The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural revolution that affected everyday Americans. New, energetic music heard on the West and East coasts was a major factor in this cultural change. Jazz became the most popular genre of music in the 1920s. Jazz was so popular in the 1920s that the decade was called the Jazz Age. Some people weren’t ready for the new music. Harlem Renaissance changed the way people saw music forever because of new music styles, musicians and songs.
In the 1920s jazz was the music that grabbed the attention of the world. Jazz is still a very popular music genre, but its rise to fame was not without challenges. Jazz quickly replaced blues as a popular music form in the 1920s. This fast, fun music was created by musicians from color who moved to the North after moving northwards in search for work. Many of them traveled to Chicago before heading east to Harlem, New York. Jazz music was a result of the Great Migration by people of colour, a mass migration north and west. This music, brought by people from New Orleans to the North from Louisiana, was unique. There are many types of Jazz. Cool Jazz and Contemporary Jazz are just a few examples. Jazz is an emotion-based genre. It is not jazz if it does not have emotion. Jazz has to be dynamic, active, erratic and constantly changing. Otherwise, it will not make people want to dance or sing. Jazz can be described as a dynamic, passionate and controversial music genre. Many people thought that jazz was obnoxious and provoked inappropriate behavior in young people. One professor at Columbia University described jazz as “a joyless, industrial civilization that rouses tired minds and drudgery jaded bodies”. Unnamed professor tried to make the point that jazz is immoral and useless in society. The United States wasn’t used to music that makes people sing and dance the way it does. Swing dance was, for example, a common jazz-related dance. Swing dancing means exactly what you think it is: people swinging and flipping in time to music. The slow dances that the American youth had experienced were very different. Harlem had the best jazz. Harlem was home to a number of jazz artists. Shuffle Along was a standout show that attracted people from all over the world to Harlem. People of all races and Caucasians came to watch the show by a full African American ensemble. Jazz had a positive influence on this show. The jazz music also encouraged people to enjoy themselves more than before. For some, jazz was a way to distract from prohibition. Jazz was a great distraction from the prohibition. It was a great breakthrough to be able dance to jazz while not drinking. It is likely that jazz was played in every speakeasy, which was an illegal place to buy and consume alcohol. These speakeasies could be found in New York’s underground clubs during prohibition. This was a way for people to consume alcohol illegally while enjoying jazz. This did not reflect well on jazz as a whole because it was linked to these illegal acts. Jazz was also responsible for the new negative attitudes that were only felt by a small group of people. These attitudes were brought up by upper class Americans who felt that jazz did not match their standards.
Jazz musicians of the 1920s are often characterized as loud, energetic, and lively. During this period, many people were fans of certain jazz musicians. Billie Holiday is one of the great jazz musicians. Billie Holiday was born in Baltimore in 1915. Holiday started to get interested in music when she hit her teens. She even began going to jazz clubs. John Hammond noticed her and signed her to a record label. Holiday is known for “What a Little Moonlight Can Do”, “Miss Brown to You”, and other works. Holiday’s popularity skyrocketed in 1936. Lady Day earned her nickname from Lester Young. She was the first woman of color to play in a white orchestra, even though she died in 1959 at 44 years old. She co-wrote a handful of songs, such as God Bless the Child, Don’t Explain,,,,, and,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,.,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ;,,,,,,,,,’,’,,
William Henry Webb was diagnosed as having tuberculosis in the spine at an early age. He became interested in jazz. He got a job working as a newspaper boy to earn enough money for his drum set. Webb started drumming professionally at 11 years of age. Six more years later he relocated to New York. He formed a New York-based band. He was one the most famous bandleaders during the Harlem Renaissance. He would later be dubbed “King Swing”.
