Jazz Music - 1079 Words

The Beginning The word â€Å"jazz† did not become commonplace until around 1920 even though it had spent the preceding decade establishing itself as a musical genre. A mix of European harmony and African rhythm, blended with the current styles of the time such as ragtime and rhythm and blues, Jazz can be seen as an amalgamation of different cultures and has had huge influences on, and evolved concurrently with, American society in the past century. The birthplace of jazz is the subject of much more controversy than its undoubted influence on society. The most commonly reported and, in my view, logical birthplace of jazz is New Orleans. Being a port city (with people migrating from all over the world), it was a melting pot of diverse racial†¦show more content†¦The Great Depression that followed was the worst crisis in America since the Civil War. â€Å"As the 1930s began, one out of every four wage-earners — more than 15 million men and women — was without work.† (Burns, online). Burns goes on to observe that hard times hit black America hardest. In some northern cities, six out of 10 African-American workers lost their jobs. Like many industries in The Great Depression, the music industry struggled for survival. â€Å"American record companies, which were selling more than 100 million records a year throughout the twenties, had now dropped to just six million.† (Burns, online). With this struggle and misery ever so present, people began to look to music as an emotional escape. Musicians needed to play it and the rest of society needed to hear it. The Depression meant that millions of people all over America would now be exposed to the sounds of all kinds of music played by all kinds of people for free. As Burns explains, jazz, which had always thrived in adversity and come to symbolize a certain kind of American freedom, would be called upon to lift the spirits and raise the morale of a frightened country. And in the process, it w ould begin to break down the barriers that had separated Americans from each other for centuries. â€Å"In the mid-1930s, as the Great Depression stubbornly refused to lift, jazz came as close as it has ever come to being Americas popular music.† (Burns, online). Now labeled ‘Swing’ it was a shiningShow MoreRelatedThe Music Of Jazz And Jazz Essay743 Words   |  3 PagesJazz had started, when musicians came to New Orleans to play, most of the people that came to play were former slaves of African descent. The African American people had traced their ancestry back to West Africa, and with this knowledge they began to make a new kind of genre of music called jazz, based on ancient African tribal music, that people in Africa had been played for years. Some things that the tribal music and jazz have in common is a strong drum beat, voices imitating instruments, andRead MoreCool Jazz : Music And Jazz1036 Words   |  5 PagesCool Jazz originated in the late 1940 s. 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The African-American community in South America developed its musical expression through creative improvisationRead MoreJazz : The Music Of America1898 Words   |  8 Pages David Kordik Jazz - The Music of America During the early 1900’s, a new style of music began to take shape in the colorful city of New Orleans. People from all over the world came to exchange stories, conversation, and music. Although it is a very hard genre of music to define, it is said that Jazz is the combination of European and African music that was brought in via the ports. With mostly an African American population, the musicians shared their music in Storyville - a cultural melting pot