How Jazz Music Changed a Culture

The jazz music that originated in New Orleans began to spread throughout the nation.  Louis Armstrong relocated north to Chicago in the early 1920’s taking his creative sound there.  Jazz music was quickly liked by those in the area and the popularity of jazz quickly began to spread north of Louisiana.  Jazz music not only spread through the music industry but influenced many other things such as art, diversity, and fashion.  Poetry and jazz collided in the 1920’s forming a beautiful type of art called jazz poetry (University of Minnesota).  Jazz poetry is described when a poet writes to the rhythm of jazz music.  The poem is said to have a certain vibe to it that relates it to jazz music.  Jazz music also played a part with diversity and segregation.  Jazz musicians were primarily African-American and because of jazz music they became highly desired within the white privileged community.  “For the first time in American history, what was previously considered ‘bottom culture’ rose to the top and became a highly desired commodity in society” (University of Minnesota).  Once jazz music took center stage, women’s hem lines began to increase and men started wearing baggy pants.  Women who once where forced to have long hair began to cut their hair short.  Jazz music is credited for changing culture in many different ways: from how people dressed, wrote, danced and who they associated with.  One genre of music helped merge a broken nation. 

Works Cited

University of Minnesota. "A New Jazz Culture." University of Minnesota. N.p., 2015. Web. 3 Jan. 

     2016. <http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/tbacig/studproj/is3099/jazzcult/20sjazz/ 

     jazzculture.html>. 

Funk

Another genre of music that was said to begin in New Orleans is Funk.  Funk music was given its name from a “slang expression with sexual connotations.  In musical terms, it originally meant anything that was off the traditional path or something that was funky, especially in the sense of being syncopated” (A Very Brief History).  New Orleans natives, Fats Domino and piano player Henry Roeland “Roy” Byrd, were credited with some of the first funk sounds.  This is because their sounds combined New Orleans second lines with rock n’ roll and blues.  Around the 1950’s soul music was formed from funk music with Ray Charles being the first prominent performer.  Other driving forces of funk and soul music include the likes of James Brown, who later became the “Godfather of Soul.”  In the 1960’s, Motown Records in Detroit was founded by Berry Gordy.  This is where the famous Funk Brothers recorder and played hundreds of recording by other artists without credit such as the Beatles and Beach Boys.  By the end of the 1960’s funk music had become mainstream with several of bands using the style of music.  Funk music began to diminish globally in the 1980’s even though some of the funk rhythm section had made their way into popular pop music through artists like Michael Jackson and Prince.  Some popular rock n’ roll groups, such as Red Hot Chili Peppers and Dave Matthews Band, still use the funk sound into their music (A Very Brief History).

   

                                          Works Cited

"A Very Brief History of Funk Music." Sharp and Pointed. N.p., 28 Apr. 2014. Web. 2 Jan. 2016.

     <https://seesharppress.wordpress.com/2014/04/28/

     a-very-brief-history-of-funk-music-from-a-bassists-viewpoint/>.

                                                  Fats Domino

                                        James Brown "Godfather of Soul"

                         Michael Jackson who used the sound of funk in some of his music

                     Red Hot Chili Peppers: a band who have used the bass sound that is found                              in funk in some of their tracks

Dixieland

 

Early jazz is often referred to as "hot jazz", and sometimes "Dixieland music." Also called "New Orleans style". It included the fast and spirited nature of ragtime, and the use of trumpets, trombones, drums, saxophones, clarinets, banjos, and either a bass or a tube (Teichroew). It was developed in the early 20th century. Dixieland had four main influences, ragtime, military brass bands, the blues and gospel music. The instruments used in the bands included the trumpet (or cornet), clarinet, trombone, piano, string bass (or tuba), drums and the banjo (or guitar). This style of jazz was typically played at parties and commonly for funerals (The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz).  It was around the 1960's many black musicians stepped away from the term 'Dixieland' because of the racial overtones. Yet younger New Orleans musicians picked up the style, playing second line parades and jazz funerals (Branley). It was popular in the 1920's but the 30's saw a new musical movement appear on the scene: swing. Many musicians merged into larger groups, Big Bands.

 

Works Cited

Branley, Edward. Dixieland Jazz: Innovation in New Orleans Music HIstory. 15 July 2013. 30 December 2015 <gonola.com/2013/07/15/dixieland-jazz-innovation-in-new-orleans-music-history.html>.

Teichroew, Jacob. Born in New Orleans. 2015. 9 December 2015 <jazz.about.com/od/historyjazztimeline/a/EarlyJazz.htm>.

the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz. Early Jazz (Dixieland). 2015. 9 December 2015 <www.jazzinamerica.org/jazzresources/stylesheets/7>.

