Jazz as a Unique Part of New Orleans’ History and Culture

“What we play, is life.” Armstrong, Louis, and Thomas David Brothers. Louis Armstrong in His Own Words: Selected Writings. 

Change is inevitable. We grow and we make better, as we see fit. Without change, there is no innovation, no creativity, and no room for improvement. You can choose to resist it, or you can choose to adapt to it. Yet, the purpose remains the same. Music is an outlet for emotion. It tells a story. It feeds the soul. It releases anger, sadness, and happiness. Music is self-expression. Jazz is self-expression.

Jazz has evolved as a genre over time. However, while jazz has significantly changed since its inception in the late 19th century, its purpose has remained the same: to convey. The purpose of music will never change. It is a means of self-expression, and it will remain that way. That is the beauty of music. It does not change, it evolves. The genre has only found more ways to express itself.

Jazz is a musical genre developed by African-Americans and influenced by both European harmonic structure and African rhythmic intricacy. While jazz was born in New Orleans nearly 100 years ago, its roots can be found in the musical traditions of both African and European cultures. From African culture, jazz manifested its expressive nature. Jazz found its soul and purpose. It became a genre created by souls with something to say. It was a means of expression. It found its rhythm and made the genre an extension of the voice. In European culture, jazz found its sophistication and class. These architects had something to say, and from the European culture, they found their means of saying it. Jazz found its harmony. Most of the instruments found in jazz music originated in Europe: saxophone, piano, trumpet, etc. Jazz found the elements of harmony, rhythm, and melody from two cultures, and combined them. It grew from voices to songs by evolving and merging.

Every musical element – rhythm, harmony, melody, timbre, and basic forms of jazz – is essentially African in background and derivation. In Schuller’s analytical book, his conclusions about jazz and its African roots are based on the writings of ethnomusicologist, Arthur Morris Jones. African music has been found to be polymetric and polyrhythmic, meaning it has an occurrence of two or more meters and independent rhythms simultaneously. In contrast, European music has been found to be primarily monomeric and monorhythmic, meaning it has one meter and one rhythm at a time. It is believed that African slaves adjusted and adapted their form of jazz to the superior European style of music, by translating their polymetric and polyrhythmic points to a more monomeric and monorhythmic structure. Therefore, leading to the popular jazz music beginning in New Orleans in the late 19th century.

Over time, jazz has become a unique part of New Orleans’ history and culture. It was a distinctive root in the colonial period, that has proved helpful in understanding the complex circumstances that led to the development of New Orleans “jazz.” As early as 1721, enslaved West Africans totaled 30% of the population of New Orleans, and by the end of the 1700s people of varied African descent, both free and slave, made up more than half the city’s population. During the 19th century, many immigrants – both European and African – flooded the state. New Orleans became a hotspot for unique elements, rich in cultural diversity; eventually leading to the union of the African and European elements of the jazz we know today. The rich ethnic and cultural makeup set the stage for the development and evolution of the genre. Distinctive traditions and unique outlooks on life were intertwined and poured into New Orleans jazz.

New Orleans jazz began to spread to other cities like wildfire. Jelly Roll Morton, an innovative piano stylist, and composer began his odyssey outside of New Orleans as early as 1907. Morton made a series of influential recordings while based in Chicago, that set a form of structure and sophistication for other soloists to explore. In 1917, the Original Dixieland Jazz Band cut the first commercial jazz recording while playing in New York City. Suddenly, jazz – New Orleans style – was a national craze.

The most significant departure from New Orleans took place in 1922 when Louis Armstrong was summoned to Chicago by King Oliver, his soon-to-be mentor. The 12-bar blues composition, West End Blues by Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five, assisted in the transformation of jazz. The song included many new elements, such as scat singing, which the Hot Five were some of the first to debut. West End Blues encompassed two genres with solo instruments which were combined with expressive vocal style. The scatting was rough and beautiful, while Armstrong’s cadenza encompassed the trumpet’s rage and soul. During that 12-15 second cadenza, Armstrong became the king of soloists. The song became the music of great power and emotional depth. It encompassed the beauty, elegance, and sophistication of jazz. West End Blues, like many others, became one of the several bridges connecting different types of jazz.

New Orleans musicians and musical styles continued to influence jazz nationally and rapidly, and jazz continued to evolve and go through rapid stylistic changes. Jazz became the unchallenged popular music of America during the 1930s and 1940s Swing era.

Jazz became popular in Chicago by the late 19th century. Jazz in Chicago was a blend of both Mississippi Delta and New Orleans “Dixieland” style with the music inventors King Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, and Louis Armstrong. This music played a substantial role in wider cultural changes during the era, and also had an impact on pop culture that continued long afterward. Chicago was a jazz hotspot that provided endless opportunities for aspiring musicians. Jazz was played primarily in small clubs on the south side of the city. This evolved style of jazz had elements of strict structure and rhythm, and heavy string bass and guitar. Longer solos and quick tempo gave Chicago a unique and special branch of jazz music, and in doing so the foundation of swing music was set.

Declines in popularity arose in Chicago, and New York City became an epicenter of jazz music. New York City became the jazz capital of America. Artists Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong played vital roles in the establishment of jazz in New York. The excitement of the Big Apple brought a variety of establishments in which to perform. New York was known as the focus of the jazz world by the early 1940s. With the end of prohibition, New York became the place to see and be seen as both jazz musicians and fans. Many visitors began to include movie stars and celebrity guests. Speakeasies, such as the Cotton Club – which only allowed white clientele that was entertained by famous artists such as Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, and Billie Holiday – began popping up all over the city. As Jazz Capital of America, New York City continued to challenge artists in a variety of ways.

Though jazz has experienced its drops in admiration and popularity nationally, the rich culture of jazz music has remained deeply rooted in the places it has originated. Jazz has remained an important aspect of New Orleans culture. Jazz became a meeting, a mixing, and a melding of many cultures, many emotions, and skills. The glory of jazz in New Orleans is that classic jazz and its purveyors remain influential to those who play music today. Jazz, being improvised, freedom-loving music, naturally has continued to evolve.

Works Cited

1. Armstrong, Louis, and Thomas David Brothers. Louis Armstrong in His Own Words: Selected Writings. Oxford University Press, 2010.
2. Gioia, Ted. The History of Jazz. Oxford University Press, 2011.
3. Schuller, Gunther. Early Jazz: Its Roots and Musical Development. Oxford University Press, 1986.