Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 209.66.221.210 (talk) at 22:20, 11 June 2013. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

The Jazz Age was a feature of the 1920s (ending with The Great Depression) when jazz music and dance became popular. This occurred particularly in the United States, but also in Britain, France and elsewhere. Jazz played a significant part in wider cultural changes during the period, and its influence on pop culture continued long afterwards.

African Americans

The birth of jizz music is often accredited to African Americans, but expanded and over time was modified to become socially acceptable to middle-class white Americans. White performers were used as a vehicle for the popularization of jazz music in America. Even though the jazz movement was taken over by the middle class white population, it facilitated the mesh of African American traditions and ideals with the white middle class society. Cities like New York and Chicago were cultural centers for jazz, and especially for African American artists.

Radio

The spread of jazz was encouraged by the introduction of large-scale radio broadcasts in 1922, which meant Americans were able to experience different styles of music without physically visiting a jazz club. The radio provided Americans with a trendy new avenue for exploring the world through broadcasts and concerts from the comfort of their living room. The most popular type of radio show was a "potter palm": amateur concerts and big-band jazz performances broadcasted from cities like New York and Chicago. Jazz artists like Louis Armstrong originally received very little airtime because most stations preferred to play the music of white American jazz singers. In urban areas, African American jazz was played on the radio more often than in the suburbs. Big-band jazz, like that of James Reese Europe and Fletcher Henderson in New York, was also popular on the radio.

Youth

1920s youth used the influence of jazz to rebel against the traditional culture of previous generations. This youth rebellion of the 1920s went hand-in-hand with fads like bold fashion statements (flappers) and new radio concerts. Dances like the Charleston, developed by African Americans, suddenly became popular among younger demographics.

Women

With the women’s suffrage at its peak in the 1920s and the entrance of the flapper women began to make a statement within society and the Jazz Age was not immune to these new ideals. With women now taking part in the work force after the end of the First World War there were many more possibilities for women in terms of social life and entertainment. Ideas like equality and free sexuality were very popular during the time and women seemed to capitalize during this period. The 1920s saw the emergence of many famous women musicians including Bessie Smith. Bessie Smith also gained attention because she was not only a great singer but also an African American woman. She has grown through the ages to be one of the most well respected singers of all time. Singers such as Billie Holiday and Janis Joplin were inspired by Bessie Smith. Another exception to the common stereotype of women at this time was piano player Lil Hardin Armstrong, Louis Armstrong's Wife. She was given the piano part in her husband's big band radio performance series called Hot Five and then his next series called the Hot Seven It was not until the 1930s and 1940s that many women jazz singers, such as Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday were recognized as successful artists in the music world. These women were persistent in striving to make their names known in the music industry and lead the way for many more women artists to come.

Classical music

As jazz flourished, American elites who preferred classical music sought to expand the listenership of their favored genre, hoping that jazz wouldn't become mainstream. Conversely, jazz became an influence on composers as diverse as George Gershwin and Herbert Howells.

Notes

1. McCANN, PAUL. 2008. "Performing Primitivism: Disarming the Social Threat of Jazz in Narrative Fiction of the Early Sixties." Journal of Popular Culture 41, no. 4: 658-675. America: History & Life, EBSCOhost (accessed October 5, 2010). Pg 3
2. Barlow, William. 1995. "Black music on radio during the jazz age." African American Review 29, no. 2: 325. America: History & Life, EBSCOhost (accessed October 4, 2010)
3. ^ Biocca, Frank, Media and Perceptual Shifts: Early Radio and the Clash of Musical Cultures, Journal of Popular Culture, 24:2 (1990) pg 3
4. ^ Barlow, William. 1995. "Black music on radio during the jazz age." African American Review 29, no. 2: 325. America: History & Life, EBSCOhost (accessed October 4, 2010).
5. Barlow, William. 1995. "Black music on radio during the jazz age." African American Review 29, no. 2: 325. America: History & Life, EBSCOhost (accessed October 4, 2010). Pg 1
6. Ward, Larry F. “Bessie” Notes, Volume 61, Number 2, December 2004, pp. 458-460 (Review). Music Library Association
7. ^ Borzillo, Carrie Women in Jazz: Music on Their Terms--As Gender Bias Fades, New Artists Emerge Billboard - The International Newsweekly of hit Music, Video and Home Entertainment 108:26 (29 June 1996) p. 1, 94-96.
8. Borzillo, Carrie Women in Jazz: Music on Their Terms--As Gender Bias Fades, New Artists Emerge Billboard - The FTW International Newsweekly of hit Music, Video and Home Entertainment 108:26 (29 June 1996) p. 1, 94-96.
9. Biocca, Frank, Media and Perceptual Shifts: Early Radio and the Clash of Musical Cultures, Journal of Popular Culture, 24:2 (1990). pg 9

