Jazz And Blues Music During The Great Depression

Jazz has shaped the world we know today. Jazz would have never been as popular without the help of the famous musicians: Jelly Roll Morton, Joe King Oliver, Sidney Bechet, Louis Armstrong, and Duke Ellington. These people helped spread the new genre through radio, railroads, and the records that they played. Where did this all start? The jazz age began in New Orleans where a certain King was born.

The 1920s saw the growth of popular recreation, in part because of higher wages and increased leisure time. Just as automobiles were mass-produced, so was recreation during the 1920s. Mass-circulations magazines like Reader’s Digest and Time (established 1923) enjoyed enormous success. Radio also rose to prominence as a source of news and entertainment during the 1920s: NBC was founded in 1926 and CBS a year later. Movies were the most popular leisure attraction of the times, making stars out of Charlie Chaplin, Rudolph Valentino, Gloria Swanson, and Mary Pickford. But with economic success and a cultural renaissance, came political isolationism, a wide gap between wealthy and poor, as well as new forms of racism.

Until the middle of the 1950’s “Jazz dance” was more commonly referred to as tap dance due to tap being performed to jazz music.

"The 'Jazz Age' was a period of many political, economic and social changes when Americans cast aside old social conventions in favor of new ideas, embracing the rapid cultural and social changes of modernism and the flamboyant lifestyles of the new era" (The Jazz Age). Throughout the 1920’s, "America was taking its final steps from the traditional period to a new era of modernization" (American Culture in the 1920's). American popular culture decided to transform itself into an urban, industrial, consumer-oriented society. The future was envisioned to be successful, looking upon positive, everlasting change; embracing the future and its fore coming traditions and ethics. New ideas,

The Harlem Renaissance was the development of African American culture, particularly in the creative arts, and the most influential movement in the African American history. It started in the early 1920s and lasted up till the mid 1930s. During this time period, there was a lot of advancements in African American literacy, music, theatre and and visual arts. The African Americans became significant figures in the American society. The Harlem Renaissance was beneficial and had a positive impact on the African Americans because they became important figures with creativity in the American society.

Swing has also helped people come together not only to listen, but also to play. It was during the time of the civil rights movement that swing was created and popularized. While the African Americans had their freedom, they were still largely unaccepted and segregated. Even though swing did not fix the segregation part of the world, it did bring blacks and whites together in interesting ways. Swing was first introduced by black musicians. Some of them included Duke Ellington, Fletcher Henderson, and Jimmy Lunceford. Interestingly enough, because of the popularity of the music, African Americans were able to produce music and bring it into white society for them to listen to. These African American musicians also influenced many of the white musicians as well. White jazz musicians had taken inspiration from black jazz music for many years, but because of swing, they became even more deeply devoted to integrating this music to blacks and whites. Benny Goodman was one of these white musicians.

“Even before Jazz, for most New Orleanians, music was not a luxury as it often is elsewhere - it was a necessity” (“A New Orleans Jazz History, 1895 - 1927”). Without music, New Orleans’ culture would not be the same as it is today. Jazz was not only an immense part of culture in New Orleans, but in the rest of the United States as well. Eventually, Jazz even diffused across the oceans, where different cultures gave their own twist to Jazz. A large factor to many individual cultures, Jazz widely influenced the youth on what they are and what they could be. Jazz exhibited the morals of the young generation, and therefore was a significant influence in the 1920s, not only in the United States, but in Europe as well.

The Roaring Twenties has another name, in fact. The 1920’s can be referred to as The Jazz Age. The 1920’s was a time for African American’s to express themselves through many different art forms. The Great Migration is what caused many chain events that led to the Jazz Age. The Great Migration brought a tremendous amount of African Americans from the rural south to the urban north. Most, if not all, of these African Americans left the rural south due to the lack of economic opportunities, and harsh laws against them. They were intrigued to move to cities in the North because of the better pay they would receive for less work than they were doing in the South, a higher standard of living conditions, better political rights and to take

Urban centers had turned into uninhabited areas. Grim shantytowns, bitterly dubbed "Hoovervilles," were made from crates and cartons. Meanwhile, a drought withered crops and made the Great Plains into badlands. "Dust Bowl" conditions obliterated three hundred million tons of topsoil, equal to 3,000 hundred-acre farms. Farm families moved west to find jobs in California. The Depression created hard times for all Americans. Failure and helplessness dropped like a shroud over the spirit of a starving nation; the suicide rates increased as people lost hope of employment in hopes of feeding their families. Farmers began to destroy their crops or let them rot in the

As difficult as the economic crisis of the Great Depression was for white Americans, it was even harder on racial minorities, including black Americans, Mexican Americans, American Indians, and Asian Americans. In 1933 the general unemployment rate in the United States was over 25 percent; at the same time, unemployment rates for various American minorities ranged up to 50 percent or more. Given the severe racial discrimination in almost every facet of daily life in America through the 1920s, it was hard for many minorities to distinguish much difference between the Great Depression and "normal" economic times. Nonetheless, for these groups the Great Depression was worse than "normal" economic hardships they had suffered.

The Gilded Age was an age that was directly dependent on the end of the Civil War. Jazz was a major parts of what the 1920s and it helped African Americans realize the where they are at that moment was not what they had to stay at. The end of the Civil War made most of the American populace believe that the lives of slaves would change drastically. American slaves were granted freedom by order of the President and the Congress. The 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America freed the slaves in America. The 14th Amendment gave the slave citizenship. Yet even with these assurances all did not work out, as it should have. Segregation was the social structure that took the place of slavery throughout America, contrary

In life, there are few things as organic as jazz music. With its raw sound and scrappy roots, one cannot help but feel life head-on whilst witnessing players produce such a sound right before their eyes. Its origins and arch are a product of the United States’ national culture and identity. Jazz exists not only as a deeply rooted form of art but as a cultural marker, particularly during its commercial peak in the first half of the 20th century. Its impact transcends borders, and it is one of the most beloved musical genres worldwide. The history, popularity and influence of jazz on human culture make it the seminal American art form.

Charles Joseph “Buddy” Bolden is considered the father of jazz music. His specialty is the cornet which he played in his band that was discovered as the first group to play jazz music. The rhythm from his talent inspired the perfect sound to dance to. Though his music entertained crowds of people, a recording of Bolden’s ability was never created. It is only up to the imagination of what he really sounded like. After falling into a rut of alcohol, his health started to decline. He experienced headaches, anxiety, and paranoia which led to his enrollment in the Louisiana State asylum. Logically, alcohol was the cause of his behavior but some people think he was under a voodoo curse. In 1931, he died at the asylum where he was capable of playing the cornet until his last breaths. His legacy inspires every upcoming jazz musician today.

Beginning in 1929, the deepest and longest-lasting economic downturn in history of the industrialized world. In the United States, The Great Depression soon after the stock market crash of October 1929, which sent Wall Street into panic, and millions of investors were wiped out. In response of The great depression, Franklin Delano Roosevelt created the “New Deal.” The government were to help start the US banking system and restore the people their jobs. The Great Depression went through a lot of political, economic, and social effects. Roosevelt went through a lot of different strategies, and people he faced. The “New Deal” plan goals were not met until the country went to war (World War II) which lead to a long term effect.

There is no doubt that Jazz music is one of greatest things to come from American culture. It had sprouted up from cultural and spiritual hymns a global sound that has no restraints. From the early slave songs with their call and response style, to the later Swing and Bebop era tones, Jazz became the frontline for American music where it still remains relevant to this day.