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.


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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