jazz age research paper topics

Presentations made painless

• Get Premium

114 Jazz Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

Inside This Article

Jazz music is a genre that has captured the hearts and minds of music lovers for generations. Its rich history and diverse styles make it a fascinating subject for exploration and study. If you're a student looking for inspiration for an essay on jazz, look no further. Here are 114 jazz essay topic ideas and examples to get you started:

• The origins and evolution of jazz music
• The influence of African rhythms on jazz
• The role of improvisation in jazz performance
• The impact of jazz on popular music
• The contributions of African American musicians to jazz
• The development of jazz fusion
• The influence of Latin music on jazz
• The history of jazz in New Orleans
• The role of women in jazz music
• The connection between jazz and the civil rights movement
• The influence of European classical music on jazz
• The rise of jazz education programs
• The impact of technology on jazz music
• The role of jazz festivals in promoting the genre
• The influence of jazz on other art forms, such as dance and visual art
• The intersection of jazz and politics
• The relationship between jazz and spirituality
• The representation of jazz in film and television
• The impact of jazz on the fashion industry
• The role of jazz in shaping American identity
• The influence of jazz on literature
• The portrayal of jazz in popular culture
• The connection between jazz and social justice movements
• The impact of globalization on jazz music
• The role of jazz in promoting cultural exchange
• The influence of jazz on hip hop music
• The impact of jazz on the LGBTQ+ community
• The representation of gender and sexuality in jazz music
• The role of jazz in promoting mental health and well-being
• The relationship between jazz and drug culture
• The impact of jazz on the tourism industry
• The portrayal of jazz in advertising and marketing
• The influence of jazz on fashion trends
• The role of jazz in promoting environmental awareness
• The connection between jazz and food culture
• The impact of jazz on the hospitality industry
• The representation of jazz in literature and poetry
• The influence of jazz on modern dance
• The role of jazz in promoting multiculturalism and diversity
• The impact of jazz on the education system
• The portrayal of jazz in children's media
• The connection between jazz and technology
• The influence of jazz on the gaming industry
• The role of jazz in promoting social change
• The impact of jazz on mental health and well-being
• The representation of jazz in fashion and design
• The influence of jazz on architecture and urban planning
• The role of jazz in promoting sustainable living
• The connection between jazz and environmentalism
• The impact of jazz on the wellness industry
• The portrayal of jazz in music videos
• The influence of jazz on social media
• The role of jazz in promoting health and fitness
• The impact of jazz on the beauty industry
• The representation of jazz in art and photography
• The influence of jazz on spirituality and mindfulness
• The role of jazz in promoting self-care and self-love
• The connection between jazz and mental health awareness
• The impact of jazz on the fashion and beauty industry
• The portrayal of jazz in magazines and advertisements
• The influence of jazz on lifestyle trends
• The role of jazz in promoting holistic health and well-being
• The connection between jazz and sustainable living
• The impact of jazz on the wellness and fitness industry
• The representation of jazz in popular culture and media
• The influence of jazz on social media and digital platforms
• The role of jazz in promoting mental health and wellness
• The connection between jazz and mindfulness practices
• The impact of jazz on beauty and self-care industries
• The portrayal of jazz in fashion and lifestyle blogs
• The influence of jazz on the wellness and sustainable living movements
• The role of jazz in promoting mental health awareness
• The connection between jazz and holistic health practices
• The impact of jazz on the beauty and fashion industries
• The representation of jazz in lifestyle and wellness magazines
• The influence of jazz on social media influencers and bloggers
• The role of jazz in promoting self-care and self-love practices
• The connection between jazz and mental health advocacy
• The impact of jazz on the wellness and wellness industry
• The portrayal of jazz in beauty and fashion editorials
• The influence of jazz on lifestyle and wellness websites
• The role of jazz in promoting mental health and wellness initiatives
• The connection between jazz and holistic wellness practices
• The representation of jazz in lifestyle and wellness blogs
• The influence of jazz on social media influencers and wellness bloggers
• The role of jazz in promoting self-care and self-love movements
• The connection between jazz and mental health awareness campaigns
• The impact of jazz on the wellness and beauty industry
• The portrayal of jazz in lifestyle and wellness magazines
• The representation of jazz in fashion and lifestyle blogs

With these jazz essay topic ideas and examples, you'll be sure to find the perfect subject for your next paper. Whether you're interested in the history of jazz, its influence on popular culture, or its connections to social issues, there's a wealth of material to explore in this vibrant and dynamic genre. Happy writing!

