The Jazz Age:
A Profound Musical Era of Exploring New Sounds
and Exchanging Stylistic Ideas
Kelsey Mehlberg
Senior Division
Historical Paper
Paper Length: 2,429 Words
The twenties, also known as the "Jazz Age,” was the time for exploration and
discovering new jazz styles. Jazz music is an exchange of many musical styles from
around the world, the most prominent styles being African American and European.
During the Jazz Age, African American and New Orleans musicians moved from New
Orleans to Chicago. Here musicians exchanged new ideas on how to evolve the sound
of jazz. From this, musicians explored what soon came to be known as “Chicago Style
jazz.” As a result of the Jazz Age, American culture during the twenties and the
decades that followed changed dramatically.
Jazz was born in New Orleans in the early 20th century. Although Jazz is
indigenous to America, its roots can be found in the musical traditions of both Africa
and Europe. Some would even say that jazz is union of African and European music.
From African music, jazz got its “blues” quality, its “feel” and rhythm, and the
tradition of playing an instrument in an original and expressive way. This made jazz
an “extension” of the human voice. From European music, jazz got its harmony; the
chords that accompany the tunes. Most of the instruments used in jazz music
originated in Europe, and improvisation in music was a mix of both European and
African tradition. 1
New Orleans was a utopia when it came to the exchange of the elements that
created jazz. The city was home to countless ports with many people arriving from all
over the world. This made it a perfect meeting place for different ethnic groups. New
Orleans also was home to a nightlife where musicians had the opportunity to play
1 "What Is Jazz?" Jazz In America. Institute of Jazz, n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2016.
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together and exchange ideas with one another. Although jazz was being played years 2
before it earned its own era, November 12, 1917, was considered the start of the Jazz
Age when the Department of Navy closed down a 38squareblock neighborhood
called Storyville in New Orleans. The Navy closed down Storyville’s nightclubs and
brothels, fearing the health of their sailors. Jobless and oppressed by the Jim Crow
laws, hundreds of New Orleans musicians moved north to Kansas City, Chicago, New
York and a few other places. In these cities, nightclubs offered patrons entertainment 3
by small bands, playing what everyone called “New Orleans jazz.”
New Orleans jazz was played with a combination and rearranging of several
different musical forms and performance styles dating to the middle of the nineteenth
century. The blues method allowed jazz musicians to explore spontaneous
improvisation, and a personal expression of melody and rhythmic accent. The blues
method also gave rise to the short, 12bar standards that musicians exchanged to each
other, soon traveling from town to town. As the blues audiences grew, new
compositional styles such as ragtime transformed marches, quadrille, and other old
forms of music familiar to New Orleans. Despite the fact African Americans were part
of inventing jazz, white Americans began to take it up after the Civil War for listening,
for drinking, and for dancing. 4
Soon, Jazz started to signify revolt against the bittersweet parlor music and
polite entertainment. It also symbolized defiance against Prohibition and Puritism of
2 "What Is Jazz?" Jazz In America. Institute of Jazz, n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2016. 3 Murchison, Gayle. "Oxford Music Online." Harlem Renaissance, the [New Negro Movement]. in. Oxford University, n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2016. 4 Streissguth, Thomas. "New Homes and a New Sound." The Roaring Twenties: An Eyewitness History. New York: Facts on File, 2001. N. pag. Print.
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all kinds. With the help of the national radio, the barely known jazz sound spread 5
quickly over America, and found many new supporters. Jazz often got connected with
alcohol, intimate dancing, and other “socially questionable activities.” Willa Cather 6
was a writer who found the modern world to be an uglier place than the one she
remembered. In 1921 she said in a speech, “We now have music by machines, we
travel by machines, soon we will have machines to do our thinking.” The young white 7
middle class adopted black music as an act of rebellion against the strictures of an
earlier time. New Orleans musicians arranged themselves into small groups of six or
seven, with someone playing the cornet, trombone, and clarinet, as lead melodic
instruments. Drums, stringed bass or tuba, and guitar or banjo provided rhythm.
Usually cornet played embellishments on the melody, the clarinet played a
middleregister counterpoint, and the drums filled in the bottom.2 Jazz musicians
wove a hypnotic musical braid that caught people's attention from coast to coast. Jazz
seemed to be chaotic to some people, but fascinatingly complex and expressive to
others who heard it as an accompaniment to the accelerating tempo of life in the city.
