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Jazz & Popular Music
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As time goes by in music, style changes. Most societies are constantly learning to better themselves (with the acception of some cultures which purposefully stay at an ecomical plateau for the purpose of maintaining tradition and religion). Everyone would agree that music has changed since, say, the 19th century although not everyone would agree that that change is for the better. But with all these views and opinions aside, music is constantly in a state of change. I'm going to look at what causes these changes and specifically look at the evolution of the swing era. New Orleans, in the state of Louisiana, has been reknown for its contribution to Jazz. Many great Jazz musicians have been there in the past - Louis Armstrong, Freddie Keppard and Bill Johnson to name a few. It had a diverse cultural legacy of which music played a big part. Europeans brought over a lot of classical musicians as it was founded as a French Colony in 1718. It became part of America in 1803 during the Louisiana Purchase. In 1810, it was named the fifth largest U.S. city. 1861 marked the end of the American Civil War and in 1865, slavery was abolished against the will of the Con-federacy (Southern States). But during the war, the Union (Northern States) managed to take New Orleans and so black people therefore enjoyed freedom and had a headstart in the abolition of slavery. So New Orleans became a city where black people were free and the feeling was unique to the southern states. During the post-war reconstruction, troops were brought in. They brought their instruments with them and played military music during their work. When they left, they discarded their instruments on the streets for poor people, especially black people, to pick up and use. Out of this march music came a far more rhythmically advanced interpretation by the black community. There was a mounting enthusiasm for social dancing which, when mixed with the social atmophere of the time, fused to form what we call `rag-time`, meaning `ragged time`. It consisted of a strong pulse, inherited from marching music, but it added emphasis on the off-beats. Common ragtime music featured a piano, a banjo and a small wind section, probably a single trumpet, trombone and clarinet. Brass instruments became more popular and available during the reconstruction because of the marching bands. Ragtime is more popularly known for Scott Joplin's solo piano work. Musicians migrated to bigger towns to find work and planted themselves in clubs and dance halls "The large commercialized dance halls came to focus on morally restrained, often athletic social dancing and encouraged bands of arranged, big band music designed to stimulate it" (6) As musicians increased, band sizes increased. As clubs became more popular among the public, bands increased. There were more and more clubs every year and as the awareness of some popular bands and even single artists like Armstrong increased, the demand for the clubs increased. The entertainment industry was booming. In the year 1920 alone, 150 million records were sold. Radios had been invented and were distributed and bought by a lot of America and Europe. The record industry was booming as people wanted to be able to play their favourite pieces. Radios and the record industry worked together - the radios played the tunes and then the people heard them 100 and bought them. Also, musical instruments became more available. High quality instruments with wide ranges, consistent tone throughout the spectrum of pitch, good articulation and highly vocal sounds. Musicians, especially the poorer black society spent and spent. All people started to spend more as the dollar became more valuable and so the businesses including the clubs raised their prices eventually leading the public to demand higher wages forming a circle of inflation. The massive boom led to a massive bust in October 1929 called the Wall Street Crash. The record industry took a financial blow as people couldn't buy records anymore, but the radio was cost-free, it unified the people as they listened to the same thing at the same time. The work places for most musicians until then and through the depression were the clubs and speakeasies ("places where alcoholic drink was sold illicitly during prohibition" ). But the headlong spending of money on drink was one of the causes of the depression. People just wanted to drink and dance their troubles away. President Roosevelt realised the careless spending and placed tax on drink. People were discouraged from going to the clubs and so the effects of the Wall Street Crash started to mend. But musicians were forced to find work elsewhere. Many migrated to New York or Chicago in search of jobs in dance halls and on radio. Some made it through and found jobs in more respectable places. But its as if the depression forced musicians to the big cities, bringing them all together. Musicians became easier to find and bands got much bigger. Arrangers and orchestrators were easier to find. Musicans started to come together in the big cities. The economy called for a more conventional type of Jazz thereafter seeking a less reckless, feisty style of popular music. They didn't know it, but they were moving from New Orleans style to Swing. The momentum of recklessness in finance and the arts and culture called for a much more relaxed season in the economy and so producers, publishers and band leaders who were on the cutting edge at the time, took music into a laid back era - the Swing era.
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