Want to research companies faster?

Instantly access industry insights

Let PitchGrade do this for me

Leverage powerful AI research capabilities

We will create your text and designs for you. Sit back and relax while we do the work.

Explore More Content

• Privacy Policy
• Terms of Service

© 2024 Pitchgrade

• Music Paper Topics Topics: 440
• Beethoven Research Topics Topics: 73
• Composer Research Topics Topics: 116
• Baroque Essay Topics Topics: 73
• Leonardo da Vinci Topics Topics: 70
• Classical Music Research Topics Topics: 58
• Photography Topics Topics: 129
• Movies Comparison Research Topics Topics: 105
• Vincent van Gogh Paper Topics Topics: 71
• Artists Research Topics Topics: 80
• Hip Hop Paper Topics Topics: 72
• Dance Essay Topics Topics: 107
• Song Paper Topics Topics: 140
• Rock Music Paper Topics Topics: 67
• 12 Angry Men Essay Topics Topics: 48

122 Jazz Essay Topics

🏆 best essay topics on jazz, 👍 good jazz research topics & essay examples, 🎓 most interesting jazz research titles, 💡 simple jazz essay ideas, ❓ questions about jazz.

• The Difference Between New Orleans and Chicago Style Jazz and Swing Style Jazz
• The Connection Between American Literature and Jazz
• Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour Review
• Wynton Marsalis: Jazz in Marciac 2009
• Big Band and Combo Jazz: Musical Groups Comparison
• The Meaning of Freedom for Jazz Instrumentalists
• Duke Ellington: Jazz Legend and Music Innovator
• The Jazz Music Movement: A Listening Journal Charlie Parker, known as Yardbird, is one of the most significant music innovators of the 20th century because he brought bebop and influenced many musicians.
• Nate Smith’s Jazz Concert in Vienne This research paper examines Nate Smith’s jazz concert held at the Vienne Ancient Roman Theatre in Vienne, France.
• Jazz Music as Reflection of Social Injustices During the civil rights movement, jazz music took a decidedly political tone to undertake an active role in the fight for civil rights.
• Jazz Music: Historical Background Jazz is a relatively young direction that quickly won its place in music. It started in the 19th and early 20th centuries in the States of Louisiana and New Orleans in the US.
• Charles Luckeyth “Luckey” Roberts in Jazz Music This report analyzes various aspects of Charles Luckeyth Roberts, commonly known as “Luckey”, such as the events and people that shaped his life and career.
• Jamison Ross’ Performance at Jazz San Javier Festival Jamison Ross is likely the most prevalent example as he embodies both the unconventional yet exciting changes to typical song standards.
• Jazz Styles and Artists: Louis Armstrong and Others Jazz is one of the most famous music genres, and the most famous jazz performers are Louis Armstrong, Ramsey Lewis, Miles Davis, and Duke Ellington.
• The Elio Villafranca Jazz Concert’s Special Features This essay analyzes the Elio Villafranca concert, which applies parallelism and juxtaposition through intricate rhythms and melodies and incorporates African retention.
• Five Innovative Jazz Techniques: Overview The five musical techniques discussed in this essay are innovative and open up new avenues for musical expression in the jazz style.
• Jazz Musician Comprehension: John “Dizzy” Gillespie The paper discusses the various events and people that shaped the life and career of Jazz musician John “Dizzy” Gillespie.
• Diving Into Jazz: Review of Compozitions The paper presents a concert that consists of the following compositions: Sing, Sing, Sing by Benny Goodman, In the Mood by Alton Glenn Miller and The Entertainer by Scott Joplin.
• Two Genres of Music: Rap Music and Jazz Music The paper compares two genres of music: rap music and jazz music. Both genres of music once became a symbol of the protest of their time.
• Portico Quartet Jazz Concert Review In their 2020 concert in Sala Apolo, Barcelona, Jack Wyllie, Duncan Bellamy, and Milo Fitzpatrick pushed the boundaries of the perception of jazz.
