Jazz documentaries, racism and segregation - Essay Example

Running head: Swing Jazz SWING JAZZ Goes Here al Affiliation Goes Here The paper analyses the music genre of Jazz and its influence on the American culture. Swing JazzJazz as a music genre can be defined as the music that originated in America among the Afro-American communities during late 19th and early years of 20th century. There were many independent and popular music styles that shared a common European American and African American parentage. One of the most popular styles of jazz was swing Jazz during that time.

The origin of Swing Jazz can be traced during late 1920s. Until mid-1930s, it did not become popular among the masses. The popularity of this type of music reached its peak during 1940s, but it declined steadily during 1950s (Burns, 2000). One of most popular documentaries on Swing Jazz was released during 2000. The name of this documentary was Jazz and directed by Ken Burns. This documentary was broadcasted in a series of 10 episodes and offered information regarding the chronological history of jazz and its prominent musicians.

The documentary studies various aspects of jazz, including drugs and racial segregation (Burns, 2000). Racial segregation was one of the most serious issues during the peak popularity of Swing Jazz. Although, the Black community had contributed greatly in World War I and II, the society continued to discriminate against them. Even in jazz, the musicians as well as the audience during a jazz performance was seated separately. “Due to the racism found in many states, clubs throughout the country were often segregated.

Just a few bands were racially mixed, of which Benny Goodman’s was possibly the first” (Swing and Racism, 2015).Part 7 of documentary and chapter 18, “These Things cant happen” offers bleak information about the Black soldiers, who fought to defend the ideals of their country, liberty and equality. Swing and Racism observes:“Hollywood films handled the race issue by including the African-American swing jazz band performances in films such a way that these sections could be easily removed from the movie reels that were to be distributed to Southern States without disturbing the storyline” (Swing and Racism, 2015).

Unfortunately, they returned home to find that their own country and its citizens did not treat them in an equal manner.   ReferencesKen Burns. Jazz – A Film by Ken Burns. DVD PBS. 2000Just the Swing. Swing and Racism. Web. http://history.just-the-swing.com/swing-history/racism 15 May 2015. 2015.