Influence of Jazz Music Towards the Society
Ronaldo Yuliawan 10B
American
singer, Christina Aguilera said that, “Blues, soul and jazz music has so much
pain, so much beauty of raw emotion and passion.” This explains a lot
considering Jazz originated from the blues. While working in the plantations in
the south, the black slaves sung the blues to express their feel of injustice
and lost love while at the same time - in happier moments - sung about their
victory over broken hearts and adversities. Blues is music that tells the
sufferings and joys of life. When blues reached New Orleans in the 1900s, jazz
music was being conceived. In a mixture of church hymns, gospels, marching
bands, ragtime and native African drumming the jazz was born. Jazz did not
become the national music instantly - although it eventually did in the 1920s
where the era was known as the Jazz Age - but it experienced a steady progress
towards national and worldwide fame. What was unique about jazz was that since
its inception, not only was it music for the black people - like what the blues
was at first - but jazz was also embraced by the whites and eventually the
Latin Americans in later years, they would combine all their cultural
differences and make new forms of jazz. From its blues foundation, jazz has
become a global phenomenon where everybody in the world can find common ground
in. Jazz goes beyond music, jazz goes beyond racial and cultural differences,
jazz embraces it and jazz has become the medium in which mankind unites as one.
Before
jazz became one of the most well known genres of music, it first experienced
very humble beginnings in the southern region of the United States.
Afro-American slaves working in the plantations in the region were treated
terribly. These slaves were treated as objects and are considered to be the
inferior race therefore sub-human. In the plantations they would experience
whippings and slaves would usually only last for seven years due to the amount
of work they were forced to do. Slaves in churches survived only for around
three years. These sufferings prompted the Afro-American slaves to cry out;
from this cries and sufferings came along the earliest form of he blues. They
would not only sing about the sufferings but also the joy of being free and the
dream and hope of being free. Black slaves would continue to do so until the
blues reached New Orleans in the 1900s where it would give birth to jazz music.
When
the blues reached New Orleans, musicians combined it with numerous other music
genres that were present in the city at the time. As a result jazz was given
birth to from the mix of marching bands, church hymns, gospels, ragtime and the
blues. Jazz music is unique because from its inception jazz embraces all the
different types of music in New Orleans into one. Another interesting fact to
know is that jazz - unlike the blues and rock ‘n’ roll - was soon enjoyed by
both black and white people. This will prove vital in uniting both races in
later years.
During
the 1920s the era was famously called the ‘Jazz Age’. This was because during
that period of time, jazz was the national music genre. The government has just
passed the Prohibition law, which makes selling and manufacturing alcohol
illegal. But people sold them and manufactured them anyway, these people were
called speakeasies, they opened illegal bars that were hidden behind a
seemingly innocent store by its exterior. These bars had to have a band playing
and since jazz music was not accepted anywhere before the 1920s, this was where
they play. Jazz music suits strongly with the lifestyle of speakeasies, a life
of mystery, class and danger. Soon jazz music became popular and started to
play in bigger venues. Mind you that the drinkers in the illegal bars are
mostly white men. Bigger jazz bands were soon formed and these large bands were
called big bands, playing a branch of jazz called the ‘swing’. Glenn Miller and
Count Basie were one of the most famous band leaders emerged during this period
but more importantly they have members of both races working together, not
being exclusive to white or black people. But as the days were getting better
for jazz, the Second World War broke loose with the assassination of Franz
Ferdinand in 1939. This brought whole new deeper meanings and emotions towards
jazz. From this moment on, jazz music will never be the same again.
Bands
often toured base camps all over Europe to raise the morale of the soldiers.
Artie Shaw, a bandleader, was at that time playing for a group of soldiers in
the south pacific. He recalled how he and his bands were used to getting
applauses and cheers that they had taken them for granted. They were surprised
then that when they finished their performance, the soldiers did nothing. They
realized something was wrong and Artie Shaw soon understood that the soldiers
missed home and his band’s performance reminded them of it. In other base camps
and even in the streets in the United States, bands would play to raise morale
and optimism of the soldiers and the population at home about the war. By the
end of the war, jazz has spread to the whole of Europe and its optimism and
rebelliousness was so disturbingly apparent that Nazi Germany had to make it a
crime to listen to jazz, although they eventually could not control it and
ended up making their own propaganda jazz music. Although white Americans may
still despise the black Americans and vice versa, they have gained a
considerable amount of support from the Europeans. They learnt how to play the
way the black Americans played it and they shared experiences and ideas. Europe
has officially caught the jazz germ. Soon jazz would spread to the central and
south Americas and with the influence of their traditional Latin music pushed
jazz to new limits and branches.
Cuban
immigrants that arrived in the United States incorporated their traditional
Latin music with jazz musicians, creating Cuban jazz. This completes jazz’s
unity and influence from the north, central, south to Latin America. Latin jazz
is the culmination of all these influences, a place where we all can relate.
Jazz
is not just a type of genre and jazz is not only about syncopations and swings.
But jazz is about us; jazz represents how we as human beings can come together
to unite as one. From the slaves in plantations singing about their sufferings,
to performing in bars and wars, jazz has united all kinds of people of all
races. Jazz teaches us that no matter how different we are, we are really not
that different at all. Jazz shows that if we are willing to work hard, we can
be united. It will not be easy but it is possible. After all, who knew that
tunes sung by slaves in plantations or jazz bands in speakeasy bars could
spread to Europe, trouble the Nazi and be loved by the world. Jazz tells us
that it is possible because it has done it.
Bibliography
Jazz and
World War II: A Rally to Resistance, A Catalyst for Victory, edsitement.neh.gov, 23 Sept 2010, 30
Jan 2013,
<http://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plan/jazz-and-world-war-ii-rally-resistance-catalyst-victory#sect-thelesson>
A History of
Jazz Music,
www.scaruffi.com, 2005, Piero Scaruffi, 30 Jan 2013,
<http://www.scaruffi.com/history/jazz1.html>
History of
Jazz,
teacher.scholastic.com, N/A, 30 Jan 2013,
<http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/bhistory/history_of_jazz.htm>
How Were
Slaves Treated?,
news.bbc.co.uk, 16 Feb 2007, BBC, 31 Jan 2013, <http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_6340000/newsid_6342400/6342489.stm>
