Jazz, as an entity, is reflective of city culture. New
Orleans, as a city, had the most to offer a developing creation like jazz. Because
New Orleans was originally established by France, they followed a different methodology
for treating the Black population. This allowed more freedom among Black
citizens as well as for a distinct middle ground to arise with the Creole, who
were mixed race and attempted to separate themselves from the Black populations
by considering themselves superior. This class conflict between Creoles and
Blacks, the freedom offered to them both, the French ideals that were already
in place, and later, the Spanish influence that came, were all major reasons why jazz was able to emerge in New Orleans.
In this
city developed a culture of celebrating death, "New Orleans parade for the
dead, that extraordinary combination of funeral and festival" (Gioia, 28)
which created second line music. A first line would be made of family of the
deceased, but this second line would be made of musicians. Events like these
helped to ingrain music into the very foundation of the city. Another part of
this foundation was grounded in the commerce that New Orleans saw after the
Louisiana Purchase. Due to its location, it became the most important trading
center in the country until the 1940's (Stewart). This helped it to become the
cosmopolitan center of the South, with cultures from French, Creole, Black,
Indians, Greeks, Serbs, Chinese, Finish, and ever greater amounts of diversity
(Stewart). Having this unique foundation of music and diversity exist so deeply
and profoundly in a way unseen anywhere else in the world is a major
contributing factor to the emergence of jazz.
New Orleans
also produced an environment from which the first jazz artists were able to appear.
These musicians may have never come to be had it not been for the nurturing
capacity of the city from which they came. This included musicians like Jelly Roll Morton,
who produced a more abstract approach to looking at music (Gioia, 38), and Louis Armstrong, who helped to create the solo within large groups (Gioia,
48). New Orleans offered them the collectivist culture that was needed to form
the paradoxical environment necessary for soloists to exist, by having an
interesting dichotomy between large groups and the persons within them. Only a
place like New Orleans- which provided a mass culture while also nurturing individuals
could generate this.
The
potentially greatest factor to consider, however, was the Spanish influence in
New Orleans. New Orleans was a center of trade with Mexico and Latin America. This
created a huge intermingling of ideas that occurred from trade. Beyond mere
trade though, was the influence of the Mexican national band. In 1884, the
World's industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition was held in New Orleans
(Johnson, 225). The Mexican national band was sent to perform, and afterward,
many of the members stayed. Even though they were classical performers, they became
the music teachers who taught many of the great jazz musicians how to play.
They popularized the use of woodwind instruments, such as Florencio Ramos
introducing the saxophone (Johnson, 229).
Their mentorship and guidance led the way for many talented musicians.
And without the use of woodwinds, such
as the saxophone, the essence of jazz would have been unknowably different. Without
these contributions, jazz may have had a very dissimilar existence- one with a
disparate history and a great amount of stylistic divergence from what is now
understood as jazz.
Commented on Jacob Weverka
Commented on Jacob Weverka
