Jazz: The Devil’s Music

Rohan Gottumukkala

Atlantic Communities 2

Mr. Asher

2 March 2023

I pledge my honor

Rohan Gottumukkala
 Gottumukkala 1

Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New

Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Until the late 1920s, jazz was not

regarded as a great American art form as we know it today. As jazz broke social and music rules,

it wasn't socially accepted and jazz musicians weren’t well respected. All of this changed as jazz

began to rapidly grow in popularity during the “Jazz Age” in the 1920s and 1930s. Jazz became

an established form of music in American culture through its influences in Europe, its popularity

among famous musicians, and the introduction of a new style of jazz.

Jazz entered mainstream American music through its influences in Europe. In WW2,

American soldiers brought jazz to the battlefield. Europeans quickly took a liking to this music

because it was catchy and mostly improvisational. Jazz spread like a wildfire throughout Europe

and it quickly became one of the most popular styles of music. This was amplified by the

introduction of jazz as a symbol of rebellion against the Nazis. “In Germany—where even the

word jazz was outlawed—jazz became a powerful symbol of resistance.”1 The Nazis outlawed

jazz because it banded together the allied soldiers under one banner. They tried to solve this by

cracking down on any jazz being played, but this only made it more popular. Many normal

civilians who wanted to rebel against the Nazis, but didn’t have the tools to do so found jazz to

be the best way to show support for the rebellion. The Nazis, unable to fully stamp out jazz,

instead tried to create jazz propaganda. “In 1942 German propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels,

who called jazz subhuman, decided to co-opt it, ordering the organization of a radio swing band

that reworded familiar American songs with new, antisemitic lyrics.”2 This antisemitic version of

1 Hannah Nicole Higgin, "Jazz," in America in the World, 1776 to the Present: A Supplement to
the Dictionary of American History, ed. Edward J. Blum (Farmington Hills, MI: Charles
Scribner's Sons, 2016), 1:[Page #],
https://link-gale-com.hopkins.idm.oclc.org/apps/doc/CX3630800280/GVRL?
u=s0936&sid=bookmark-GVRL&xid=f6567d6f.
2 Higgin, "Jazz," 1:[Page #1].
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jazz made jazz popular even in Germany. After the war, many American soldiers who originally

hated jazz, or saw it as only African American music began to see it in a new light based on its

popularity in Europe. When they came back to America, many of these soldiers started to listen

to and appreciate jazz, bringing in more people to jazz clubs.

France, the center of jazz in Europe, brought popularity to Jazz in America. “When Jazz

first started to gain popularity, New Orleans, Chicago, Kansas City, and New York all became

jazz centers, a list to which a short while later would be added Paris.”3 The American jazz

centers were made up of mostly African American people. Few white people would attend these

jazz clubs, however, this was not the case in France. In Paris, many of the jazz clubs were filled

with only white people, a stark contrast to American jazz clubs. France brought jazz to the

forefront of mainstream music and spread its influence. “Private jazz tours and performances

flourished in Europe. This was especially true in France.”4 These jazz tours and performances

spread rapidly throughout Europe, making jazz an important part of the music culture.

Americans, seeing the popularity of jazz in Europe would soon follow suit.

America’s contribution to WW2 brought back jazz to Europe and kept the American

soldier’s spirits up. In World War I Americans brought jazz with them, but it was a rigid form of

jazz, not the style that we know today. When America returned to the battlefields during World

War II, so again did jazz, this time primarily in the form of swing.5 Swing is what most jazz

songs are played in today. Swing is when you play eighth notes as triplets, to give a variation to

the usual rigid eight notes. This new style of jazz completely changed what Europeans thought

jazz was and brought new excitement to the music. When American soldiers came to Europe to

3 Edward Quinn, "Jazz Age," in History in Literature (n.p.: Facts On File, 2004), [Page #],
online.infobase.com/Auth/Index?aid=103994&itemid=WE53&articleId=45237.
4 Higgin, "Jazz," 1:[Page #1].
5 Higgin, "Jazz," 1:[Page #].
 Gottumukkala 3

fight in WW2, they felt stranded from American culture in a foreign land. The Europeans played

jazz, which many Americans were familiar with, to boost the morale of the soldiers before

important battles.6 Overall, jazz’s popularity in Europe made white people in America see jazz in

a new way, and not just an African American style of music.

