The History of Jazz as Dialogue

The concept of dialogic is helpful for me to understand relationship between the jazz players and the city including its audience and its community. Jazz has developed through the dialogue between the musician and “his or her socially specific environment” (lecture, February fifth). In the same way jazz creates audience jazz is shaped by audience. So community creates art, and vice versa. (lecture, February fifth).

     For jazz men, the social matters came through the community and their audience to influence their life and musical style. Jazz was born in the cultural and ethical chaos to assimilate European musical style into its own. As the society which surrounded musicians and the musical taste of audience changed, jazz survived to “incorporate a variety of other music genre without losing its identity” through the dialogue between the musicians and the audience (lecture, February fifth).

     New environment and social changes always brought some musical changes to jazz. First of all jazz flourished in brothels, especially in Storyville.  Its sound is described as more collective, danceable and orchestra-like sound. Then the outbreak of World War I, the strict Jim Crow law, and the closing of Storyville were tightly connected to cause the Great Migration from the south to the industrialized north. This migration represented a major turning point in the history of African American because it made it possible that the African American as well as their music entered the mainstream of an American life. As jazz moved to Chicago, the brothels came to be replaced with speakeasies and dance hall owned by gangsters. But it is true that their elegance and affluence and musicians’ experience of the urban city brought sophistication into jazz. As jazz moved to New York, the danceable sound came more prominent though Jitterbug dance. The dance hall took on a significant aspect as “a social miscegenation” (Swing Change, p53). During the 1930s jazz came to take on more political aspects in relation to Popular Front. World War II brought another change; the smaller band, and the fast tempo and improvisation.

      After jazz players belonged to some nightclub and some band, they could earn reputation as a jazz musician; for King Oliver it was the Lincoln Gardens, and for Thelonious Monk it was the Five Spot. The nightclub and the band have been working as their community to start their career since early days. So these places also have affected their style.

      Behind their reputation as jazz players, there is always a racially segregated community. So to some extent jazz developed, responding to what white want for black people. What well represented this is Cotton Club in Harlem as a place of reproducing the stereotyped image of black people through a jangle sound. In another word, the musicians can’t ignore what the white audience wants in order to success commercially. That’s what John Hammond mainly criticized about Duke Ellington. So I think this dialogue sometimes can be a one-way communication and compulsion from the white audience as Cotton Club and gangsters-owned nightclub worked to treat black musician like slaves, based on the concept of colonialism.

     As we went over particular jazz musicians such as Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk, I found the community had always played an important role in a life of these jazz musicians. Monk’s music owed a lot to Western Indian music and cultural diversity in San Juan Hill. Miles Davis started his early career in Minton’s and nightclubs on “The Street” looking for Diz and Bird. Through this class, I learned the importance to see jazz in a social, political, historical context.

Thelonious Monk

     The Monks moved from North Carolina to San Juan Hill in Manhattan in 1922. This area was well-known as the largest black community by the middle of the 1910s. Most black in this area were the Southerners and the Caribbean who lived on West 61th, 62nd, and 63rd Street. But in the next block from where the black community located, white people lived along Amsterdam and West End. They were immigrants mainly from Ireland, Germany and Italy and their descendant. Before the Monks arrived there, San Juan Hill had been racially diverse community. This racial diversity often led to fights between white and black, and between the Southerners and the Caribbean. This is what Monk tried to suggest in the quotes. In the worst case these fights provoked the race riots. As a result of these riots, San Juan Hill acquired a bad reputation for “one of the ‘busiest crime areas in New York City” (Kelly, p16).Three race riots which took place between 1901 and 1917 well represented a typical relationship between the black people and the police. Especially in the 1905 riot, police officers “ignored white mobs and arrested and beat African American” (Kelly, p19). This unfair treatment made black people furious and often led them to attack back.

     Monk’s arrest in Delaware in 1958 with Nica and Rose must have caused a sensation not only in jazz scene but in a whole black society because although he almost did nothing wrong, Monk was arrested. He just tried to ask a glass of water but as he stubbornly refused to move and answer the officer’s question, a situation was getting worse. Finally officers came out with blackjacks to beat him; according to Nica, “Thelonious was so mad, he wouldn’t move. … and couldn’t be budged until one cop started beating on his hands with billy club, his pianist’s hands” (Kelly, p254). Kelly suggested Monk believed that “the police didn’t help matters” and “they epitomize racism in the city” (Kelly, p19). Monk’s response to an officer’s irrational violence was completely different from the black people’s response to the violence in those riots. He ignored the existence of cops to refuse everything they demanded even when they started beating him. His attitude represented a black rebellion against the white authority.

