The Influence Of Jazz In New Orleans

“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. Jazz originated from New

Even the upper classes found Jazz appealing. This led many other musicians to teach themselves Jazz in order to play at the clubs (“The History of Jazz in Paris”). Because of its immediate popularity, Jazz quickly diffused to other parts of the country. Primarily, Jazz diffused to Chicago, but did eventually diffuse to New York City, and then to Kansas City as well (“American Jazz Culture in the 1920s”). Chicago was a desirable destination for many white musicians who left New Orleans to seek fame and fortune (A New Orleans Jazz History, 1895 - 1927”). Jazz in Chicago was typically much “more uniform and less wild and primitive” than it was in New Orleans particularly because it targeted the white-dominated middle class (“American Jazz Culture in the 1920s”). During World War I, United States army regiments transferred African-American soldiers to France, who first introduced Jazz to France (“The History of Jazz in Paris”). It became just as sought-after in Europe as it was in the United States. During this time, France was under Nazi occupation. Jazz, or “degenerate Nazi music” as proclaimed by the Nazi Party, was prohibited from being played in public, as it distracted from the highly-enforced Nazi morals (“The History of Jazz in Paris”). However, the French were not about to let the Nazis take their newfound BLANK away from them. So, soundproof underground cellars turned into private clubs. The majority of clubs began to show up in France, centering around