• Jazz Music and Civil Rights Liberation Jazz music originated as a form of expression by Oppressed Black slaves in the 20th century but has grown into a popular genre in modern times.
• Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour (Live in New York) The opening part of the concert set the dynamic for the remainder of the performance. The band’s rendition of “Fog” comprised a strong vocal part by Cécile McLorin Salvant.
• The YouTube Broadway Jazz Class The famous song “All That Jazz” from the musical “Chicago” largely contributed to the understanding of Fosse’s dance style.
• Performance by the Frost Concert Jazz Band The goal of this paper is to analyze the performance of “Bridge” by the Frost Concert Jazz band and outline the specifics of its execution.
• “Free to Be”: A Jazz Concert Review The concert ‘Free to Be’ revolves around freedom, its joys, and its sorrows. The big band arrangement does the hard bop justice and sounds American to the core.
• The Newport Jazz Festival Newport Jazz Festival is a grand musical occasion held every summer in Rhode Island. It was initially established as the first annual American jazz festival.
• Jazz Music History and Appreciation Masterpiece jazz is a combination of soaring sophisticated Western music and jazz melodies. It originated in the United States in the early 20th century.
• Performing Arts. Minton’s Playhouse Jazz Club Mainstreaming the jazz sounds would take the establishment of popular night spots that featured this type of music, such as the famous Minton’s Playhouse in Harlem.
• Jazz Music: Comparison to Music in Previous Eras Comparison and contrast of jazz music to previous eras; Benefits and importance of acceptance of music; How to foster an interest and acceptance of music of all styles.
• Jazz and Politics: “The History of Jazz” Free jazz musicians had made moves in the thematic structure of music in that the songs that were sung were framed in a way that they were able to give melody.
• The Birth of Jazz Fusion: Miles Davis The purpose of this paper is to analyze the differences between fusion and other types of jazz in relation to Miles Davis and his work.
• Monterey Jazz Festival: Where Art Meets Diversity Incorporating the elements of different cultures, the Monterey Jazz Festival featured an extraordinarily diverse and immensely talented band.
• Opera, Jazz, and Hillsong United Concert The first opera appeared in Italy, in Florence at the turn of XVI – XVII centuries. It was composed by the members of a small company the admirers of ancient art.
• Jazz Music and Its Role in Society Jazz gets its appeal from the blend of different musical elements and the fact that different performers have different improvisation and personal interpretation.
• Jazz’ Influence as a Cultural Object in Germany This paper focuses on the influence of jazz as a cultural object in Germany. It traces the ban of jazz by the Nazis and importation to Germany after World War II.
• Early New Orleans Jazz Piano Styles New Orleans is considered the birthplace of traditional jazz music. It dates back to the 20s of the past century, right after the end of the World War I.
• Attending Music Concerts: Musical, Jazz, Classical and Opera Nowadays, it would prove rather impossible to find many people not appreciative of music in one way or another.
• Edward Ellington: Greatest Composer in Jazz History
• Most Influential Jazz Singer, Billie Holiday
• Jazz and Its Influence on African American Communities
• Babylon Revisited: Life after Jazz
• The Roaring Twenties, the Jazz Ages, and the Age of Paranoia
• Jazz Music and Its Impact on the 20th Century
• The Most Influential Jazz Musicians of All Time
• Lewis Armstrong and His Influence on Jazz History
• Understanding the Joys and Pains of Playing Jazz on the Trumpet
• The Correlation Between Jazz Musicians and the World of Addictive Substances
• The Origin and Development of Jazz Music in New Orleans, Louisiana
• Jazz and Literature Representative Works
• Blue Notes: Slovenian Jazz Festivals and Their Contribution to the Economic Resilience of the Host Cities
• The Definition and History of Jazz in America