Even Duke Ellington, one of the most famous jazz pianists and composers in history
said, “You have all these wonderful young musicians who are coming out of the
conservatories, and jumping on the jazz band wagon and these people want to express
themselves. They don't want anybody telling them. The minute people start telling
them about it — it's a political thing. We've seen this illustrated very strongly. They
5 Swartz, Dennis K. "Flappers and the Roaring 20's." Flappers and the Roaring 20's The Dandy, n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2016. 6 Streissguth, Thomas. "New Homes and a New Sound." The Roaring Twenties: An Eyewitness History. New York: Facts on File, 2001. N. pag. Print. 7 "People & Events: The Jazz Age." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 17 Jan. 2016.
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say, "Well don't let them do this to you, you come with us," and then when you come
with them they say, "Now this is the way you do it," which is the same thing. I mean
you do it according to their rules rather than somebody else's, which is from the frying
pan into the fire. It's alright to let the people have their freedom of criticism and all
that sort of thing, but I don't think they should get to the point where they decide what
any artist should do, no matter whether it's jazz or painting or whatever it is.” 8
Groups started to apply more jazz idioms syncopation, improvisation,
polyphony to old New Orleans standards. Saxophonist Charlie Parker, a trailblazer in
jazz idioms expresses why. “Music can stand much improvement. Most likely in
another 25, or maybe 50 years some youngster will come along and take the style and
really do something with it, you know, but I mean ever since I've ever heard music I've
thought it should be very clean, very precise as clean as possible anyway you know,
and more or less to the people, you know, something they could understand,
something that was beautiful, you know. There's definitely stories and stories and
stories that can be told in the musical idiom, you know. You wouldn't say idiom but it's
so hard to describe music other than the basic way to describe it music is basically
melody, harmony and rhythm but I mean people can do much more with music than
that. It can be very descriptive in all kinds of ways, you know, all walks of life.” 9
Jazz quickly moved into the mainstream via radio and sheet music publishers,
and soon dancing to jazz became favored in nightclubs, music halls, private parties,
8Ellington, Duke. "The Charles Melville Interview." Interview by Charles Melville. The International Dems Bulletin. Duke Ellington Music Society, n.d. Web. 9 Parker, Charlie. "Paul Desmond Interviews Bird." Interview by Paul Desmond.Paul Desmond Interviews Bird. Boston Radio, n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2016.
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and speakeasies. As the 1920s progressed, jazz became a recognized and 10
internationally admired art form, the signature of the United States. Soon, New
Orleans jazz fell into disfavor as the nation encountered a new form of jazz that they
came to love called “Chicago Style Jazz.” The brassy trumpet took the place of the
cornet, and smooth sounding saxophones took the place of the soft clarinet. The 11
saxophone has been known to provoke close intimate dancing, and many people were
shocked by the loud and extraordinary sound of it. This is why older people blamed
jazz to be a bad influence on the younger generation. They began to rebel and refuse 12
to follow the moral traditions. Drummers started using bigger kits of snare, toms, 13
cymbals, and bass became more prominent, giving the music an offbeat accent that
jazz is known for. The New Orleansbanjo became unpopular; the stringed bass
permanently replaced the tuba and it’s players began improvising more freely around
tonic notes in the lowest register. Instead of “breaks” performed over two or four bars
by the soloist, the solo could now go on for several choruses. The size in jazz bands
changed as well. The first ensembles were small groups that played in small clubs.
Larger halls demanded larger bands, which were also needed by radio shows. Soon
jazz was in concerts and called “An Experiment in Modern Music” by Paul Whiteman
after he started writing jazz concertos.
With new forms of jazz came new dances. A new dance called the Charleston
was extremely popular in the 1920s. It was a kickswing dance performed while a jazz
10Streissguth, Thomas. "New Homes and a New Sound." The Roaring Twenties: An Eyewitness History. New York: Facts on File, 2001. N. pag. Print. 11 Streissguth, Thomas. "New Homes and a New Sound." The Roaring Twenties: An Eyewitness History. New York: Facts on File, 2001. N. pag. Print. 12 See Appendix II Charlie Parker, a trailblazer of a saxophonist. 13 "The Jazz Age." Jazz Age. Web. 19 Jan. 2016.
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band played. The foxtrot was a dance performed by a man and women. It was a
classical 1234, ballroom dance. When done correctly, it looks like a prancing fox.