Through jazz's popularity among famous musicians, it was able to enter mainstream

American music. Dixieland music is known as the original jazz in New Orleans, it can also be

extended to Chicago jazz during the beginnings of jazz.7 The Dixieland musicians were famous

for being the pioneers of jazz, but they went out of popularity during the 1920s. As jazz grew, it

began to become more than just people playing on a street corner or in a club. There were

concerts, competitions, and more. “When jazz developed and became too sophisticated for some

of its fans, there was a longing for the way things used to be. That longing was answered with a

Dixieland revival that burst forth in the 1940s, marked by Louis Armstrong's return to

performing with a small New Orleans group”8 This revival of old jazz brought back many old

Jazz musicians to the forefront of American jazz. These jazz musicians inspired young, aspiring

musicians, and also older musicians who hadn’t heard this style of jazz in a long time.

Paul Whiteman, also known as the “Jazz King”, took jazz from predominantly black

areas and moved it to places where white people could listen to it. Before Paul Whiteman, Jazz

was seen as a local, hip style of music, and no one respected good jazz musicians. Paul

Whiteman was the most influential figure in making jazz respectable by moving it from the

6 "Jazz," in Europe since 1914: Encyclopedia of the Age of War and Reconstruction, ed. John
Merriman and Jay Winter (Detroit, MI: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2006), 3:[Page #],
https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX3447000489/GVRL?u=s0936&sid=bookmark-
GVRL&xid=09107ed4.
7 "Jazz," [Page #1].
8"Jazz," in Encyclopedia of American Studies, ed. Sharon P. Holland (MD, USA: Johns Hopkins
University Press, 2021), [Page #], https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/jhueas/jazz/0.
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speakeasies and black dance halls to theaters and cabarets patronized by whites.9 This was one of

the biggest contributors to jazz’s popularity. The initial move to dance halls and theaters would

be looked down upon by many, but Whiteman would continue to push jazz into the lime.light.

Whiteman’s biggest performance was his concert titled “An Experiment in Modern Music”. 10

Despite a snowstorm, crowds appeared for the evening's performance, and many were turned

away because the hall was overcrowded.”11 This concert was the introduction of jazz to many

new white listeners. They went to the trouble of even traveling through a snowstorm to reach this

concert, shouting that Whiteman was able to make jazz a popular style of music. However, many

argue that Whiteman didn’t bring true jazz, but instead "symphonic jazz", which is different from

the spontaneity of Dixieland’s music.12 Overall, famous jazz musicians brought Jazz to

mainstream American music.

Duke Ellington, another famous Jazz musician, was able to make Jazz a respectable art

form through his use of an orchestra and stunning charisma. Duke Ellington was the first

composer to play Jazz with an orchestra instead of the usual small group of musicians. He

revolutionized the Jazz scene with his long-running band of over 50 years.13 Many composers at

this time didn’t respect Jazz because of its small-scale nature. They saw it as just a gathering of a

few people to play music, and not a grand concert with an orchestra composed of hundreds of

9 "Jazz," in American Decades, ed. Judith S. Baughman, et al. (Detroit, MI: Gale, 2001), 3:[Page
#],https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX3468300696/GVRL?u=s0936&sid=bookmark-
GVRL&xid=b5f66a7a.
10 "Paul Whiteman: An Experiment in Modern Music," in a, [Page #], excerpt from Buescher
Band Instruments, February 24, 1924, accessed March 1, 2023,
https://syncopatedtimes.com/rhapsody-in-blue-at-95/.
11 "Rhapsody in Blue," in American Decades Primary Sources, ed. Cynthia Rose (Detroit, MI:
Gale, 2004), 3:[Page #], https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX3490200436/GVRL?
u=s0936&sid=bookmark-GVRL&xid=f755aba4.
12 "Jazz," 3:[Page #2].
13 Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Ellington, Duke," in Britannica Concise Encyclopedia (Chicago,
IL, USA: Britannica Digital Learning, 2017), [Page #], https://search-credoreference-
com.hopkins.idm.oclc.org/content/entry/ebconcise/ellington_duke/0.
 Gottumukkala 5

musicians. This changed when Duke Ellington created a Jazz orchestra. Composers around the

world were amazed at the fact that Jazz could move past its time being played in unrespectable

establishments and towards a larger scene. This band was immensely popular among new Jazz

listeners and the American people, but many Jazz musicians hated this move to a larger band.