     As oppose to the violence the racial diversity brought, it was true that the racial diversity created the rich musical culture in San Juan Hill. As Mary White Ovington described the Phipps Houses in 1908, which the Monks came to move to, “every household had an instrument” (Kelly, p19). Surrounded by the musical diversity, his music had been formed. Because tenements in the neighborhood were crowded and residents were closely connected with each other, the culture of the West Indians and Southerners easily mingled together without the tension (Kelly, p23). In such an environment, especially Caribbean music fascinated young Thelonious (Kelly, p23). The neighborhood was full of musicians, some of who made a living to give kids piano lesson. So he could improve his piano techniques under the guidance of two excellent piano teachers. The first teacher was a Jewish classical pianist named Simon Wolf, who taught him European classical pieces by Chopin and Beethoven (Kelly, p26). The second one was a jazz pianist named Alberta Simmons, who taught him stride piano techniques (Kelly, p27). But the most familiar teacher would be his mother, Barbara, who had knowledge of gospels and hymns and taught him some of them on the piano. She also took him to church where he was absorbed in the sacred music. So San Juan Hill as a rich musical community created his musical background.

Meanings of Jazz in the 1930s

     What is the difference between the 1920s and the 1930s in terms of the symbolic meaning of jazz? In the 1920s jazz was considered as the cultural thread or rebellion against the society, one that is characterized as “a dangerous social miscegenation” (Swing Change, p53). As Gioia shows, even average black family felt hostility to jazz so that jazz wasn’t allowed to be played in their house in Harlem (p91). But in the 1930s jazz came to take on “ideological meanings” in more explicit way. What made this change possible?

     One of the reasons is that the jazz moved into the mainstream, and was recognized as part of a part of popular culture. As jazz moved into the mainstream, the society was still segregated. So People had to face the substantial contradiction inherent in jazz; racial inequality in jazz.  In this context, many criticisms were published during the 1930s to discuss the racial inequality in jazz industry.

     The biggest reason lies in this emergence of swing critics in 1930s and following movement toward swing integration. The major person in this movement is John Hammond. He was a producer, talent scout, and musical critic. He discovered many black jazz stars including Count Basie and Billie Holiday.  He was brave enough to criticize Duke Ellington in terms of political and racial matters. His argument focused on “his racial insensitivity to the troubles of ‘his people’” (Lecture, February 14, 2013). Duke made a compromise racially and economically by entering Cotton Club (Lecture, February 14, 2013). Cotton Club was famous for a segregated night club where many white audiences came to expect the black performers’ exoticism represented by “jungle” sound.  So for a commercial success he had to succumb to the segregated tradition in jazz industry.  But there was the change of his attitude toward race between the 1920s and the 1930s. He could get through in 1920s without mentioning race but he no longer avoided race in 1930s mainly because of the emergence of critics like Hammond. This change of his attitude is good example of the shift of meanings of jazz from the social threat to the political meanings.

     Hammond also had a powerful influence in shaping the musical styles of Benny Goodman, known as “King of Swing”.  He led Goodman to break the segregated practice deeply rooted in jazz industry; Goodman hired the black musicians as sidemen in his white band for the first time and also hired Fletcher Henderson as an arranger. The first moment of swing integration was represented by his concert with black jazz players in Carnegie Hall which was regarded as for European music.  

     It was in Down Beat which many critics including Hammond published their article. Down Beat, which was founded in 1934, judged music on the basis of their ability not their color. Its policy is that “It reported the progress toward racial equality taking place within the music profession.”(p75). So it handled with more political and racial issues as Hammond criticized Duke. It attacked the racism within the music industry. So it was critics who provided the ideological meanings to jazz.  In a way, it played a role as a dialogue between jazz musicians and white jazz fans. The new conversation between jazz players and white jazz critics through magazines made possible because black musician came to take criticism by white critics more seriously.

     Swing era brought numerous changes to jazz industry. The biggest change was the herald of jazz integration.  Swing integration was pushed forward by these swing critics and radio broadcasting as Invisible media. To abolish the segregation within jazz music, race had to be discussed more explicitly.

Chicago Style

     In the 1920s Chicago played a definitive role in creating the foundation of modern jazz. During the Great Migration, Chicago functioned as a major receiving city for jazz musicians from the south. New Orleans provided a good place to give birth to jazz but it couldn’t contain the powerful new music. But Chicago was ready to accept jazz culturally and economically. The World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893 represented the cultural and racial diversity and powerful economic power of Chicago. The significant point is that it was Chicago not New York that hosted the World’s Fair. The biggest difference between Chicago and New Orleans lie in the economic scale. According to Gioa, sidemen in Chicago could earn $40 a week while ones in New Orleans could just earn $1.5 to $2.5. Without this economic power of Chicago, jazz wouldn’t have flourished in Chicago.

