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DJ Piper
November 30, 2015
Aesthetics: Philosophy of Art
Term Paper
The Emotional Release of Jazz

Listening to singer Jazz music, both lyric and non-lyric, have an aesthetic purpose, and

that is to present emotion. These emotions can be both concerning the artist performance and the

actual make-up of the music. The idea of jazz is presented in many aspects of everyday life, but

the connection is the emotion that it transmitted by listening.

Music, respectably, has its own power of emotional transfer. This needs to be uncovered

prior to looking at Jazz music, because like in the name, it is a form of music. The basic notions

of music and the aesthetic appeal of emotions can be found in the work of Mark DeBellis. As a

Columbia University philosophy professor, DeBellis is able to breakdown the idea of music into

simpler ideas. DeBellis first admits that the value of music is its ability to make the listener

evoke an emotion. 1 He then describes different views of why and how this can be portrayed. The

first being that of an referentialist view. 2 This is basically described as the music referring to

certain emotions therefore, causing the emotion to be inherited from the listener. This idea,

however, is not the most crucial to our argument.

DeBellis reveals a representational theory brought and challenged by German music critic

Eduard Hanslick. Hanslick argues that music cannot have the ability to represent emotion

because it lacks the ability to convey conceptual content, that would then result in the feelings of

said emotion. 3 DeBellis contradicts this notion with that of Walton. Walton discusses that music

does not charge the listener to imagine or represent a place in their mind, but moreover forces the

1 "Music." In The Routledge Companion to Aesthetics, edited by Berys Gaut and Dominic
Mclver Lopes, 669-681. 2nd Edition ed. New York, NY. Pg. 669
2 Ibid.
3 "Music." In The Routledge Companion to Aesthetics, edited by Berys Gaut and Dominic
Mclver Lopes, 669-681. 2nd Edition ed. New York, NY. Pg 674
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notion that the music is inside of you. 4 He also states that, the listeners imaginative

participation consists in imagining that he or she experiences a certain emotion; and this takes

place via his or her imagining the experience of musical sound to be an experiencing of

emotion. This is the core of the idea of music and the release of emotion. Music allows for its

listeners to experience the music and imagine the emotion being portrayed, done most effectively

in jazz.

A background in Jazz is necessary to begin the understanding of this aesthetic notion. In

the work, Why Jazz Happened, by Marc Myers, the notion of where jazz came to be arises. It

dates as far back, but becomes known in the United States during World War One. 5 During this

time of recorded jazz, a group of white men entered a recording studio and played a tune. This

fox-trot become a staple during that of the war, but unbeknownst to the white man, was already

being done by bands of Black men in New Orleans. 6 This however is not as important as that of

the influence the music had on spirituality. This can be seen in a story told by the author of a

young Sunny Rollins.

Racial inequalities can be seen throughout the early 19th century. Rollins recalls entering

high school in 1945 at Franklin High School for boys. 7 Going into the school there was a

definite racial discrepancy and was felt on Rollins first day at school. It was exemplified during

a basketball game during gym class. 8 During the class there was a fight that broke out over who

was going to be on either team. The Italians at the school did not want the Black students on their

team. This is when the inequalities to Rollins first became fully apparent. Rollins then discussed

4 "Music." In The Routledge Companion to Aesthetics, edited by Berys Gaut and Dominic
Mclver Lopes, 669-681. 2nd Edition ed. New York, NY. Pg. 676
5 Myers, Marc. Why Jazz Happened. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2013.
6 Myers, Marc. Why Jazz Happened. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2013. Pg.1
7 Myers, Marc. Why Jazz Happened. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2013. Pg. 142
8 ibid.
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that Frank Sinatra, international acclaimed singer came to speak. When Sinatra spoke the

audience was hushed to listen, but mainly the students of color.

Sinatra said, Dont fight, be friends, get along. It was great. I was a Sinatra fan.

Soon after, the Nat Cole Trio came to the school. Nat gave a similar speech and

played and sang. In just two weeks, we had a chance to see two of the countrys

top entertainers. After they came, things changed. There was no more fighting.

After that, I knew Italian people, and they knew black kids. Everyone got along.

Only music can do this. 9

This music above discussed is that of jazz music. The music that brought people together was

jazz, and jazz was the music that allowed for peoples emotions to be heard. Jazz originated in

the Black community, but became a staple for everyone during times of struggle. This was most

popularly seen during the World Wars, when people needed to become united. Emotion is the

factor that brings people together. This is because hearing jazz allows people to imagine the same

emotion.

In the very late 19th century a Russian novelist wrote What is Art, a book regarding his

impressions and views of art, which when is examined, jazz ideas can be seen. This author being,

Leo Tolstoy. Tolstoy brings forward the idea of the activity of art. The activity of art is based on

the fact that a man, receiving through his sense of hearing or sight another mans expression of

feeling, is capable of experience the emotion which moved the man who expressed it 10This

passage in simpler terms is referring to art as a form of emotional passageway through people.

This meaning that art is valued for its ability to share emotions between people. This can be seen

to Tolstoy in his recollection of the boy and the wolf. This is a story in which the young boy

9 Myers, Marc. Why Jazz Happened. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2013. Pg. 142
10 Tolstoy, Leo. "Chapter 5." What Is Art? Trans. Marc Lucht. New York: BobbMerrill, Liberal
Arts, 1960. N. pag. Print.
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describes his tale with a wolf and the fear that was brought unto him. Storytelling, an art form, is

used for the emotions of the boy to come across in his account. The value here is that the others

listening to the story can feel the emotion and therefore understand the experience the boy faced

and then sympathize with him. This is seen in the performances of jazz singers.