Big Band

 

"Big Band refers to a jazz group of ten or more musicians, usually featuring at least three trumpets, two or more trombones, four or more saxophones, and a "rhythm section" of accompanists playing some combination of piano, guitar, bass, and drums (All Media Network, LLC)." Big Band jazz started in NOLA in 1898 at the end of the Spanish-American war. African Americans used the old military band instruments to learn how to play and eventually formed bands. The music was not bound by European traditions of form and was loosely structured. Many of the bands arranged their music by rehearsing it by ear many times until the musicians all agreed on the sound. Fletcher Henderson whom formed his band in the early 1920's was the first to arrange music in the style "big band" (Thomas). It is said that Big Band sounds still hold a special place in the hearts of many Americans because of the positive and optimistic music. It was an inspiration to millions during the Great Depression, World War II and the post-war recession (Weinstock).

 

Works Cited

All Media Network, LLC. Big Band/Swing. n.d. 30 December 2015 <www.allmusic.com/subgenre/big-band-ma0000002461>.

Thomas, Bob. The Origins of Big Band Music: A History of Big Band Jazz. 1994. 9 December 2015 <www.redhotjazz.com/bigband.html>.

Weinstock, Len. The Big Band Era. 1991. 30 December 2015 <www.redhotjazz.com/bigbandessay.html>.

Jazz Christmas Concert

The Christmas concert 

We focused much of our music blog around jazz music so we found it as a great asset that we were able to attend a jazz Christmas concert in the oldest functioning cathedral in the United States.  Below is my personal blog post about the experience:

The St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans was established in 1720 and is still in use today. Walking into this Catholic cathedral could leave just about everyone speechless. The ceiling center has a large painting of Jesus surrounded by apostles. The boarder was a detailed design consisting of red and gold. Throughout the cathedral there were many French (I am assuming) sayings such as "paissez mes agneaux, paiisez mes been is." I obviously had no idea what the saying meant so I used my little friend Google and learned that it meant "feed my lambs, feed my sheep."  The artwork does not stop there though. On the other edges of the ceiling are multiple paintings of Jesus.  Also attached to the ceilings were multiple gold chandlers that were slightly swaying due to the doors being open. The real reason I was there to listen to a Jazz-swing Christmas concert. Oddly enough the woman who was performing is the daughter of a musician we learned about during our music tour with Milton, Louie Prima. Lena Prima sang Christmas carols and some of her fathers music during the one hour show. Her voice was beautiful and really traveled in the cathedral. Her band was amazing and she split much of her performance with them which I thought was amazing but in all reality it seems to be the attitude of New Orleans and jazz music. Those who attended the concert seemed delighted and happy to be there. I had two older couples behind me that were singing along and dancing in their seats. They were extremely nice individuals  when I spoke with them afterwards the concert. I walked outside to wait for the rest of my classmates when we were finished and just stared of the outside of the cathedral. I had such a deeper respect and awe of St. Louis Cathedral after experiencing it from the inside. 

The ceiling of the cathedral

The back of the cathedral at night

Rock N' Roll

In the late 1940’s and early 1950’s a new form of music was founded.  Rock n’ roll was given its name by a disc jockey in Ohio named Alan Freed in 1951 (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame & Museum).  Rock n’ roll was a mix of blues, country, gospel and jazz.  The new type of music had many parents concerned that their children were being corrupted by the noise.  The birthplace of rock n’ roll is still be debated, some say Memphis, others say New Orleans or Detroit.  There are many of people who believe that rock n’ roll began in Hattiesburg, Mississippi with the Graves Brothers and their songs “I’ll Be Rested” and “Woke Up this Morning (With My Mind on Jesus)” in the late 1930’s (Cook).  Though New Orleans wasn’t considered the birthplace of rock n’ roll, it played a large part in its evolution.  Cosimo Matassa was a sound engineer that realized that artists with a new sound were migrating down to New Orleans.  He also identified the importance of the radio and the positive effect it could have on music and opened J&M Recording Studio on Rampart Street in the mid 1940’s.  Fats Domino recorded “The Fat Man” at this studio and sold over a million copies which is credited for putting New Orleans on the map for rock n’ roll (Branley).  New Orleans attracted many notable rock n’ roll musicians such as Elvis Presley and The Beatles. 

Elvis Presley before his performance in New Orleans

Branley, Edward. "NOLA History: Rock and Roll in New Orleans." GO NOLA. New Orleans Tourism Marketing, 21 Apr. 2014. Web. 29 Dec. 2015. <http://gonola.com/2014/04/21/nola-history-rock-and-roll-in-new-orleans.html>. 

Cook, Alex V. "Hattiesburg: Birthplace of Rock N' Roll." Country Roads. N.p., July 2013. Web. 28 Dec. 2015. <http://www.countryroadsmagazine.com/culture/visual-performing-arts/hattiesburg-birthplace-of-rock-n-roll>. 

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame & Museum. "The Big Bang! The Birth of Rock and Roll." The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. N.p., 2015. Web. 28 Dec. 2015.