Chicago and New York; the Community of Jazz

Although both Chicago and New York were influential to the jazz movement in the 1920s, it was Chicago that had a greater significance because there existed a more supportive and opportunistic dialogue between the community and the music. In New York during the 1920s the main arena for jazz existed in Harlem and midtown Manhattan, yet there was not as great of development in these cities as in Chicago because of the negative connotation jazz held (Lecture). Blacks in Harlem experienced socioeconomic divide despite the intellectual and cultural innovations which took place during the Harlem Renaissance. This divide into “two Harlems”, one of economic prosperity and one of economic hardship, forced jazz into the second Harlem due to its association with rent parties, or gatherings where tenants had jazz musicians entertain for guest in order to pay rent (Gioia 94).These rent parties accompanied talented musicians such as Duke Ellington, James. P Johnson, and Willie The Lion Smith who took the ragtime music of Scott Joplin and intertwined it with the european aesthetic of the piano and stride to produce jazz that had a distinct sound to Harlem. Piano was played particularly well in New York because of its long existence as an economic symbol, and thus the skillful incorporation of it into jazz was unique to New York (Gioia). Yet black culture in New York saw the music as undignified, and the many recent blacks migrated from the south liked the music least, as they wanted to separate themselves from what long time “Harlemites” though were lowbrow, such as Delta blues, New Orleans Jazz, and Missouri rags (Gioia 95). While opinion would change, Chicago offered a better climate for jazz in the 1920s.   

Because black Chicagoans supporting jazz music, it was able to create a sense of prideful community that recycled back into the evolution of the music (Cohen). Around the1920s Chicago was racially segregated with whites living on the North side and blacks living on the South side. With the Great Migration and infusion of blacks into Chicago, competition for jobs and housing rose, as well as racial tension (Lecture). When tension boiled over and race riots broke out in 1919, the black community learned the importance of self-reliance in the form of economic independence in order to survive segregation (Cohen). Thus the concept of black entrepreneurialism, originated from Booker. T. Washington, became a focus in the black community. The communities aggressive environment and the solidification in what Cohen calls “undifferentiated blackness” converses with jazz, and thus produces emergence of the soloist in jazz music. The community of Chicago creates the perfect environment for the talent of Louis Armstrong to emerge on the jazz scene and become representative of the culture and community of Chicago because of his individual talent that is recognized, yet still apart, of the bigger band. Armstrong was representative of the community because blacks too were creating their own individual culture that was still apart of the large American culture; distinct yet part of the whole.

Also Armstrong’s identity in jazz created a unique style for Chicago, as no one could imitate his talent on the trumpet and cornet; yet the attempt by other musicians, such as the Austin High School Band, created more unique and diverse styles in jazz. White musicians such as the Austin High School Band often attempted to re-create what black musicians were producing, which feed to the feelings of pride black communities had in regards to jazz music, creating a black identify in broader popular culture (Cohen).  

The community spoke back to jazz, as music soon became a sanctuary for blacks in many regards. The laborious and mundane jobs many Chicagoans held resulted in the desire for an outlet in the form of entertainment. Dancehalls and later clubs, where jazz music was played, provided a place for fun and further expression of the black identity as they reconnected the association of music and dance that operated on the principles of African design (Section). The expression of this black identity demanded up-beat danceable music, allowing Armstrong’s style of “hot music”, with improvisation and power, to flourish (Henderson). 

Both New York and Chicago were influential in the development of jazz, and both cities and the communities that resided within them maintained a constant dialogue with the music. Chicago, however, was more crucial to the growth of jazz with the drastic talent of Armstrong coupled with the entertainment provided at dance halls, both epitomizing the expression of black identity in the 1920s.