Early Jazz
Considered by some, the only true American
Art form!
Items we’ll be
discussing:
• Origins of early
recording
• Impact of
technology
• First composers
• What early jazz
sounds like
• Impacts of Jazz on
music
Blending musical
traditions!
Early Recording
Technology and Media
Cultural Impacts
• The invention of the phonograph
and the radio familiarized many
Americans with music from
remote places, and gave countless
musicians new and more diverse
audiences.
• The marketing of music through
broadcasting and record sales not
only diversifies musical culture,
but changes its aspirations.
• Musicians who once made music
for the understanding of a small
community, or for everyday ritual
purposes, now often made music
intent on engaging in a larger
dialogue.
• Listeners were encouraged to seek
to understand the music of
landscapes and communities
remote from their own.
th
Early 20 Century
Technology
• Alabama native
• Middle class/well
educated
• Self taught
trumpeter and
composer
• Graduated college
w/ honors
• Became professor
at AL black college
W.C. Handy (1873-1958)
• Was inspired in
1910s by rural
music
• Wanted to compose
what he called
“new American
music”
• When he died,
150,000 people
attended his funeral
procession
W.C. Handy (1873-1958)
Important Works:
• Memphis Blues
(1912)
• Beale St. Blues
(1916)
• St. Louis Blues
(1919)
W.C. Handy (1873-1958)
Early Jazz of 1920s
•
•
•
•
Refers to virtually
any style of music
innovated by early
20th-century African
American
entertainers.
Highly influenced by
New Orleans’
cultural differences
African American
musicians living and
working along the
Miss River were its
inventors
Preservation Hall
Jazz Band-”Short
Dress Gal”
The Term “Jazz”
• Since the devastation of
Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans
Jazz has been the “anchor” to
help rebuild the city physically as
well as culturally
• Treme on HBO Theme Song
• Music Brings a City Back
Impact of New Orleans
Jazz on Music & Culture
• Josephine Baker
Developments of jazz in
the 1920s
• Early 1900s, term
was used for all
Black music
coming out of
certain cities out
of South; In NY it
was considered
“exotic” &
“unusual”
• Late 1920s is
“internationalized”
• Heard in clubs across the
Western world (Europe)
• African American
musicians had warmer
welcomes overseas
• Stars like Josephine
Baker made jazz an
international success
• Now the whole world
was being exposed to
this very unique and
popular trend in music
• Music that was seen as
very distinctly
“American”
• Bye Bye Blackbird
Impact of Jazz on the
World
• Jazz is considered to be one of our most treasured arts in
the U.S.
• After the Hurricane Katrina storm, efforts have been put
in place to “save” this American treasure
• How do we “preserve” any valuable aspect of a given
society?
• You teach it to the next generations…
Young Arts Program
Foo Fighters: Sonic Highways-New Orleans
The Efforts to Preserve
Jazz= Preserving America