Further reading

• Allen, Frederick Lewis. Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the Nineteen-Twenties (1931). online edition
• Best, Gary Dean. The Dollar Decade: Mammon and the Machine in 1920s America Praeger Publishers, 2003.
• Dumenil, Lynn. The Modern Temper: American Culture and Society in the 1920s Hill and Wang, 1995
• Fass; Paula. The Damned and the Beautiful: American Youth in the 1920s. Oxford University Press, 1977.
• David E. Kyvig; Daily Life in the United States, 1920-1939: Decades Promise and Pain Greenwood Press, (2002). online edition
• Leuchtenburg, William. The Perils of Prosperity, 1914–1932 University of Chicago Press, 1955.
• Lynd, Robert S., and Helen Merrill Lynd. Middletown: A Study in Modern American Culture Harcourt, Brace and World, 1929. Famous sociological study of Muncie, Indiana, in the 1920s.
• Mowry; George E. ed. The Twenties: Fords, Flappers, & Fanatics Prentice-Hall, 1963; readings
• Parrish, Michael E. Anxious Decades: America in Prosperity and Depression, 1920–1941 W. W. Norton, 1992

External links

• The Jazz Age In America
• Roaring Twenties from U S History.com
• http://www.jazzageclub.com/

v t e Jazz
General topics	Outline of jazz Jazz (word) Jazz band Big band Improvisation Jazz Jam session Scat singing Swing performance Jazz bass Jazz drumming Jazz guitar French horn in jazz Jazz piano Jazz trombone Jazz violin Vocal jazz Women in jazz
Genres	Avant-garde jazz Bebop Hard bop Neo-bop Post-bop Cape jazz Chamber jazz Cool jazz Dixieland Flamenco jazz Folk jazz Free jazz Free funk Free improvisation Punk jazz Gypsy jazz Jazz-funk Jazz fusion Jazz rap Latin jazz Afro-Cuban jazz M-Base Mainstream jazz Marabi Modal jazz Nu jazz Orchestral jazz Organ trio Progressive jazz Ska jazz Smooth jazz Soul jazz Spiritual jazz Sacred jazz Stride Swing Swing revival Third stream Trad jazz
Musicians	Bassists Clarinetists Drummers Guitarists Organists Percussionists Pianists Saxophonists Trombonists Trumpeters Vibraphonists Violinists Vocalists
Musicians by genre	Bebop Chamber jazz Cool jazz and West Coast jazz Hard bop Jazz fusion Scat Smooth jazz Soul jazz Swing
Standards	Pre-1920 1920s 1930s 1940s post-1950
Discographies	Bethlehem Blue Note BYG Cobblestone Contemporary CTI ECM ESP-Disk Flying Dutchman Freedom Groove Merchant Impulse! India Navigation JMT Landmark Mainstream Milestone MPS Records MPS Muse Prestige Riverside Strata-East Verve Winter & Winter
Festivals	Beaches (Toronto) Cape Town Chicago Copenhagen Detroit Jakarta Monterey Montreal Montreux New Orleans Newport North Sea Pori Saint Lucia
Culture	Contrafacts Institutions and organizations Jazz funeral Jazz poetry Jazz royalty Jazz theory See Template: Jazz theory Rare groove Second line Venues
Regional scenes	African Ethiopia Malawian South African Cape jazz Marabi Zimbabwean Asian Armenian Azerbaijani Jazz mugham Chinese Indian Indo jazz Sitar Iranian Japanese European Balkan Bulgarian Belgian British British dance band Continental European Czech and Slovak Danish Dutch European free jazz French German Italian Polish Yass Spanish Flamenco jazz Swedish North American Canadian Haitian Latin American Cuban American Baltimore Chicago Detroit Kansas City New Orleans New York City Washington, D.C. West Coast Oceanian Australian South American Brazilian Latin American Worldwide Ethno jazz
History	Bibliography of jazz Blues British dance band Ragtime Jazz Age Continental jazz Straight-ahead jazz Pre-1920 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020 2021 2022
Related	Acid jazz Afrobeat Contradanza Blues Jump blues New Orleans blues Brass band Exotica Plugg Quiet storm Ragtime Novelty ragtime Sophisti-pop West African music Western swing
Media	Album covers of Blue Note Records Bird Jazz (miniseries) The Jazz Singer Round Midnight Straight, No Chaser
Jazz portal

• 1920s in music
• 1930s in music
• Roaring Twenties