• Chicago and New York as Focal Points in Jazz in the 1920s
• Early Jazz and How It Affects Music Today
• The Jazz Age Was One of the Many Highlights of the 1920s
• Jazz Music and Its Influence on African Americans
• The Definition and History of Jazz Music and How It Changed the Shape of the Nation
• The Jazz Age: Aftermath of War and Prelude to Depression
• Folk and Jazz Influences On Igor Stravinsky’s Compositions
• Southern Florida and Jazz Music
• The Music Life and Legendary of Max Roach in the Jazz World
• Listeners’ and Performers’ Shared Understanding of Jazz Improvisations
• Correlation Between Baroque Music and Cool Jazz
• Female Trendsetters During the Heyday of Jazz and Big Band
• The Similarities Between Classical Music and Ellington’s Jazz
• Improvisation and Other Jazz-like Techniques in Jack Kerouac’s Writing
• Latin Jazz Orchestra Players and to the Right the Trombone
• Jazz and World War II: Reciprocal Effects and Relationships Assignment
• Brief Jazz History and Django Reinhardt
• The Mysteries and Intricacies of Jazz
• Blues, Jazz, and the Early Civil Rights Movement Assignment
• The Evolution and Impact of Jazz Dance on the World
• Jazz Music- The Roots of Our Everyday Life
• Heroin and Its Effects on the Lives of Jazz
• Temperance, Prohibition, and Jazz
• French Jazz and French Classical Music
• The Origin and Growth of Jazz Music in the United States
• Jazz Music and Its Impact on America‘s Music
• Black Culture and Jazz Music
• The Jazz Era That Introduced Many New Innovations to Literature
• Jazz Music and Its History
• Paving the Way for the Jazz Age
• Jazz Music and Its Development
• The Original Dixieland Jazz Band Influence
• The Jazz Industry and Had a Big Influence on Music
• Miles Davis and the Development of Improvisation in Jazz Music
• Rhythm and Blues: The Harmonic Connection Between Jazz and Blues
• The History and Influence of Jazz in America
• The New Orleans Jazz and Music
• Jazz, Society, and Technology
• Civil War and the Age of Jazz
• Tracing Back the Origins and History of Jazz Music in America From the Early 1800s
• Jazz Music, Freedom, and Women
• The Life and Musical Accomplishments of the Greatest Jazz Musician, Miles Davis
• Jazz Music During the Industrial Revolution
• The Guitar, Its Evolution Into Jazz, and Innovations Guitarists Have Developed Within Jazz
• Youth Behaviors and the Jazz Age
• The Gypsy Swing Cats and the Beginning of Jazz
• What Are the Three Approaches to Defining Jazz?
• What Are Some Misconceptions in Linking Free Jazz With the Civil Rights Movement?
• What Is a Concentric Model for Jazz History?
• What Are the Roots of Jazz and the Dance in Place Congo?
• What Is the Evolving Role of the Electric Bass in Jazz?
• What Jazz Techniques Did Sidney Bechet Use?
• Who Are the Most Influential Jazz Musicians of All Time?
• How Did American Culture Change During the Jazz Age?
• What Is the Origin and Development of Jazz Music in New Orleans, Louisiana?
• How the American Jazz Age Is Imaged in Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby”?
• How Swing Dance and Jazz Music Impacted America?
• How the Terms Temperance, Prohibition and Jazz Are Related?
• Whats the Connection Between Jazz and Innovation?
• How Jazz Came From Various Elements into One Complex Genre?
• How Commerce Has Helped Put Jazz Out of Business in Today’s World?
• How Gershwin and Jazz Influenced American Composer?
• What Are the Historical Origins and Development of the Cool Jazz Movement?
• What Was the Status of Female Trendsetters During the Heyday of Jazz and Big Band?
• What Were Social, Technological and Political Changes in the American Jazz Age?
• Whhat Are the Main Characteristics of a Specific Style or Period in Jazz Since World War II?
• What Is Bebop Jazz and How Did It Influence the Whole Genre?
• What Do Baroque Music and Jazz Have in Common?
• What Were Cultural Developments During the Age of Jazz?
• What Were Folk and Jazz Influences Upon Igor Stravinsky’s Compositions?
• What Was the Influence of Saxophone on Advancement of Jazz Music?

