Early Jazz and Society New Orleans & Chicago - Assignment Example

Early Jazz and Society New Orleans & Chicago The aim of this essay is to identify three best quotes, which provide a good evidence as to why jazz was not immediately accepted by the conservative public (both white and black) from the Excerpt from a brief history of Jazz-A unique American Art Form by McNamara, Lois.First, “The fact that jazz was mostly heard in the red light district of New Orleans and in that in other cities often confined to the tenderloin area led to a shady reputation of jazz as being associated with the illicit side of city life (McNamara).

” Notably, this made many Americans consider jazz as having poor reputation. The reason here is the fact that many conservatives first viewed jazz as a genre of music associated with dirty life practices such as prostitution among others. Second, “The secretary of the United States Navy ordered the closing of prostitution, gambling places, saloons and dance halls in 1917 across Storyville district of New Orleans.” This made other jazz musicians to look for work in other places. Further discrimination ensured that blacks migrated to other areas yet they were the majority customers for jazz musicians.

Louis Armstrong later settled in Chicago becoming the pioneer of jazz music alongside other native Chicago jazz musicians. Lastly, “Radio stations generally boycotted jazz and blues music, but enough percolated through the air waves to increase the cult status of jazz. However, it was the record that contributed to the spread of jazz among white audience (Scarufi, P.).” In fact, jazz in Chicago is believed to have flourished owing to the demise of the genre in New Orleans. Clearly, the behavior by radio stations shows a sense of sabotage to a genre already flourishing in many parts of the United States especially, Chicago and New Orleans.

Arguably, this indicates how much skeptical the conservatives were about the existence of jazz music. Therefore, it is clear that jazz music in both New Orleans and Chicago faced a lot of resistance by the conservative public. Nevertheless, the genre managed to percolate and is now one of United States’ most loved music types.Works CitedMcNamara, Lois L. Excerpt from a brief history of Jazz-A unique American Art Form