Jazz singers have a very crucial role in the realm of this genre. For instance, without even

looking at the lyrics behind the music, the singer must in their melodic ways, present the emotion

that needs to be heard. In 1927 a song that this can ring true for is that by singer Bessie Smith.

The song Send Me to the Lectric Chair11, is a plea with the judge at this to send her to her

death for what she had done. In the song lyrics she sings of actually committing the act of killing

her husband. Even though this is a direct description of what she had done, and would then allow

for the emotion of grief to come forward. This however is not the aspect that can be heard when

she sings this song. In the song the way she uses comparatives, high or low and soft and loud,

produces her plea emotion. Greif is not a normal conventional emotion, but nevertheless is an

emotion that can be imagined. She is literally asking the judge to send her to her punishment,

although the lyrics state that fact the way in which she sings the song proves this to be true.

Connected to Tolstoy, Smiths jazz singing is the activity which produces the emotion that she is

exposing to her audience.

R.G. Collingwood, an English philosopher in the early 20th century brings forward this

idea. He states that the artist uses emotions, as Unexpressed, he feels it in what he has called

a helpless and oppressed way; as expressed, he feels it in a way from which the sense of

oppression has vanished. His mind is somehow lightened and eased. 12 In a straightforward

11 Bessie Smith. Bessie Smith (Send Me To The Electric Chair, 1927) Jazz Legend(Video),
YouTube, June 3, 2009. Accessed December 12, 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=TZ6w5IlqhSk
12 Collingwood, R. G. The Principles of Art. Oxford: Clarendon, 1938. Print
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sense this mean that the the artist uses art as a release of emotion. Again, the emotion that Jazz

brings forward is also the emotion that is connected between the music and the consumer. A non-

jazz music example to better explain is using The painting, The Scream by Edvard Munch, is as

simple as the artists title.13 The artist is said to have walked through nature and through his walk

felt that a scream was present. This is the reason for painting the picture. The painting, although

beautiful, is not the most detailed. This is where the value of the painting comes forward. The

emotion is what is portrayed. The feeling of angst and anguished shines through. In music realm

this can also be seen or inferred by the listeners.

Louis Armstrong, a jazz trumpeter known for his improvisations demonstrates this.

Armstrong, like stated above by Collingwood, can portray to his viewers how he is feeling so

they can then understand his emotion. The idea of improvisation is a basic term in jazz that

means the on the spot creating of music. Armstrongs pieces have a range of emotions portrayed,

however Savoy Blues14, a piece improvised in 1927 provides this image. His subtle

crescendos, the increasing from soft too loud, shows his ability to affect the audience. When

listening the job of the person is to take what he is providing and infer what you are to feel. This

is done almost subconsciously. This piece sounds like a time of leisure and relaxing. Like this

piece by Armstrong, the emotion too other could be different then the described, but the point

that should be looked at is the fact that it still is giving an emotion as described by Collingwood.

As a performer, when given a piece of music it is first the job of the singer to learn the

notes. After this is compete it is then their job to figure out what their interpretation of the music

is. When earlier this year I was given the song Summertime, a classic jazz song to sing this is

1313 Accessed December 16, 2015.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/The_Scream.jpg.
14 "Louis Armstrong - Savoy Blues (1927)." YouTube. November 17, 2008. Accessed
December 16, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iJdXWY7JRo.
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what I had to do. The song Summertime was first presented in the opera Porgy and Bess. The

notes are already written and lyricists lyrics scribbled down, the singing of the song was on my

shoulders. The first time through singing I did not anticipate feeling the way I did. This is due to

the fact that jazz is also not just about the singers ability to sing the song. This is where the

power of lyrics comes into play15. While singing the song, I was taken with the scene that is

described in the lyrics of the racist environment that is seen in this time. The emotions then took

their course. I was not taken with how well or not well I was singing the song, but rather the

actual lyrics and notes that were in the song. The slow beat and dissonant notes allow for the

emotion to come through. This song also does an excellent job at allowing the lyrics to speak for

themselves. Often this song can be seen in the use of a singer, but the lyrics do the justice of

emotion adequately.

Ella Fitzgerald, a jazz singer who began to really make a name for her smooth singing,

began very popular during the 1940s. Fitzgerald is known for her rendition of this song with

Armstrong mentioned above. Her voice rings perfect through this song for her subtle crescendos

throughout the song. Fitzgerald, also has the ability to add subtle riffs in her songs that really

allow for the listener to imagine the state on which the song is being presented and that is the

release of emotion.

The idea that music and emotion have anything to do with one another is often challenged, but in

looking at jazz it can be contradicted. Gordon Graham, a professor in the philosophy of art

presents us with this notion that it, is hard to see how there could be any connection between
16
music and emotion at all. This idea may be true, because music is not something that is

15 ""Summertime" Lyrics." ELLA FITZGERALD LYRICS. Accessed December 16, 2015.

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/ellafitzgerald/summertime.html.

16 Graham, Gordon. Philosophy of the Arts an Introduction to Aesthetics. Third ed. London:
Routledge, 1997. Pg. 80
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actually received. However, with all of the provided examples one can see that the power of jazz

is in its ability to make the listener imagine the emotion. This then in a way is that of mimesis.

Mimesis being that of representation, the nuances of jazz are a representation of the emotions

that people are to take away from listening to the stylistic ways of jazz.

Jazz has a power that is unprecedented to any other art form. The emotion that jazz brings

forward is something that cannot be replicated and is the true definition of art. Jazz allows for

both the consumer and the many different contributors to the songs to fulfill their need of

emotional release. This is the true beauty in that of Jazz music. The music allows for the

audience to imagine a feeling, and then connect and understand others around them.