Jazz and It’s History
Jazz started when World War I had just ended and a social revolution was on
it’s way. Customs and values of previous were rejected. Life was to be lived to
the fullest. This was also known as the era of the “lost generations,” and the
“flapper” with her rolled stockings, short skirts, and straight up-and-down
look. They disturbed their elders in the casino, night clubs, and speakeasies
that replaced the ballrooms of prewar days. Dancing became more informal -
close of the nineteenth century in the unpleasant dance halls and whorehouses
of the South and Midwest where the word Jazz commonly meant sexual intercourse.
Southern blacks, delivered from slavery a few decades before, started playing
European music Afro modifications.
The first place of jazz has many origins: New Orleans, St. Louis, Memphis and
Kansas City are just a few. But New Orleans was and still remains an important
jazz center. The ethnic rainbow of people who went to the bars and whorehouses
were a big part of the development of jazz. The city had been under Spanish
French rule because of the Louisiana purchase. By 1900, it was a blend of
Spanish, French, English, German, Italian, Slavic and countless blacks
originally brought in as slaves
The first jazz bands contained a “rhythm section” consisting of a string bass,
drums, and a guitar or banjo, and a “melodic section” with one or two cornets,
a trombone, a clarinet, and sometimes even a violin. Years later, jazz was
taken over by large orchestras; A “society jazz contained fifteen or more
musicians. Today, there is a renewed interest in the “big band” era, even
though the music has very little to do with real jazz.
Jazz is characterized by certain features. The first is a tendency to stress
the weak beats of the bar (2nd and 4th) in contrast to traditional music which
stressed the first and third beats. The second feature is syncopation through
an extensive repetition of short and strongly rhythmic phrases or “riffs”. The
third feature of jazz is swing (regular but subtle pulsation which animates 4/4
time). The swing must be present in every good jazz performance.
Jazz as a musical style it has been with us for more than a century. Jazz
originated in the United States, It has spread over the entire world, and It’s
influence can be seen everywhere. It is a universal language and means of
communication, understood by people in all nations and all walks of life.
It has been a major influence on many styles and classes of music since it’s
origin in the late 1800's. It has also influenced dance, clothing styles, the
recording industry, the film industry, radio and televison, our language, and
many other aspects of our lives.
One major contributer to jazz was Louis Daniel Armstrong he was born in the
Storyville District of New Orleans, Louisiana, on August 4, 1901. He always
celebrated his birth as July 4, 1900 because that is what he was told and
believed. His real date of birth was not know until after his death July 6,
1971. His father Willie, a laborer, left the family soon after he was born, his
mother, a domestic servant and a part time prostitute called Mayanne, left
Louis and his sister Beatrice, also called Mama Lucy, in the care of his
grandma much of the time, however he always believed the love of his family helped
him make it through those rough times.
Louie describes his neighborhood, “It was called the Battlefield because the
toughest characters in town used to live there, and would shoot and fight much.
In that one block between Gravier and Perido Streets more people were crowded
than you ever saw in your life.” He dressed in rags and usually shopped in
garbage cans. He sang with other boys on the streets for tips and begin to
develop his musical talents. At this time in his life, it was not ‘A WONDERFUL
WORLD’ for young Louis.
To celebrate the New Year in 1913 Louis discharged a borrowed pistol into the
air and was arrested. A very fortunate occurrence for Jazz and probably for
him, he was sent to the city’s Colored Waif’s Home for Boys, where he came under
the very capable tutorship of Peter Davis, the music instructor at the home.
Louis had some background in harmony singing, as a natural ability, and the
experience of singing on the streets, but under Mr. Davis he began to study
music. First vocals, then percussion, then he became the home bugler, and
finally cornet. The music was very structured mostly marches and other ensemble
music.
When being released from the waif’s home at age fourteen, Louis worked selling
papers, unloading boats, and selling coal from a horse and cart. He also
listened to bands at clubs like the Come Clean Dance Hall, Funky Butt Hall, and
Mahogany Hall, in Storyville. Joe “King” Oliver with the Kid Ory Band was his
favorite and he quickly became young Louis’s mentor. By 1917 Louis was playing
in various groups at dive bars in New Orleans’ Storyville section. In 1919 he
joined Fate Marable’s band in St.Louis, and stayed with him until 1921. Marable
headed a band he played in Zutty Singleton’s Trio, Papa Celestin’s Tuxedo Orchestra,
The Silver Leaf Band, and When King Oliver left New Orleans in 1919 to go to
Chicago, Louis took his place in Kid Ory’s band, at the suggestion of Oliver.
In 1922 Louis received a telegram from Joe Oliver, asking him to join his
Creole Jazz Band at Lincoln Gardens in Chicago.
I must interject at this point Nat Gonella's comment, "I can't imagine
Louis playing second trumpet to anyone", however, Louis learned much
working with Oliver. The experience of playing second cornet helped to develop
his ear and harmonies, and, the importance of playing straight lead, as Oliver
did, were lessons that he would use for the remainder of his life. While
playing in Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, Louis met Lillian Hardin the piano player
for the band, and they were married in February of 1924. By the end of 1924 she
pressured Louis to leave the Oliver band. He moved to New York to play in
Fletcher Henderson's Orchestra for 13 months. While in New York he worked many
recording sessions with numerous Blues singers including Bessie Smith on her
1925 classic recording of "St. Louis Blues".
In 1925 Armstrong moved back to Chicago and joined his wife's band at the
Dreamland. He recorded his first Hot Five records that same year. This was the
first time Louis had made records under his own name. The records made by Louis
Armstrong's Hot Five and Hot Seven are considered to be absolute jazz classics
and peak of his creative powers. The band never played live, but continued
recording until 1928. Louis Armstrong died in 1969 his manager was Joe Glaser.
According to records the first person to play jazz music was a man born in 1878
by The legendary Buddy Bolden. The old-time musicians say that Buddy Bolden was
"the first musician to start the big noise in Jazz." They say he'd
shine his cornet "til it glistened like a woman's legs". Then he'd
put his horn out the window and say to his band, "Let's call the children
home". He would blow and his children would come running. It has also been
said, "his trumpet could be heard all over New Orleans, and even across
the river in Algiers".