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.