The problem with a larger band is that it is difficult to bring out individual musicians' styles and

creativity while still making the song sound good. In Ellington’s band, he wrote all of the music

for his band and left little to nothing up to them. To solve this problem, Ellington decided to give

each of the musicians some time during the song to let them play whatever they wanted. This

gave the general public the bigger band that they wanted while keeping the creativity of Jazz

musicians. Another reason the American people loved Ellington was because of his charismatic

personality. He was well-spoken, kind to all his fans, and most importantly an entertainer.14

Ellington was one of the few Jazz musicians who grew up in a middle-class family. Ellington

lived in a nice neighborhood and even got a full scholarship to Pratt, one of the best art schools

in the world. Many American people looked down on Jazz musicians' credibility, but Ellington

completely changed how people looked at Jazz. He was the opposite of the stereotypical Jazz

musician. He had a good education, was well-spoken, and even made jokes while on stage.

Ellington was able to change America’s view on Jazz through his personality and Jazz orchestra.

Louis Armstrong’s love for Jazz inspired the people around him to pursue Jazz. Unlike

Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong was not a composer, but rather a lead musician. However, he

was still able to captivate his audience with his wide smile and unbelievable trumpet solos. Many

people who attended Armstrong’s earlier performances fell in love with Jazz because of him. 15

14 Lean'tin Bracks, "“Duke” Ellington (1899–1974)," in African American Almanac (Canton,

MI, USA: Visible Ink Press, 2012), [Page #], https://search-credoreference-
com.hopkins.idm.oclc.org/content/entry/vipaaalm/duke_ellington_1899_1974/0.
15 Judith Schlesinger, "Armstrong, Louis," in Encyclopedia of American Studies, ed. Sharon P.
Holland (MD, USA: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2021), [Page #], https://search-
 Gottumukkala 6

He talked about Jazz with a burning passion and had the musical talent to support it. At this time,

composers were much more famous than lead musicians, but this was not the case for Louis

Armstrong. Instead of the composer being the head of the band, most people regarded Armstrong

as the head. His solos were played over most songs and were the stabilizing voice in the band.

After the concert, Armstrong would speak to the crowd about his solos.16 Armstrong would

speak to the crowd about his musical ideas and inspirations for the solo. These speeches could be

seen as rants, but in reality, people saw Armstrong’s love for Jazz through them. In all of

Armstrong’s concerts, he would play with a big smile on his face, spreading the positivity to all

around him.17 Louis Armstrong’s phenomenal trumpet solos and his open passion for Jazz spread

to the people around him and across the country.

The initial efforts to censor and oppress the "devil's music" ultimately helped jazz's

popularity. Jazz's opposition had racial undertones and the music was seen as barbaric and

immoral. Thomas Edison said, “The music sounded better played backwards.”18 Black musicians

were not allowed in musical venues and were forced to play in less reputable establishments. The

Jim Crow laws were also passed in New Orleans during this time. This added to the separation

between white music and jazz.19 Jazz musicians at this time barely made enough money to live,

so when the Jim Crow laws were passed and it became even harder for them to make money,

many black people rallied behind these musicians. They wanted to support their cultural music,

which is a big part of their identity. Jazz would have died out if it wasn’t for this surge in

popularity. White people saw jazz as unstructured and rugged, but in reality, it followed a lot of

credoreference-com.hopkins.idm.oclc.org/content/entry/jhueas/armstrong_louis/0.
16 Schlesinger, "Armstrong, Louis," [Page #].
17 Louis Armstrong Holding a Trumpet, 1946, photograph, https://search-credoreference-
com.hopkins.idm.oclc.org/content/entry/jhueas/armstrong_louis/0.
18 Culture Shock, https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/cultureshock/beyond/jazz.html.
19 "Jazz," [Page #1].
 Gottumukkala 7

the same structure as classical music. “They misunderstood its very structured nature. New

Orleans jazz, for example, featured group improvisation. Such improvisation, however, was

possible only because certain rather rigid rules operated; for example, the individual melody

instruments (cornet, clarinet, and trombone) stayed out of each other's way. Much like the ideal

African village, jazz was an example of freedom within regulated limits, surprisingly not unlike a

Bach three- or four-part invention.”20 Unable to play in big halls, black musicians had to create

these rules to let them play without the song falling apart. These rules helped new musicians

learn jazz, and defined the structure of modern Jazz. The suppression of Jazz only increased its

popularity in the end.

