New Orleans is considered to be the birthplace of jazz. A melting pot of myriad ethnicities and nationalities, New Orleans during the 1800s was the breeding ground for more diverse incarnations of music and culture than anywhere in the United States, and perhaps the world. Asking what New Orleans contributed to jazz is somewhat like asking a mother what she contributed to her child. The unique blend of cultures and ideas, of free and enslaved peoples, was what ultimately led New Orleans to create a new, American style, heavily influenced by African rhythms, European technique, and a freedom of improvisation that was unique amongst respected artforms. This blending of styles, influence, and the freedom to improvise could only have come from New Orleans. At the time, the diversity in culture in New Orleans was unparalleled, and it is precisely this melting-pot environment which stimulated the growth of Jazz: the European influence of the Creoles, the French and Spanish music that abounded, and the fierce African rhythm and improvisation of the slaves.
According to Gioia, the rise of "hot music" in New Orleans has been widely attributed the moral decay of the society there– but a more accurate source of inspiration for jazz may have been in the music of the church. Even this seems a bit narrow– Gioia attributes more of jazz's evolution to the "broad musical panorama of turn of the century New Orleans", describing groups composed of "Mandolin, guitar, bass, sometimes joined by banjo and violin", and the lawn parties and stable dances that contributed to an ever-expanding music scene that seemed to permeate all corners of the city. To me, however, these factors seem secondary to the fact that I find most intriguing about New Orleans, which is the unique form of segregation employed by New Orleans at the time. Free blacks, Creoles, slaves, white men, Europeans, and many others mingled together in a cohesive yet segregated environment. This is what I believe transformed the separate forms of art co-mingling in New Orleans into a single, unique style; the special sense of freedom that many in New Orleans felt. The freedom to improvise, the freedom to play off-key notes, the freedom to change rhythm and melody in unheard ways and forms. And this special freedom birthed an entire genre, embellished by the European flourish and grounded in the fine form and movement ("hot sound") of African art.
Your comparison, "Asking what New Orleans contributed to jazz is somewhat like asking a mother what she contributed to her child," really hits the nail on the head. There is not just a handful of things that jazz can thank New Orleans for; the city has truly given everything it has to the music that many consider its progeny. Moreover, the way that jazz migrated across the US to Chicago and New York where it evolved further is much like a child growing up and moving out. It grew in to a complex form possessing many qualities it found elsewhere, but this was only made possible by the foundations laid in New Orleans.
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ReplyDeleteI think you are correct in attributing this innovation to the mixing of ethnic traditions. The reason I think N.O. was the only place for Jazz to form in is because its role as a major port brought together so many ethnicities and customs. Southern slaves, Afro-Caribbeans, Creoles, and Africans all put a little bit of their musical tradition into what would become Jazz. I loved that little quote you had about the various instruments that could be found in combos back in the day. I think it really captures the diverse nature of some of this music.
ReplyDeleteChristian,
ReplyDeleteYour post shows a deep understanding of the many different elements necessary to form jazz music. I agree strongly with Nathan's comment about referring to New Orleans as the "mother of jazz." This statement lends credit to N.O. as a nurturer of many different styles of music, all coming from distinct ethnic groups and traditions. I believe that without the wildly diverse melting pot that N.O. came to be, jazz music would not have been able to be created as these separate styles of music would have never clashed, just as you argued in your post.
I really enjoyed your analogy of a mother and a child in reference to what New Orleans contributed to the jazz era. I agree that New Orleans was a vibrant birthplace that is almost unparalleled in comparison to other big cities of its time. You continue to talk about a sense of freedom that New Orleans has and I agree. You framed it very well.
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