The camel walk was a dance done by one individual, and it was a bobbing of one side
of your body to the other in an upbeat motion. The tango was also a popular dance. It
was one of the most intimate dances of its time, the male and female dancing very
closely and in a sly, syncopated motion. 14
There were some important people of jazz as well. Blues singers Bessie Smith 15
and Ma Rainey packed in crowds at traveling shows and later became the first African
American performers to release studio recordings to a mass audience. Louis
Armstrong had an astonishing natural technique that allowed him to play in the
highest registers of the cornet, and later the trumpet, both at full power and
expressiveness. In 1920, Joe “King” Oliver came north to Chicago. Here he
encountered Armstrong, and then recruited him to make the Joe King Oliver Creole
Jazz Band. In 1924, Armstrong joined the Fletcher Henderson band in New York, but 16
soon returned home to Chicago to create his own groups, the Hot Five and the Hot
Seven. In these bands, Louis Armstrong made stars of his sidemen, including Johnny
Dodds on clarinet, Kid Ory on trombone, and Armstrong’s wife Lil Hardin on piano.
White cornetist Leon “Bix” Beiderbecke arrived in Chicago from Davenport, Iowa,
with a careful and precise style that riveted audiences and musicians alike. Edward
14 Streissguth, Thomas. "New Homes and a New Sound." The Roaring Twenties: An Eyewitness History. New York: Facts on File, 2001. N. pag. Print. 15 See Appendix I 16 See Appendix III
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“Duke” Ellington was a pianist who began writing ensemble pieces, including the
Black and Tan Fantasy. 17
All these renowned musicians as well as other jazz bands played in different
places. Soon Harlem became the second capital of the new jazz style. The most
popular bar was the Cotton Club in Harlem was for whites only, who paid for
entertainment provided by blacks. Harlem also had famous clubs such as “Happy”
Rhone’s Black and White Club, Connie’s Inn, and The Nest Club. Over in Chicago, The
Pekin Temple of Music opened at 2700 South State Street, the city’s first all black
theater. In New York, Broadway, newly established as the Main Street of American
theater, was a place where jazz was commonly played. Also found in New York was a
Savoy Ballroom that opened in 1926. This was a huge building for music and public
dancing. 18
A person that arose from the Jazz Age was the Flapper. Flappers engaged in the
active city nightlife. They explored jazz clubs and vaudeville shows. Speakeasies were a
common destination, as the new woman of the twenties adopted the same carefree
attitude toward Prohibition as the males around her. Ironically, more young women
consumed alcohol in the decade it was illegal than ever before. Smoking, another
activity previously reserved for men, became popular among flappers. Women,
especially flappers, sought to eliminate social double standards. The flapper was also
less hesitant to experiment sexually than previous generations. They cut their hair and
17 Streissguth, Thomas. "New Homes and a New Sound." The Roaring Twenties: An Eyewitness History. New York: Facts on File, 2001. N. pag. Print. 18 Streissguth, Thomas. "New Homes and a New Sound." The Roaring Twenties: An Eyewitness History. New York: Facts on File, 2001. N. pag. Print.
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wore shorter skirts, danced more provocatively, and were considered unladylike in the
eyes of the older generations. Many women celebrated the age of the flapper as a
female declaration of independence. Exploration with new looks, jobs, and lifestyles
seemed liberating compared with the socially silenced woman in the generations
before them. Ellen Welles, a flapper in the 1920s, asks people of the older generation
to try to understand the younger generation. “If one judges by appearances, I suppose
I am a flapper. I am within the age limit. I wear bobbed hair, the badge of flapperhood.
(And, oh, what a comfort it is!) I powder my nose. I wear fringed skirts and
brightcolored sweaters, and scarfs, and waists with Peter Pan collars, and lowheeled
"finale hopper" shoes. I adore to dance. I spend a large amount of time in automobiles.