Louis Armstrong is another well-known musician. He was one jazz musicians of the Harlem Renaissance. He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1901 and grew up poor. Armstrong played in funeral bands and parades as a way to earn extra money for his family. Louis Armstrong moved to Chicago in 1922 when he was asked by a creole-jazz band to play the 2nd cornet. Armstrong played with the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra in New York City two years later. Louis Armstrong’s popularity grew even further when he made his Broadway debut. As he traveled, he helped to promote jazz in New York. Armstrong performed regularly at the Cotton Club where we met his dancer wife. Armstrong toured the world and made movies in the ’50s & ’60s. Armstrong was known as the best jazz artist of the Harlem Renaissance. On July 6, 1971 at the age of 70, he died from a heartattack.
Edward Kennedy Ellington is the last remaining musician. His parents both played piano. People called him “Duke” because of his appearance, which was “duked up”. Duke started taking lessons in music at the age 6 from bar musicians. Ellington’s band “Duke’s Serenaders” played in Washington dance halls from 1917 to 1918. Ellington decided to relocate the band to New York. He renamed them “The Washingtonians” afterward. Jazz was already the most popular music when Ellington arrived in New York. Ellington composed the “East St. Louis Toodle-oo”, the Mood Indigo, the Rockin in Rhythm, the Black, Brown and Beige, the Solitude, the Mooche, and the Take the A-Train. Ellington became one of Harlem Renaissance’s greatest composers by 1974.
Music played a major role in the evolution of American culture. Jazz was no exception. Music has always been used to understand and identify a culture. Jazz was freestyle, and you could see it in how people dressed. Jazz changed people’s behavior, how they perceived people of color, even their clothing. The views of some people did not alter, but it was only a small setback. The jazz style was more improvisational and free than previous music. The music was created to encourage the listener’s heartfelt dancing. It was necessary to wear looser, more comfortable clothing than the heavy, bulky clothes of earlier centuries. This fashion did not suddenly appear, but developed over time with the Jazz Age. In 1921, the first change was the pearl necklaces and drop waist dress. The shifts were introduced in 1925. These undergarments date back centuries. Flappers was the term used to describe women who dressed like this. In the 1920s, Flappers inspired women’s fashion. The clothing of the 1920s became more revealing as jazz gained popularity. This allowed women to dance more easily. The 1920s clothing was completely new. Although men’s wear had remained largely unchanged, womenswear was transformed. It was more revealing. They would expose their arms and legs instead of covering themselves from top to bottom. This may seem insignificant to modern civilization, but it was unheard off during the 1920s. Jazz had a profound effect on the perception of people of colour by Caucasian residents. Jazz is a rare example in history of a time when the majority culture adopted that of a minority. Jazz originated in New Orleans as an African American-style of music. After many people of colour migrated north and south, it spread to the rest of America. The people of colour were still not given the respect that was due. Jazz gained popularity and white musicians attempted to convince audiences that the Original Dixieland Band was not African American, but originated from them.
Jazz’s popularity grew, and with it the hatred for people of other races. During 1920s, hate-groups like the Ku Klux Klan became more powerful. While the KKK primarily targeted African-Americans, they were also hateful toward Jews, Catholics, as well as recent immigrants. Over the course of this decade, membership increased at an exponential pace to 4 million. The last impact was the one that jazz has on our future or present. Jazz is not as popular today as it used to be, but we can still hear many of its elements in other genres such as folk, rap and pop. The music is everywhere. We hear it at concerts and on the radio in our car. Other styles of music encourage you to move your body and dance along to the beat. Jazz is the originator of this new trend. It is clear how influential it has been on the music of today. Music today would look completely different if musicians had not stayed true to their roots. Most likely, it would be slower and less upbeat than some of the music we hear today. Jazz has had a major influence on the music of today in America.
The Harlem Renaissance was driven by music. The culture was built on music. Jazz was a popular genre in the 1980s because of its exciting beats, improvisations, and rhythms. The music was a way to release the past. Billie Holiday mastered this type of music, which helped her gain fame. The younger generation, the music industry and even their own clothing were all influenced by them. The Harlem Renaissance wouldn’t exist without jazz.
