The
emergence of jazz had many contributing factors at the beginning of the 20th
century, but the main factors came from New Orleans. New Orleans is a place that people may refer
to as a melting pot. This meaning that
because of its location on a map, many different cultures and traditions are
brought to New Orleans therefore mixing them all together. Because of the trade routes as well,
different cultures are brought and taken away all the time. With all these different cultures and
traditions together in one place, lots of music was shown and listened to. The mixture of the different types of music
is what was the start and beginning of jazz in the early 20th century.
Jazz emerged in New Orleans instead
of other American cities for a number of reasons, including the location and
the fusion of the music that was there.
The main and most important reason jazz came from New Orleans and not
other cities is because of the slavery that was present during this time. There were two different types of slavery
that were seen in New Orleans, which were the Latin version and the English
version. The Latin version was a more
liberal way of slavery because of the amount of rights slaves were
getting. On the other hand, the English
version of slavery was more of a form of supremacy where slaves were not given
as many rights as they would get in the Latin version. The slaves were bringing all their different
forms of music together where jazz music would come from the different times
that these slaves would play together. A
creole, which was a person that was a mix of races, also played a role in the
jazz music. Since these people were from
two different racial backgrounds, the traditions and cultures were mixed.
Gioia mentioned many sources to show
that jazz did emerge from New Orleans including Storyville. Storyville was a “red light district that
existed for a scant twenty years” and was known “as the birthplace of jazz
music” (Gioia 31). This place was known
for the music that was played there yet most musicians who were interviewed
always said that they never remember playing here, as if they didn’t want
people to know that they played in a place like this and they didn’t want
others to associate their early careers with this type of place. If someone was looking for a place to listen
to brass bands, they should have gone to Storyville because those were the most
popular bands playing. Two famous
musicians, Buddy Bolden and Jelly Roll Morton, both were discovered in
Storyville and being the well known jazz musicians that they are says something
about this place. Because of the mood
and atmosphere with the sex and drinking associated with this red light
district, lots of collaborating took place and people got into the mood to
create and play this jazz music.
After reading and learning about all
this information, I believe that the location of New Orleans was the most
important factor in the emergence of jazz in New Orleans. The fact that New Orleans was on a trade
route and that different cultures and traditions were passing through, some
staying others leaving, shows that with the mixture of all this stuff coming
through, something big could be created and was created. The roots that the slaves and Creoles brought
to New Orleans also formed new traditions and new cultures that came together
to form jazz.
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