Will McFarland (1)
Jazz music is a style that was developed by the black American slave population. When jazz later became a popular form of music, it attracted not only blacks but also whites. For thefirst time white people were seeking entertainment from blacks. This change did not createequality in any way, but it was a good push in that direction, that would eventually cause a major change in racial boundaries. How jazz was created impacted how it would eventually affectracial boundaries. These changes made by jazz also still affect us today.When jazz was originally born remains unknown, but what is known is that it wascreated by black slaves in America1. The slaves created music as a way of entertainment. Their music combined African and Caribbean styles of music brought by the slaves that came fromthose different areas. This music was not what we would think if as being jazz today, in fact wewould probably describe it as having a tribal sound2,but over time it would evolve into themusical form called jazz.When American slavery was abolished in 1865, blacks began to gain freedom; by 1868they gained citizenship and black men were able to vote by 1870. It only took a short amount of time, however, before their rights were restricted by the Jim Crow laws and groups like the KuKlux Klan. Blacks soon found their “freedom” was not freedom at all, since they were beingtreated with such inequality3. Eventually the music created by black musicians would helpshrink this inequality.In 1895 the first step in shrinking this inequality was taken when Charles “Buddy”Bolden started a band that played a form of improvised music. At this time this music didn’thave a name, but eventually it would be called Jazz. Bolden’s band and its style of musicincreased in popularity in New Orleans. Unfortunately Bolden became mentally unstable in
1 Ted Giora, The History of Jazz, 32 Ibid3 Melvin, Sylvester. "Long Island University." The African American: A Journey from Slavery to Freedom.Available from http://www.liu.edu/cwis/CWP/library/aaslavry.htm. Internet;
Will McFarland (2)
1907 and was placed in an asylum for the rest of his life. His band still continued for another tenyears, however, under the leadership of Frankie Dusen, a trombonist. Bolden’s band led the wayfor many jazz bands in the future and even acted as a starting point for some players, like SidneyBechet, who played with them on occasion.4In the early twentieth century jazz players from New Orleans began to move and playother places. By the middle of the nineteen teens jazz players had moved into Chicago and NewYork City. It was in this period of time that is believed the term jazz was first used in describingthe music5.By 1917, the Dixieland Jazz Band made the first commercial recording of jazzmusic. At this point jazz had spread its popularity throughout most of the United States.Much of the spreading of Jazz in the United States occurred during World War I. After the war ended in 1918, many jazz musicians decided to take their music to Europe because thehostile environment was gone. By the 1920’s, jazz music in Europe had become popular. Eventhough it would never reach the level of popularity in Europe that it did in the United States, jazzhad still become an internationally popular form of music6.The popularity of jazz created an opportunity for blacks to create a better reputation for themselves. Even though there were still major inequalities, with the creation of Jazz, somewhites would begin to see blacks as more human than before. This is because whites wouldlisten to the music performed by blacks and, for the first time, black and white musicians would play together. Jazz also gave American musicians the opportunity to move to Europe, acontinent that had less racism against blacks than America had. The spread of musicians to
4 "Red Hot Jazz Archive." Charles "Buddy" Bolden. Available from http://www.redhotjazz.com/Buddy.html.Internet;5 "Jazz History." Available from http://www.nps.gov/archive/jazz/Jazz%20History_origins_pre1895.htm. Internet;accessed 11 January 2010.6 Ibid
Will McFarland (3)
Europe also caused globalization which pushed Americans to change their inequalities in their system.Jazz was the first style of music that was primarily performed by black musicians, andaccepted by an audience of mixed races.7Whites were being entertained by blacks, and it became obvious to many that blacks had a place other than extremely low-end jobs. Not allwhites viewed the situation this way, however, since many whites viewed jazz as dirty and lowclass because it was created and performed by blacks. Even most of the whites that didappreciate jazz still looked down upon blacks. Still, the minor shift, even though it was so small,would eventually lead to more major changes.This shift was also helped by the mixing of musicians of different races into one group.For the first time whites and blacks would play together side by side. When the musicians would play together there wasn’t a separation or inequality between the different players, they wereworking together to create music8. Unfortunately this was not true when they were not playingtogether. The hatred between the two racial groups still existed in everyday life. In fact, manywhites viewed white musicians that played with blacks as dirty and useless, and many blacks sawthe white musicians as unnecessary and felt that they were trying to take over their music.Again, inequality and racism still existed, but there was a minor shift created.Although there was large inequality between blacks and whites in America, the inequalityin Europe was much less.9Blacks were still inferior in Europe, but they were given morerespect than blacks in America. Jazz gave many black musicians the opportunity to go to Europeand escape the harsh racism of the United States10. America was still the heart of jazz, but jazz
7 Charles Hersch, Subversive Sounds, 48 Ibid, 69 " Racism in Europe and U.S.." PBS. Available from http://www.pbs.org/itvs/fromswastikatojimcrow/racism.html.Internet; accessed 11 January 2010.10 Rhapsody Films, Jazz in Exile
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Jazz: Changing Racial Boundaries
How Jazz changed racial boundaries in America.
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