An easier, less improvised version of jazz grew in popularity in America. “In the middle

1930s jazz began to reach the masses as a result of the swing craze that made the Casa Loma

Orchestra and the bands of Glenn Miller and Jimmy Dorsey household favorites. These white

bands reduced the music of the more innovative black bandleaders.”21 This new version of Jazz

appealed to millions because of its singers and easier 4/4 rhythms. This style was played in

theaters, and dance halls. It was an instant hit across America. Composers, after seeing the

increase in popularity in jazz, went to jazz clubs to find new pieces. These composers copied

down improvised songs they heard in the clubs and took them to a larger stage. Many jazz

musicians also began to play popular pieces in large halls to make more money. Thus, jazz began

to move away from an entirely improvised form of music, and toward mainstream American

music. To summarize, this new version of jazz was able to reach a wider audience, and changed

the way jazz would be played.

20 "Jazz," [Page #1].

21 Kip Lornell, "JAZZ," in The Reader's Companion to American History, ed. Eric Foner and
John Arthur Garraty (Boston, MA, USA: Houghton Mifflin, 2014), [Page #],
https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/rcah/jazz/0.
 Gottumukkala 8

Jazz, with its modest beginnings in African-American neighborhoods, became a staple of

American and world music through its influence in Europe, popularity among composers, and a

new style. Rap, another music style, was influenced by jazz and bears a striking resemblance to

the evolution of jazz. Rap, with its humble beginnings as street art, mostly performed by

teenagers in African-American neighborhoods, evolved into a global phenomenon in just a few

decades. Just like Jazz and Rap, there could be other styles of music, currently brewing in small

neighborhoods waiting for the right conditions to break out and change the music scene one

more time.

Bibliography

Bracks, Lean'tin. "“Duke” Ellington (1899–1974)." In African American Almanac. Canton, MI,
USA: Visible Ink Press, 2012.
 Gottumukkala 9

https://search-credoreference-com.hopkins.idm.oclc.org/content/entry/vipaaalm/
duke_ellington_1899_1974/0.

Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Ellington, Duke." In Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Chicago, IL,

USA: Britannica Digital Learning, 2017. https://search-credoreference-
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Higgin, Hannah Nicole. "Jazz." In America in the World, 1776 to the Present: A Supplement to
the Dictionary of American History, edited by Edward J. Blum, 558-62. Vol. 1.
Farmington Hills, MI: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2016. https://link-gale-
com.hopkins.idm.oclc.org/apps/doc/CX3630800280/GVRL?u=s0936&sid=bookmark-
GVRL&xid=f6567d6f.

"Jazz." In American Decades, edited by Judith S. Baughman, Victor Bondi, Richard Layman,
Tandy Mcconnell, and Vincent Tompkins. Vol. 3. Detroit, MI: Gale, 2001.
https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX3468300696/GVRL?u=s0936&sid=bookmark-
GVRL&xid=b5f66a7a.

"Jazz." In Europe since 1914: Encyclopedia of the Age of War and Reconstruction, edited by
John Merriman and Jay Winter, 1500-02. Vol. 3. Detroit, MI: Charles Scribner's Sons,
2006. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX3447000489/GVRL?u=s0936&sid=bookmark-
GVRL&xid=09107ed4.

Lornell, Kip. "JAZZ." In The Reader's Companion to American History, edited by Eric Foner
and John Arthur Garraty. Boston, MA, USA: Houghton Mifflin, 2014.
https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/rcah/jazz/0.

Louis Armstrong Holding a Trumpet. 1946. Photograph. https://search-credoreference-

com.hopkins.idm.oclc.org/content/entry/jhueas/armstrong_louis/0.

"Paul Whiteman: An Experiment in Modern Music." In a. Excerpt from Buescher Band

Instruments, February 24, 1924. Accessed March 1, 2023.
https://syncopatedtimes.com/rhapsody-in-blue-at-95/.

Quinn, Edward. "Jazz Age." In History in Literature. N.p.: Facts On File, 2004.
online.infobase.com/Auth/Index?aid=103994&itemid=WE53&articleId=45237.

"Rhapsody in Blue." In American Decades Primary Sources, edited by Cynthia Rose, 33-36. Vol.
3. Detroit, MI: Gale, 2004. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX3490200436/GVRL?
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 Gottumukkala 10

Appendix A
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Louis Armstrong Holding a Trumpet. 1946. Photograph. https://search-credoreference-

com.hopkins.idm.oclc.org/content/entry/jhueas/armstrong_louis/0.

Appendix B
 Gottumukkala 12

"Paul Whiteman: An Experiment in Modern Music." In a. Excerpt from Buescher Band

Instruments, February 24, 1924. Accessed March 1, 2023.
https://syncopatedtimes.com/rhapsody-in-blue-at-95/.