     It goes without saying that this economic power was basically based on white society as D. J. Travis says “without white power one cannot earn big bucks in music world.”(p75). The “white power” usually meant gangsters, including the infamous Al Capone who flourished in the 1920s in Chicago. The criminal industry like speakeasies, ballrooms, and nightspots developed as a result of Prohibition; Lincoln Garden in Chicago, the Cotton Club in New York. As these show, jazz was closely connected to the audience’s dancing. It was these gangsters who hired many jazz musicians to make them play in their clubs. It is no doubt that jazz’s prosperity owed a lot to their economic power. Chicago was segregated during the1920s not only socially but musically; Black and white couldn’t play together and the place where they played was separated (downtown for white, South Side for black).

     While King Oliver and Armstrong had a powerful influence on other players in Chicago, new jazz style known as the stride piano was born and flourished in Harlem during the1920s. The development of the stride piano coincided with an increasing number of the rent parties. While the audience in Chicago was mainly the mob in the early 1920s, one in the stride piano was ordinary people. Unlike Chicago Style, Harlem stride piano had the closeness between players and the audience in a rather small environment like apartment house separate from criminals.

     While Harlem jazz style is represented by the stride piano, Chicago style is characterized as jazz of a soloist which is symbolized by Louis Armstrong. His emergence in Chicago jazz put an end to New Orleans jazz tradition which is characterized as the collective sound.  In Chicago style I can find more luxurious, sweet, and sophisticated sound which was influenced by the urban city, the gangsters’ prosperity, and the economic boom after World War I. The interesting thing is that the emergence of Armstrong as a soloist (musical independence) coincided with the emergence of black economy (economic independence) in Chicago. So his strong individualism sound seemed to represent the black society. It is noteworthy that white jazz movement represented by Beiderbecke and Austin High Gang emerged also during 1920s in Chicago, following Armstrong and King Oliver.  They imitated Armstrong and Oliver’s sound to make their own sound. So the Chicago style can also be defined as the mixture of black jazz, white jazz, and dance music.

     Chicago jazz’s significance lies in its influence on New York jazz; Armstrong had a great influence on Fletcher Henderson band and Benny Goodman, who came to represent New York jazz. Two big mainstream of jazz bumped into each other in New York so that new jazz style could bloom as a form of Swing jazz. 

Culture in New Orleans and Birth of Jazz

     The city of New Orleans played a crucial role in the emergence of the jazz music. First of all, New Orleans was culturally and historically different from other American cities. After French found the New Orleans in 1718, the city had been developed as a major trading port under the control of France. The city was filled with many exotic foods, goods and people including slaves from the all over the world. These people brought their own culture, religion, music, custom, tradition and everything. In a sense New Orleans, which had these cultural and racial diversities, was ready to accept totally new music long before the jazz emerged. From 1763 to 1801 New Orleans had been ruled by Spain until France retaken it in 1801. After the United States bought the city from France as a result of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the city rapidly flourished as the metropolitan trading city.

     I think the most significance in New Orleans was laid on religious culture the French and Spanish brought: the Latin-Catholic culture. Unlike the English-Protestant, it was racially and culturally more tolerant to the slaves. Under its rule, they were allowed to intermarry and buy their freedom. This racial tolerance still remained in the society after the United States ruled the city. This custom of the tolerance made it possible for the city to establish Congo Square in 1817. In that square the slaves were allowed to play music and dance while it was usually forbade in other locales.

     I imagine black people at that time were suffering from the inner conflict between African and American, so called double consciousness. Because black people were forced to come to New Orleans as slaves and most of them had never seen African land before, their identities were fragile. In that state of mind, music and dance was indispensable for black people because it is related to the humanity. I think black people had formed a collective memory of being black or African, sharing music and dance. Creating the collective memory, black people could establish their own strong identity of being African. The shared memory was handed down from generation to generation, until it took a form of ragtime, blues and jazz, as a result of adopting the elements of western music. In terms of those meanings, Congo Square was significant.

      In Latin-Catholic culture, Creole of color could establish their social status which was distinguished from black people. So they could belong to the middle class between White and Black. They identified themselves as White, not Black. So they had opportunity to experience and learn the Western musical culture like piano techniques. It is no doubt that their existence in New Orleans helped develop the cultural integration between African and European. This custom of the racial tolerance had continued until Jim Crow Era came after the Reconstruction. During Jim Crow Era, Creole came to be treated as Black. More and more Creole and Black came to play music together. When the cruel Jim Crow Era was about to come, jazz emerge in such an environment for the first time in the history. I think it was the Latin-Catholic culture that made it possible to mix African music with European music and create jazz.