Effect of Jazz on Race Relations in the 20th Century - Essay Example

number 23 April Effect of Jazz on Race Relations in 20th Century In the period between the 18th and 19th centuries millions of slaves were transported from Africa to the United States. Those slaves, in turn, brought tribal musical traditions with them. Passed from generation to generation of African Americans those solid musical traditions became the background, which one of the most influential musical styles of all times rooted from. This musical style is called jazz. In this essay I will dwell on the history of jazz within the context of the effect that jazz music had upon segregation and race relations in the United States of America throughout the 20th century. Jazz is a musical genre that was a product of local African American communities; and the history of its rapid emergence and popularity goes back to the end of the 19th century. It must be noted that Jazz did not came from nowhere and owes its origin to the ancient West African tradition based on one distinct melody line and a call-and-response model, which lacked the European concept of harmony (McIntosh 26). Such rhythmic structure and the pentatonic scale became a fundamental basis of jazz that set apart this musical genre from everything that was created before, especially when it comes to music produced by white people earlier. In the second half of the 19th century African American musicians learned to play European instruments (McIntosh 30). It was the time when so-called shows of black minstrels started to emerge across the United States. These improvised gigs of African American musicians playing European instruments such as a guitar, harmonica, piano or violin, quickly became famous nationwide. During such live performances before racially mixed public African American musicians produced music that combined syncopation with harmonic accompaniment characteristic to the style of white musicians, which was brought to America from Europe. The popularity of music pieces played by African Americans expanded beyond the circle of slaves and drew considerable attention by white Americans and, thus, the boundaries and restrictions based on racial segregation started to get blurred (Hentoff n. p.). This tendency strengthened with the passing of time and moved to the 20th century. It must be noted that by the end of the 19th some white American musicians started using melodies of African American, South American and Caribbean slaves as a part of their music pieces. Such interconnectedness and cross-cultural interaction was set to continue as African American slaves began to incorporate the style of Christian hymns in their music, which resulted in the emergence of new music genres such as spirituals and gospels. Later on spirituals and gospels became a foundation for another distinguished music style of African Americans, some elements of which are found in jazz. The abolition of slavery in the United States at the end of the 19th century opened new opportunities for African Americans, who got access to education at last. But because of the ongoing racial segregation in practically all other spheres of social life African Americans had a chance to get a decent job in entertainment industry only (McIntosh 26). Thus, many African American musicians got together to perform in orchestras, took part in the shows of black minstrels, vaudevilles, and played music in bars and clubs. Thats how a musical style of ragtime, a derivative form of jazz, got on stage. By the time jazz emerged the racial segregation in the United States was quite palpable, especially in the Southern states of the USA that by a twist of fate, became the place where jazz was born. New Orleans, Louisiana, is considered to be the place where jazz was born in the beginning of the 20th century. Although racial discrimination and segregation policy dominant in the United States of America of those times, especially in Southern states, did not allow African American jazz musicians have free tours all across the nation, jazz quickly gained success among both black and white audiences. In fact, it became popular far beyond the United States being hailed in Europe as a distinctive and one-of-a-kind American art form. Nevertheless, for a considerable span of time African Americans and white Americans were not allowed to perform together in public (Hentoff n. p.). But, at the same time no music style like jazz had ever broke so many racial prejudices in such a short run. As jazz got more popular and successful outside America the attitude of its critics within the United States changed and by the end of 1920s jazz broke into mainstream having become one of the most popular and widespread musical style that American society had ever seen. The absolute majority of the most popular jazz musicians were African Americans. With the advent of sound-recording technology and rise of major record labels that searched for talented musician all across the United States such jazz musicians as Louis Armstrong or Fletcher Henderson became more popular than any white American musician, sportsman or politician (McIntosh 25). The unprecedented rise of jazz coincided with the period of economic Depression of the 1930s when the so-called dry law was carried into effect in the United States. At that time bars became the places where alcohol was bootlegged at night accompanied with live improvisations of jazz musicians. It was a golden age for female jazz singers who became symbols of the whole generation in the United States before the World War II burst out and became another benchmark on the way towards racial equality in the USA. The integration of black and white musicians that took place during those years was the first step towards the integration of African Americans and white Americans within the same society at large (Means 22). And jazz contributed greatly into that process. Racial discrimination did not fade away in one day but the popularity of jazz invented and dominated by African American musicians made interracial bands, where white Americans and African Americans performed together on stage, a reality that one couldnt have imagined before the emergence of jazz. All in all, but within a musical community of the United States white and black Americans became equals long before the American society could accept that at a larger scale in other spheres of life. Even active participation of African Americans in the World War II in the ranks of the American army could not help ruin racial stereotypes better than jazz did in 1920s and 1930s. As a famous jazz critic, Nat Hentoff, recalls in his article for The Wall Street Journal how a white policeman in St. Louis talked to a legendary African American musician after his gig in 1944: Policeman enthusiastically greeting Duke Ellington after a performance, saying: "If youd been a white man, Duke, youd have been a great musician." With his customary regal manner, Duke, smiling coolly, answered, "I guess things would have been different if Id been a white man. (Hentoff n. p.). There is obviously a bitter irony in Ellingtons reply, which, along with the clumsy compliment of the white policeman to a black music celebrity, shows how deep racial prejudices towards African American people were in the United States only 71 years ago. But when one looks at the scale of racial discrimination in the first half of the 20th century, with segregation enshrined in the legislation of a great number of the United States of America, it becomes quite evident that the breakthrough jazz into mainstream of the American and world culture was the turning point in the history racial discrimination the United States. As jazz was the music genre invented and dominated by African American musicians it created the precedent in the collective mind of the American society. African Americans have never gained a nationwide success in any field before in the course of the history of the United States. Jazz musicians became celebs among both white and black audience, which managed to bring home a simple thought to the majority of Americans, regardless of their race and education. That simple thought implied an idea, according to which equality of all the citizens of the United States of America mentioned in the Constitution of the USA was more than just a myth. A well-known jazz critic, Stanley Crouch, state in New York Daily News that jazz was a kind of a powerful futuristic social force that made Americans finally realize one important rule, according to which all people, regardless their race, gender or religious beliefs are to be judged on the basis of ones personal ability and talents only. And it was jazz that became a sort of a civil-rights movement like no other art form in the United States had ever been able to be before (Hentoff n. p.). All in all, since the very beginning of its history jazz, one of the most influential of all music genres and art forms which have ever been invented by African Americans, this music was much more than just music. Rooted from the musical traditions of African American slaves that were forced to move across the ocean from Africa to America in search of a new home, jazz became a bridging phase between the abolition of slavery in the United States and abolition of racial segregation that was a symbol of racial discrimination of African Americans for the most part of the 20th century. Jazz introduced huge changes into the collective mind of the American society and contributed greatly to the process of overcoming of segregation as a disgraceful norm of the American society, which now is left in the past. Works Cited Hentoff, Nat. "How Jazz Helped Hasten the Civil-Rights Movement." The Wall Street Journal. 15 Jan. 2009. Web. 26 Apr. 2015. Means, Richard L. "Notes on Negro Jazz: 1920-1950: The Use of Biographical Materials in Sociology." The Sociological Quarterly 9.3 (1968): 332-342. Print. McIntosh, Tom. "Reflections on Jazz and the Politics of Race." Boundary 2 22.2 (1995): 25- 35. Print. Read More