1920's Jazz in NY

The 1920’s proved to be a huge decade for Jazz in New York and Chicago, with the closure of Storyville musicians migrated north for employment opportunities that were guaranteed in Chicago in the industrial industry, where the white workers left jobs available during World War I. With the mass amount of nigh clubs in New York, Jazz musicians then migrated from Chicago to New York for job opportunities in the night clubs. The 1920’s produced four major types of Jazz; the Boogie-woogie was a style of improvised piano music played during the 1920's in Chicago. The second type of jazz was the Chicago jazz; it was played mostly by white musicians. Chicago Jazz tended to be very aggressive and usually ended abruptly. The next was Urban jazz; it was played primarily in an area known as the bucket of blood. This referred to an area along the South Side of Chicago. Lastly Society Dance bands; they were usually big with plush arrangements. They were located downtown and were slower paced and had no improvisation. They were designed mainly for dancing, and they had a more sophisticated sound that was copied by other bands because it was so successful.

During the 1920’s Harlem was going through the Harlem Renaissance, in which two Harlem coexisting along side one another, one Harlem being the predominately white had seen an increase in Black migrants during the start of the war, and at the same time according to Gioia’s “But another Harlem coexisted alongside this one, reflecting a crueler reality and a less promising future. Historian Davis Levering Lewis, drawing on “a prism of census tracks, medical data, and socioeconomic studies,” reaches the conclusion that, even in the midst of the so-called Renaissance, “Harlem was becoming a slum.” This second Harlem was one of harsh economics, low salaries, and looming rent payments (94).  In the second Harlem, Jazz was a major contributor to the success of the “Rent Parties”, True, the Harlem Renaissance created an ideology, a culture context for jazz. But the Harlem of rent parties and underground economies created music (Gioia 94). From the creativity established in these rent parties, it created the scene for the music that boomed in New York night clubs.

            With this new found freedom in New York, Jazz was made appealing in the mainstream as well as to the white population. Compared to Chicago where the jazz was “Hot” and risky, the musicians and bands in New York created a more classical form of jazz, also known as “cold’. To note some of the key musician from Chicago were, Joe Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Pete Johnson, Paul Whiteman and Leon Bix Beiderbecke. In New York the introduction of the Stride piano also proved to be a contributing factor to the “crossover” of the southern New Orleans jazz to what it was in New York.  With jazz in New York being more classical, the racial barriers in a sense were crossed, where white musician could come and listen to the black bands and incorporate what they were doing into a form of their own. According to many Duke Ellington was a major contributor to jazz becoming appealing to the white audience.

Duke is considered by many to be the most important American composer in the history of jazz. “Ellington’s genius lay in adapting the materials of others to his own ends, in weaving the strands and threads of music that he gathered into what can only be described as the “Ellington sound” (Gioia 122). What makes him unique is that he composed music individually for the members of his orchestra instead of lumping them all together. Ellington's opening of the Cotton Club is considered to be one of the most important jazz events of the 1920's. It was there that he and his band gained their international reputation as one of the best jazz orchestras in the world. During Ellington’s stay at the Cotton club “Ellington’s group was one of the most widely recorded jazz ensembles of the period, while regular radio broadcast further expanded his audience (Gioia 129). By the close of Ellington’s Cotton Club years, Ellington would have parlayed this opportunity into a position of preeminence, establishing his group as the most critically acclaimed African-American band of its day (Gioia 126). New York also housed other great musicians such as Art Tatum one of the most successful pianist, James P. Johnson, Willie The Lion Smith as well as Fletcher Henderson.

In sum, both Chicago and New York were key factors in the survival of New Orleans jazz and the exposure of the music form as well. However New York proved to be more successful in numerous ways, for one it was able to pick up where Chicago left off, and in a sense bridge the gap between the racial barriers. Jazz therefore was no longer frowned upon, but embraced and adapted to satisfy the likings of the masses.

Emergence of jazz

New Orleans being the prosperous city at the turn of the 20^th century did not contributed much to the emergence of jazz but in so many ways paved the way, beginning with creating and establishing a rich and diverse melting pot. On another note during slavery and following African Americans were given a sort of freedom in the sense of being able to come together collectively in one area and play their music such as what occurred in Congo Square. With this mass migration of people in such a small confined area other catastrophic epidemics as well as the expansion of the railroad diffused New Orleans population, having two different affects, for example with such epidemics as the yellow fever in many ways created subject matter for musicians and with the expansion of the railroads many New Orleans jazz musicians relocated up north resulting in New Orleans jazz becoming influential.

As stated New Orleans being the melting pot as it was known and having such areas as the red-light District  it created an avenue during the decline of the city for the mass amount of unemployed as well as a place were “risky” music such as jazz could be played. With the area as the Red-light District many African Americans were able to escape the harsh and brutal reality of death, unemployment and even racial injustices. According to Gioia who credits the emergence of jazz to the mass migration as well as the mixing and blending of cultures such as the interaction between blacks and black creoles. In concluding, it is my opinion that similar to how New Orleans was creating itself into what it was known as the melting pot and creating a free enough environment were Blacks could come together to express themselves assisted along with the racial barriers being crossed between the blacks and the black Creole, resulting in influences of other music such as ragtime.