Blog 3

            Prior to the 1930s race had always been an issue of concern in the jazz community, it is seen in New Orleans, Chicago and New York. It was not until the 1930s that race began to factor in so greatly and affect jazz in such an extreme way. The Swing Era brought with it new views, new musicians, and a new scene. Swing’s big breakout took place in New York and there many famous musicians such as Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman were able to make their mark. “The ‘colored market’ once considered ‘limited’ was now becoming profitable” (Swing Changes, 121). This new push for integration in the jazz scene that arose in the 1930s had a strong impact

            Duke Ellington was one of the musicians who had a strong impact during the swing integration era. He pushed for integration because he understood that it would help gain popularity. Ellington found himself a Jewish agent at the Cotton Club and they began to increase his popularity by putting him on the radio. The radio allowed for integration in jazz to greatly increase, listeners were not able to see skin color and therefore were able to appreciate music from both whites and blacks.

            Carnegie hall and the Savoy were two places that also greatly contributed to integration during the 1930s. The Savoy was a place where integration was occurring through competition. One of the most famous events that occurred at the Savoy was the “Musical battle of century” between Benny Goodman and Chick Webb. At Carnegie Hall rather than it being a competitive environment there was a breakthrough with the integrated quartet that included Benny Goodman and three black musicians, Drummer Gene Krupa, pianist Teddy Wilson, and vibraphonist Lionel Hampton. The musical integration occurring at these places helped integration during the Swing Era take a huge leap forward, even though many people were against it during this time.

During this time we also saw a change in the attitudes of black musicians and towards certain critics. Musicians were now acknowledging critique from those who represented the white audience. One well-known critic was John Hammond, a man who came from a wealthy family and was given the opportunity to study at Yale although he dropped out to pursue a life around jazz. Hammond discovered many important musicians such as Fletcher Henderson, Count Basie, and Billie Holiday. When Hammond criticized Ellington, Ellington did not feel that Hammond had the right to that critique. Ellington said his critique was “Laughable” He did not believe that a wealthy Vanderbilt descendent could understand what a black musician was going through during the Great Depression (Stewart, Lecture).

            The 1930s Swing Era brought about great changes, integration was now being seen more frequently for different reasons in this era. Ellington’s goals for commercial success created major changes just as places such as Carnegie Hall and the Savoy did as well. In their own different ways many components came together to create changes towards the views of race in 1930s jazz music.  

Blog 2

Chicago and New York were both very important contributors to jazz in the 1920’s, each city aided the evolution and progression of jazz. Although New York largely contributed, Chicago was the more significant city and greater contributor during the 1920s jazz scene. Similar to New Orleans, Chicago was a very multi-ethnic city that harbored immigrants from all over; especially Europe. This mixture of an urban and agricultural area is a factor as to why at this time it was the main trading city of the US (Stewart, Lecture). The immigrants and Chicagoans competed very mercilessly for jobs of any sort. During the day they would slave away working at stockyards and steel industries so naturally when the opportunity to enjoy themselves arose they did not take it for granted and this is where jazz greatly came into play and began to develop even more. Dancehalls and ballrooms became huge hits in Chicago at this time. These halls were a place for the hardworking middle class to go and enjoy great jazz music from some of the most amazing musicians such as Armstrong, King Oliver, and Bix Beiderbecke.

Following the Chicago Race Riot in 1919 there was a huge push by the black community to make changes in their social and economic conditions. The riot was the reason that commercial racial nationalism arose among the black community. In Chicago there was an enormous spike in black entrepreneurialism, black barbershops, beauty parlors, markets and even insurance companies were being established in the city (Cohen 150-151). This movement to improve black capitalism and the black economy was headed by Marcus Garvey the founder of the back to Africa program and leader of the United Negro Improvement Association (Cohen, 149). At this time consumerism among the black community grew, record stores, mail order ads, and the radio were just a few ways that consumerism and jazz music were intertwined at this time. (Cohen, 155).

Two styles of jazz that arose during the 1920s were the Chicago and Harlem styles of jazz. The Chicago style was primarily centered on the horn. The goal by many musicians was to play like Louis Armstrong, which was something that the musicians were not able to do and resulted in what is now referred to as an imperfect imitation. The ensemble playing became more complex and the collective band play declined which allowed for the individual to have a greater role, for that reason this style held a bigger emphasis on improvisation with the soloist. Chicago style was a poor imitation by white players, which evolved into a popular more danceable style. Some of the most well know Chicago style players were Armstrong, Hines, Oliver, Beiderbecke, and Dodds (Gioia 75). The Austin High School gang also was very involved with the Chicago style (Chicagoan, 154). On the other hand we also have Harlem style which rather than holding the emphasis on the horn it has now shifted to the piano. From this style we not see the emergence of stride. The Harlem style grew from a mixture of classical piano, stride, and ragtime. Some of the key players were James P. Johnson “Father of Stride”, Willie “The Lion” Smith, and Thomas “Fats” Waller, and Art Tatum. (Gioia, 97-98).

Although there were many amazing players and bands in Chicago during the 1920s the epitome of Chicago jazz primarily brings to mind Louis Armstrong. Armstrong and Chicago were a perfect fit he needed Chicago as much as Chicago need him. In this city is where he was truly able to flourish and evolve into the iconic jazz artist he became.