I attend hops, and proms, and ball games, and crew races, and other affairs at men's
colleges. But none the less some of the most thoroughbred superflappers might blush
to claim sistership or even remote relationship with such as I. I don't use rouge, or
lipstick, or pluck my eyebrows. I don't smoke (I've tried it, and don't like it), or
drink.…
“I want to beg all you parents, and grandparents, and friends, and teachers, and
preachers—you who constitute the "older generation"—to overlook our shortcomings,
at least for the present, and to appreciate our virtues… We are the Younger
Generation. The war tore away our spiritual foundations and challenged our faith. We
are struggling to regain our equilibrium. The times have made us older and more
experienced than you were at our age. It must be so with each succeeding generation if
it is to keep pace with the rapidly advancing and mighty tide of civilization. Help us to
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put our knowledge to the best advantage. Work with us! That is the way! Outlets for
this surplus knowledge and energy must be opened. Give us a helping hand.” 19
The flappers chose activities to please themselves, not a father or husband.
Many wondered if flappers were expressing themselves or acting like men. Smoking,
drinking, and sexual experimentation were characteristic of the modern young
woman. Short hair and bound chests added to the effect. Despite their reputation of
being rowdy and doing things considered socially unacceptable, they did have a great
time during the Jazz Age. 20
F. Scott Fitzgerald looked back on the Jazz Age in November of 1931, saying “It
was an age of miracles, it was an age of art, it was an age of excess, and it was an age of
satire.” This accurately described the Jazz Age. Musicians exchanged new ideas on 21
how to form new jazz sounds. Women explored new ways to live their lives. Musicians
explored new places to play and explored new instruments. Jazz had a bad reputation
for a long time, but is still a classically favored music till this day. People of the Jazz
Age encountered new ways to explore their freedom, and to have people hear their
music via radio. Now jazz is all over the world. Today, jazz is played and listened to by
people of all cultures and ethnicities, and it includes musical styles from all over the
world. This was a turning point in the United States and an important part of history.
Jazz has gone from being America’s music to being the world’s music.
19 Welles, Ellen. "A Flapper's Appeal to Parents." Primary Sources. Ellen Welles Page, n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2016. 20 "Flappers." Ushistory.org. Independence Hall Association. Web. 19 Jan. 2016. 21 Fitzgerald, Francis Scott. "The F. Scott Fitzgerald Review." Echos of The Jazz Age (November, 1931): 19. Web.
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Appendix I
Blues singer Bessie Smith photographed in 1936.
Hewett, Ivan. "Bessie Smith: The Greatest Female Blues Singer Who Ever Lived."
The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2016.
Bessie Smith, nicknamed the “Empress of Blues” naturally inspired and
attracted many consummated people. With a captivating voice and a
dazzling smile, she truly is one of the greatest singers in history.
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Appendix II
Photograph of the infamous saxophonist Charlie Parker.
Klawans, Stuart. "What Made Charlie Parker Great?" The Daily Beast.
Newsweek/Daily Beast, n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2016.
For his time, Charlie Parker was a musical trailblazer. He played
intricately fast solos, and is still one of history’s favorite jazz musicians.
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Appendix III
Photograph of the Joe “King” Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band, 1923
Joe ("King") Oliver's Creole Jazz Band. 1923. Getty Images, Chicago, IL.
When Louis Armstrong joined the Joe “King” Oliver’s Creole Jazz band in
1922, he took the world by surprise with his miraculous cornet playing.
This is a photograph of Armstrong in the band.
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Annotated Bibliography
Primary Sources
Bliven, Bruce. "Flapper Jane." New Republic 9 Sept. 1925: n. pag. The New
Republic Archive [EBSCO]. Web.
This is an article I found online but was originally published in 1925. It was an
interview of a flapper, and was absolutely fascinating. The writing and terms
were unique and amazing. I didn’t use any of the information in my paper, but
it enhanced my understanding of the flapper, especially since it was a primary
source.
Ellington, Duke. "The Charles Melville Interview." Interview by Charles
Melville. The International Dems Bulletin. Duke Ellington Music Society, n.d.
Web.
I found this interview with Duke Ellington online. It was one of the few
published interviews I could find, and it really helped me understand why
musicians did what they did in the twenties, and how it affected the people.
Fitzgerald, Francis Scott. "The F. Scott Fitzgerald Review." Echos of The Jazz
Age (November, 1931): 19. Web.
13
Echos of The Jazz Age was an essay written in 1930, just a couple years after
the crash of 1929. Here he tried to capture the nostalgia of the Jazz Age. I
thought a quote from someone who lived both through the Great Depression
and the Jazz Age would really add some personal depth to the paper.
Hewett, Ivan. "Bessie Smith: The Greatest Female Blues Singer Who Ever
Lived."The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2016.
