My Collision With Jazz

When I first decided to take this course I was disappointed that the music genre would be jazz and not another more exciting style of music. The disappointment stemmed from my previous perception of jazz as very dull soothing music, and I had only heard it playing in elevators or when I was driving in the car with my Grandmother. However, I have come to learn that while the jazz I had heard (and avoided) was dull, jazz as a bigger genre incorporates a great deal of flamboyancy and excitement, a trait Robert Farris Thompson attributes to an African principle called Vital Aliveness. My enlightenment on variations of jazz and the presence of Vital Aliveness in multiple art forms with African influence have changed my perception of the music entirely.    

It was not until I heard and analyzed vibrant and energetic jazz sounds did I understand the concept of Vital Aliveness existing in Music. When we originally read the piece African Art in Motion the author purposed that Vital Aliveness existed where ever there is an African aesthetics, including dance and music. I could comprehend that the concepts that defined Vital Aliveness, such as vitality of the body, an attack quality, strength and speed, were present in dance, but I did not understand how these concepts manifested themselves in music. My understanding changed, however, as we continued to study specific jazz musicians unique styles that presented themselves through the principle of Vital Aliveness. 

Two musicians who created the most unique styles and perpetuated Vital Aliveness in their music were Louis Armstrong and Thelonious Monk, both of which demonstrate the existence of Vital Aliveness in music as well as changing my perception of the excitability of jazz. The attack quality of Vital Aliveness clearly manifests itself in Louis Armstrong’s trumpet playing. He is legendary for his “hot” style of playing, as he plays with powerful long notes and lyricism (lecture). Armstrong’s stage performance and music both had an attack quality as he would hit notes long and hard with a showboat style, creating a sound that was unable to be replicated(Gioia). When a person listens to Armstrong’s music, they do not simple hear it, but they are attacked by the notes being played. 

Thelonious Monk is another artist who demonstrates the concept of Vital Aliveness through his unpredictability and energy in his music and performance. His music incorporates such a great deal of improvisation it is impossible to predict what note he will play next, as even his fellow band members struggled to keep up with him (Kelley). Monk’s performance as a whole exuberated an incredible amount of Vital Aliveness, from his dancing to his unorthodox body movements, and most of all with his dissonant unpredictable sound. Overall I found an abundant presence of Vital Aliveness in jazz music that before I could only see within dance. 

My original perception of jazz as boring also changed, as my exposure to different styles revealed the exciting and intriguing sounds jazz music has to offer.  I have come to learn that jazz is an umbrella term and there are many variations and styles besides the unrelieved music I had pigeonholed the entirety of the jazz genre into. Some of the most lively varieties of jazz I have been exposed to are early New Orleans jazz and swing, both of which largely incorporate the African aesthetic of Vital Aliveness. Early jazz in New Orleans consisted of bands such as Jelly Roll Morton’s ragging on European classical music to produce a bolder more boisterous sound (Gioia). This genre of jazz was perhaps the biggest indication I was misinformed, as the sensual sounds of Morton’s and other New Orleans jazz bands that played in brothel houses were far from my Grandmother’s music. New Orleans jazz incorporated African musical traditions, such as brash and bold sounds in an overall display of Vital Aliveness, into European music to produce the flashy sound that it did. 

As I continued to learn about the evolution of jazz the course approached the Swing Era and the concept of Big Bands. This style of jazz was specifically a response to peoples desire for entrainment in the form of dancing after a long day of work, as it grabbed audiences attention and was anything but dull (Gioia). The markability of jazz as entrainment gave birth to places like the Cotton Club, the Savoy, and Carnegie Hall where Big Bands played for the entertainment of others. Perhaps of all the genres Swing manifest the concept of Vital Aliveness the most, as it is so rhythmic is actually evokes aliveness in the audience by creating the urge to dance. Bands like Benny Goodman and Chick Web are hard to listen to without at least the urge to tap ones toe. Jazz incorporates many styles of music, many of them vibrant and full of energy, and I learned that jazz is not boring music as I had previously assumed.  

    Before this class I believed jazz music was uninteresting and functioned as a space filler that would not draw attention to itself. However, I learned that there were many genres of jazz that I had not been exposed to, and many of these genres were full of energy and were interesting. This is due to the the principle of Vital Aliveness that exist in some forms of jazz, a concept I thought only applied to dance. Not only did I learn a great deal about the evolution of a   type of music, but I also discovered music I enjoy listening too. 

Thelonious Monk: the Man and the Musician

The quotes by Thelonious Monk allude to the cultural diversity in the community of San Juan Hill along with the struggles that accompanied this diversity. His experience growing up in San Juan Hill allowed Monk to rise above racism and defended his music on the basis of art as oppose to a social or political statement. Eventually Monk would exemplify the beat generation and bohemian community not only with his music, but also with his quirky demeanor and personality. 