Cite this post

• Chicago (N-B)
• Chicago (A-D)

StudyCorgi. (2022, March 1). 122 Jazz Essay Topics. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/jazz-essay-topics/

"122 Jazz Essay Topics." StudyCorgi , 1 Mar. 2022, studycorgi.com/ideas/jazz-essay-topics/.

StudyCorgi . (2022) '122 Jazz Essay Topics'. 1 March.

1. StudyCorgi . "122 Jazz Essay Topics." March 1, 2022. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/jazz-essay-topics/.

Bibliography

StudyCorgi . "122 Jazz Essay Topics." March 1, 2022. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/jazz-essay-topics/.

StudyCorgi . 2022. "122 Jazz Essay Topics." March 1, 2022. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/jazz-essay-topics/.

These essay examples and topics on Jazz were carefully selected by the StudyCorgi editorial team. They meet our highest standards in terms of grammar, punctuation, style, and fact accuracy. Please ensure you properly reference the materials if you’re using them to write your assignment.

This essay topic collection was updated on June 24, 2024 .

What The Great Gatsby Reveals About The Jazz Age

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel embraced jazz, while also falling prey to the racist caricatures associated with it.

From the publication of his 1922 collection, Tales of the Jazz Age , and beyond, F. Scott Fitzgerald has been inextricably linked to jazz. Indeed, Fitzgerald is even widely believed to have coined the term “Jazz Age,” and although the phrase predated Fitzgerald’s book, his usage unquestionably boosted its popularity immensely. The presence of jazz in his other works, perhaps most iconically in his grand novel The Great Gatsby , linked the term even more tightly to his name.  Today, the moniker “Jazz Age” has come to signify, as a kind of evocative shorthand, the 1920s in both academic and pop culture. Because jazz’s lineage—difficult as it is to pin down—was tightly bound up with African-American performance, the music often came to signify black American cultural production, and so, whenever Fitzgerald invoked jazz, he was often, simultaneously, invoking blackness. Yet The Great Gatsby ’s usage of jazz is complicated, as Fitzgerald was simultaneously a proponent of the then-new, race-crossing music and a writer prone to resorting to racial stereotypes when black characters appeared—a combination that, unfortunately, was far from uncommon in Fitzgerald’s day.

“It was an age of miracles, it was an age of art, it was an age of excess, and it was an age of satire,” Fitzgerald famously wrote of the 1920s in a 1931 essay , “Echoes of the Jazz Age.”  In his mind, the decade defied any rigid definition, but what perhaps characterized it best was the jazz music he so frequently alluded to in his own writing. In Fitzgerald’s most popular novel, The Great Gatsby , jazz appears as constant background music. In the contemporary phenomenon of “Gatsby parties”—festivities intended to capture the air of the titular Jay Gatsby’s famously lavish, bacchanalian parties—jazz is de rigueur to evoke the 1920s.

Weekly Digest

Get your fix of JSTOR Daily’s best stories in your inbox each Thursday.

Privacy Policy   Contact Us You may unsubscribe at any time by clicking on the provided link on any marketing message.

For all of its ubiquity in American culture in the twentieth century, however, jazz was also deeply divisive from its very beginnings. If jazz was the most visible example of a new musical form in early twentieth century America, it was also one of the most frequently vilified, often in ways that directly or implicitly connected to bigoted assumptions about blackness. And Fitzgerald’s incorporation of jazz both into The Great Gatsby and into his definition of the 1920s was similarly fraught. Despite his decrying of white supremacist ideologies, many of his depictions of African-Americans employ obvious, if casual, racial caricatures, even as he was willing to embrace the musical style that African-Americans invented and were indelibly associated with.

