the distinctive polyrhythms of Africa. The style originated in St. Louis and New Orleans, and is indicative of the formational processes of jazz because it is the product of a combination of backgrounds merging into one adapted musical genre.

A third source of New Orleans jazz was the contribution of Mexican immigrants and the Mexican National Band. These musicians first arrived for a Cotton Exposition in New Orleans, and then remained in the dynamic city where they were able to contribute to musical development. Their influence lay in the introduction of classical training to previously untrained and uneducated musicians in the city. The Mexican influence brought a new degree of culture to the already diverse atmosphere that was New Orleans, as well as introduced a variety of previously unfamiliar instruments and music. Though often unrecognized, the classical training provided by these musicians was an essential part of the formation of jazz within New Orleans. Though the Mexican influence is just one of a series of factors leading to the formation of jazz, it introduced a degree of sophistication essential to the concert music that jazz would become.

Of the many sources of New Orleans jazz, I believe the most influential and distinctive formational factor was the rhythmic influence from African music and dance. From the dances in Congo Square in the 1800s to the piano rhythms in ragtime, African drumming and music has been a fundamental part of the development of jazz in New Orleans. The combination of European genres with the African polyrhythms, plurality, and dance made for a unique new form of music that offered a distinct departure from previous musical forms.


commented on Sven Walderich's post

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