Monks quote describing San Juan Hill demonstrates the vast mix of cultures and the violence that existed in the city. The name itself “San Juan Hill” was named by veterans who lived in the community and fought in the Spanish American war, but the name stuck because of the incredible reputation for violence. There was fighting between and amongst all races; Irish and Italians, West Indians and Southern blacks, and blacks and whites (Kelley). Monk and his black friends would be harassed by gangs of white youth on their way to school, and they had to earn a reputation “as one of the kids not to mess with” in order to be left alone (Kelley 30). The community of the Phipps Houses where Monk’s family lived consisted of mostly blacks from the South, the Caribbean and West Indian. But apart from violence amongst ethnic groups, there was also cohesion, as children growing up in the Phipps were surrounded by the traditions of the Caribbean and American south, creating a “cultural hybrid” (Kelley 23). 

His exposure to so many different cultures and violence lead Monk to create music that was a reflection of San Juan Hill. His music was chaotic and unharmonious, yet somehow the clashing of styles and techniques created an appealing sound. Monk’s piano music absorbed the Spanish Caribbean rumba, habanera and tango, as well as the musical traditions of the black baptist church. And to even more variation, Monk’s inclusion of classical music was a reflection of his Austrian- born Jewish piano teacher. Monk’s upbringing in a black church would be reflected in both his music and his visual performance. In the black church setting dancing is a natural response to music, and this response was evoked in Monk in the form of him standing up and dancing when he heard his band really swinging (Kelley). In entirety Monk’s performances were connected to elements of traditional African principles, as he incorporation vital aliveness through his dancing and eccentric foot movements while playing the piano. 

Monk’s music represented the community of San Juan Hill, as he created “order in disorder” (lecture). His music sounds chaotic and has so many elements the music sounds disjointed and discordant, especially because of his reliance on improvisation. Monk uses the attack principle in his music in an aggressive way, which can be seen as a reflection of the violence he encountered in San Juan Hill. Yet despite the aggression and dissonance, his music as a whole is a beautiful intriguing sound. San Juan Hill, like Monk’s music, is a culturally rich place with close communities, despite the chaos and dissonance of clashing cultures.     

 

  Because Monks grew up a witness to constant struggle between racial and cultural groups, he attempted to transcend racial politics. When Monk said to journalist Frank London Brown “my music is not a social comment on discrimination of poverty or the like. I would have written the same way even if I had not been a Negro”, Monk was conveying his dismissal of racial politics in his music and his desire to be seen as an artist, not a paragon (Kelley pg 249). Monk’s attitude made his discrimination and arrests more upsetting because he himself was able to rise above racial loathing, something his diverse music reflects. In the given quote where his friend Larry is mad about whites calling blacks “boys”, Monk light- hearted response displays his tolerance. Yet in return he experiences harsh racialization during his arrests, especially in 1958 when he was pulled over for simply being in a car with a white women and was then beaten and arrested (Kelley). Monk’s 1958 arrest was sad because of the racial discrimination he faced despite his own acceptance, but additionally because of the mainstream response to the arrest. He gained popularity of the event because he fit into the mainstream desire to portray successful black people as representatives of the entire race, instead of his merit as an artist regardless of his color, as he wished to be seen.

Monk’s brilliant music and personality exemplified the tough community of San Juan Hill but also developed the modern beat generation community. Monk performed for many years in the Five Spot Bar in New York which became the center of the jazz world (Kelley). The community that supported the bar were bohemians who were part of the beat generation. Modernity and nonconformity were key aspects to the community, and Monk in his entirety was iconic for such a community. His performances were completely unique and were “avant-garde”, as they expressed “bodily pleasure and excess” that became key to conceptual art (Kelley 232). His music took great intellectual capacity to follow and was completely original due to improvisation and untraditional note combinations. This complex originality was a trait the beat generation appreciated. When Monk was not playing music he was involved in discussions of politics, art, and culture, where he approached the bohemian art world with a sense of humor and intellect (Kelley). Monk’s quirky persona was attractive to people who came to Five Spot, as his haphazard fabrication of umbrellas and his lost gaze at the moon demonstrated a bizarre level of intellect (Kelley). The bohemian community fell in loved with Monk the man and his music, and so would the rest of the jazz world.  

The Racialization of Swing

The political and economic conditions in America during the 1930's had a huge effect on the jazz, soon to be swing, era. White Americans began to participate in swing music due to its perceived political symbolism, as well as critiquing black musicians in what they felt was displaying their dedication to “black cultural production” (lecture). And while swing pierced segregation with its drawing of diverse audiences, it largely consisted of white male critics. Additional the emergence of the infamous Benny Goodman and his performances at Carnegie Hall gave audiences a white swing celebrity. Yet even with Goodman’s popularity white Americans could still not disconnect the origin or the co-existing forms of swing from black musicians. The combination of political climate, the emergence of the white music critic, and the effect of Benny Goodman’s success led to explicit conversations of race emerging in regards to swing music. 