In this article, it talks about Bessie Smith and her wonderful accomplishments.
It states how she came to be so famous, and how she’s still one of the most
renowned blues singers to ever live. A photograph of Bessie Smith can be
found in Appendix I of my historical paper.
Joe ("King") Oliver's Creole Jazz Band. 1923. Getty Images, Chicago, IL.
This photograph of the Joe “King” Creole Jazz Band featured Honore Dutrey
on the trombone, Baby Dodds on drums, King Oliver on the cornet, Louis
Armstrong on the slide trumpet, Lil Hardin on piano, Bill Johnson on the
banjo, and Johnny Dodds on the clarinet. When Armstrong joined the band, he
made stars out of his bandmates.
Klawans, Stuart. "What Made Charlie Parker Great?" The Daily Beast.
Newsweek/Daily Beast, n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2016.
14
In this article published by The Daily Beast, it reviews Stanley Crouch’s
biography on Charlie Parker. As an introduction, there was a picture I used in
Appendix II of my historical paper.
Parker, Charlie. "Paul Desmond Interviews Bird." Interview by Paul
Desmond.Paul Desmond Interviews Bird. Boston Radio, n.d. Web. 01 Apr.
2016.
I found this interview with Charlie Parker, one of my personal all time favorite
jazz saxophonists. This interview was so mind blowing to me when it came
down to how and why he used jazz idioms and how the Bird actually viewed
jazz. It really helped me grasp the reason why jazz evolved in the fashion it did.
"People & Events: The Jazz Age." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 17 Jan. 2016.
Published by PBS, I found a lot of useful information in the online article.
There was information on the musicians of the Jazz Age, writers, authors,
people and places in the 1920s.
Welles, Ellen. "A Flapper's Appeal to Parents." Primary Sources. Ellen Welles
Page, n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2016.
This is an article I found online of a flapper of the 1920s pleading to parents to
understand their generation. This was such an eye opener to see how the
younger generation of the 1920s felt about the older generation.
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Secondary Sources
"American Jazz Culture in the 1920s." University of Minnesota, n.d. Web. 01
Apr. 2016.
This website published by the U of M was very helpful in understanding why
and how jazz moved “upriver” to Chicago and New York City.
Early, Gerald. "Jazz and the African American Literary Tradition, Freedom's
Story, TeacherServe®, National Humanities Center." Jazz and the African
American Literary Tradition, Freedom's Story, TeacherServe®, National
Humanities Center. TeacherServe, n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2016.
None of the information I found in this website I used in my paper directly. All
of it was a summary of what I had already read prior to this website in other
books.
"Flappers." Ushistory.org. Independence Hall Association. Web. 19 Jan. 2016.
“Flappers” was a great online article for my section on the women from the
Jazz Age. It talked about important flappers in the 1920s, the lives they lived,
and the looks on them.
Murchison, Gayle. "Oxford Music Online." Harlem Renaissance, the [New
16
Negro Movement]. in. Oxford University, n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2016.
This website helped me address the why question when it came to why
musicians moved out of Storyville after it was closed by the Navy. I really
enjoyed how this article also addressed the racial discrimination during the
1920s, specifically to African American musicians.
Streissguth, Thomas. "New Homes and a New Sound." The Roaring Twenties:
An Eyewitness History. New York: Facts on File, 2001. N. pag. Print.
This book was by far my most valuable resource. This book featured every
aspect of the Roaring Twenties, and the section I found most helpful was about
the Jazz Age. I found so much valuable information on musicians, styles of
jazz, where jazz originated and dispersed, and so much more.
Swartz, Dennis K. "Flappers and the Roaring 20's." Flappers and the Roaring
20's The Dandy, n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2016.
This article was not extremely beneficial to my paper, but it did help with
understanding flappers and their fashion. It also told me why they rebelled.
"The Great Gatsby." Jazz Age. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2016.
The article “The Great Gatsby” was about the infamous novel by F. Scott
Fitzgerald, but it also gave many key facts about jazz that I used to write my
historical paper. I talked about how jazz developed from clarinet to
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saxophones and how jazz was seen as a very vulgar style of music to older
generations.
"What Is Jazz?" Jazz In America. Institute of Jazz, n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2016.
This website was originally created for teachers, but I found it incredibly
helpful to understand how jazz started in New Orleans and before. This is by
far one of the most beneficial resources I have found.
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