Both the Great Depression’s tole on the American economy and the rise of Communism and the Left Wing created a growth in liberal and democratic perspectives amongst Americans. Between both WWI and WWII anti-fascist sentiments were strong in the United States, and nothing was more of a juxtaposition to fascism than having appreciation for races other than the Aryan race (Stowe). Recognizing this, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union formed alliances with groups that were not Communist but opposed fascism, naming the group the Popular Front. African Americans were included in the Popular Front, and in the case of the Scottsboro boys in 1931 who were wrongfully accused of rape, the Communist Party was intricate in there conviction (lecture). Radical white leftist developed an admiration for black culture, and thus swing music became associated with political radicalism and “music of the democratic class, a product of the people that had a spirit of collective cooperation and spontaneous individuality” (Lecture). Americans began to demonstrate their radical political views by associating with swing music, or in their minds black culture. Thus because it was a political demonstration to be listening to swing, the fact that swing music was predominately a part of black culture was emphasized and explicitly discussed. 

Because they believed “whites and blacks were working together under the populist front”, young white males, predominately from privileged families, took it upon themselves to criticize the music of black musicians (Stowe 52). Within these criticism the concept of race is very clearly discussed. Black artist are expected to be representatives of their race, while simultaneously trying to play to the extremely diverse audience that swing music attracted (Stowe). Music critic John Hammond accused famous jazz musician Duke Ellington of “disguised a willingness to tolerate racial indignities for the sake of commercial success” (lecture). Hammond continued to include race within his critiques of swing musicians with such comment as “the best of the white folk still cannot compare to the really good Negroes in relaxed, unpretentious dance music” (Stowe, 60). Another music critic Paul Eduard Miller resorted to emphasizing race in his appraisal of swing music when he wrote in an article “black superiority sprang from tradition, a familiarity with essential requirements of swing that white musicians had to laboriously strive to acquire” (Stowe, 78). By trying to demonstrate the musical talent black swing musicians had and feeling they now had the authority to do so, white music critics created a clearly racialized element in swing music and swing music analysis. 

Additionally the emergence of Benny Goodman on the swing scene in his appearance at Carnegie Hall in 1938 created discussion based on race. Goodman legitimized jazz for white society, and he was perfect to do so because he played the incredible music and was able to do so with a racial integrated band (lecture). Goodman created a huge stir in the swing era when he challenged the band of the black musician Chick Webb in The Savory Ballroom in uptown Harlem. The discussion around the competition became centered around race, as Goodman entered into a black space and brought with him an audience who may otherwise never have ventured there (lecture). Because white musicians were competing against black musicians racial differences were highlighted, making race more explicit during the Swing Era. 

Tolerance towards blacks was growing in American during the 1930s, as was the significance of race within music. The political sway of white Americans led them to encouraged black culture while simultaneously believing they had the right to critique it (thus critique something they did not understand). The success of white musician Benny Goodman further emphasized racial differences, giving a great deal of racially centered discussion within the realm of the Swing Era. 

   

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. 

How New Orleans Birthed Jazz

Jazz is a colorful fusion of music and tradition that was shaped due to the legacy of the diverse and energetic city of New Orleans; Jazz music reflects the culture of New Orleans, and artist such as Buddy Bolden, Jelly Roll Morton and the Original Dixieland Jazz Band were permitted to flourish and evolve because of the cosmopolitan spirit of the city. Some of the first predecessors of Jazz were the festivities that took place at Congo Square in New Orleans, a place where slaves were allowed to dance, sing and play traditional African music. These ceremonies were different from European traditions, as they brought the principle elements of African tradition, according to Robert F. Thompson, of call and response, vital aliveness, boldness and energy. Soon these traditional African elements began to fuse with the current New Orleans culture of French, Spanish, and American influence that was a result of the exchange of ownership until the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Gioia terms this “syncretism”, and it became tangible when the musician Buddy Bolden performed what is know as the earliest Jazz music. But what Gioia calls the “Africanization of American music” was only possible in a city such as New Orleans because of its history as a cultural melting pot combined with the tradition of a more liberal form of slavery within the Latin system. Because this form of slavery was extended to New Orleans, Black people were not treated as poorly as they were in the English system of the North. Therefore, there existed a more tolerant and accepting attitude toward black people during and after slavery, allowing events such as Congo square and Bolden’s music that would never have been tolerated in other American cities. Different from other cities too was the attitude towards Creoles in New Orleans. In most American Cities if you had black ancestry you were considered black, where as in New Orleans you could enjoy an elevated status if you were Creole. Creole’s such as Jelly Roll Morton used this to their advantage and became hugely successful; however if he were not in New Orleans he may have never been realized.This can be seen with the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, an all white band with only decent talent that was able to gain a wide geographic popularity even in the North because of their marketability as caucasians, as well as being the first to be commercial recorded. Also because New Orleans was a port city, it saw a great deal of trade and travelers. In order to attend to the desires of many of those only staying a short while, the town of Storyville and the many Brothels it contained came alive. Storyville is credited as the birth place and marketer of Jazz, due to the demand for sensual music in the Brothel houses. However, the most significant factor in the emergence of Jazz in New Orleans was the racial and cultural tolerance that existed in the city. Because it was a major port city with French and Spanish influence with the tradition of Latin Slavery, it became largely diverse and accepting in comparison to its Northern counterpart. This created an environment where musicians had numerous stylistic elements at hand, and more importantly the enablement to perform.