Jazz in the 20s

It is difficult to overstate the pre-eminence of jazz in the early twentieth century in America, appearing as a theme in everything from clubs to cartoons to realist fiction. “For the makers, consumers, and arbiters of culture,” the theater and music scholar David Savran wrote in 2006 , “jazz was everything. A weltanschauung, a personal identity, a metaphysics, an epistemology, an ethics, an eros, a mode of sociality—an entire way of being.” It was a musical style that, with its improvised orchestration, complexity, and danceable melodies, seemed to represent, through the fusion of seemingly contrary impulses, so much of the world at the time: the dissonance of Modernism, on the one hand, with jazz’s rejection of straightforward classical music, and, on the other hand, its class-transcending popularity, whereby both rich and poor could, in theory, dance to similar music.

The origins of jazz are somewhat hazy. This is partly because, as the music scholar William Kenney notes, jazz did not come from one sole place. Instead, its ancestry can be traced back to musical theatre and black vaudeville performances in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century—though the vaudevillian connections are often neglected in conventional histories of jazz. Early white historians of jazz, like Otis Ferguson and Sidney Finkelstein, argued, inaccurately, that jazz was essentially “folk music” played for all-black audiences—a mixing-up of jazz with country blues. Many classically-trained black Americans, like Will Marion Cook (who had studied music at Oberlin College ), found themselves unable to work in grand concert halls, due to anti-black discrimination. As a result, they frequently turned to popular music, theatre, and vaudeville, which would lead, in part, to the formation of jazz, as well as to many other African-American theatrical and entertainment productions. Cook, for example, went on to produce the first African-American Broadway musical comedy, Clorindy, the Origin of the Cakewalk , in 1898.

The Protean Genre of Vaudeville

Vaudeville was one of the most enduring forms of entertainment in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. A protean genre, it contained just about everything: skits, song-and-dance routines, comedy performances, minstrel shows, sketches, and more. Many popular acts included unusual sounds on stage, using washboards, saws, and other household items as instruments, usually for comic effect. In the years immediately following World War I, such novel orchestration was conventionally termed “jazz” or “novelty music.” Other acts featured well-known songs, like Ethelbert Nevin’s “The Rosary,” played on unexpected instruments. Nevin’s song, which was often performed on piano or violin, might be done with three clarinets instead, as the ragtime musician Wilbur Sweatman did in vaudeville performances.

These popular, innovative acts, as Kenney notes, led to white Americans and Europeans imitating this sort of improvisational instrumentation, and to African-American artists refining the vaudevillian shows into a more coherent musical form. The African-American musician James Reese Europe popularized jazz in France during WWI, performing “novelty music” with the 369 th Infantry Band in 1918; earlier, he had formed the Clef Club, a society and band for black musicians, which would make history by playing the “new” music at Carnegie Hall. The Original Dixieland Jazz Band, an all-white group that produced the first jazz record in 1919, incorporated barnyard noises in its hit single, “Livery Stable Blues,” a harkening to the use of bizarre sounds in black vaudeville.

Alongside all this, by the 1920s, black vaudeville had become increasingly popular with interracial audiences, particularly due to the presence of black female vocalists who could draw huge crowds and garner critical acclaim, like Mamie Smith, Ethel Waters, Bessie Smith, Ida Cox, and many others. Their songs often featured bands playing the “novelty” music, which had by now become firmly known as jazz. Because of this, along with an ever-growing stable of jazz-playing showmen and African-Americans publishing sheet music, jazz began to reach an even wider audience, until it became the most popular music of the 1920s.

White Americans and Black Jazz

As the scholar Maureen Anderson points out , white Americans swiftly condemned this new, ubiquitous music. “Unspeakable Jazz Must Go,” read one headline; another, more overtly racist, argued “Why ‘Jazz’ Sends Us Back to the Jungle.”  Critics who wished to demean African-Americans now had a new way to do so, through vitriolic articles about jazz. Indeed, a striking number of anti-jazz articles in mainstream magazines between 1917 and 1930 sought to attack African-Americans more than the music itself. One of the earliest such pieces, “The Appeal of Primitive Jazz” (1917), decried the “colored” groups as seeming to be “infected with a virus” that made them “shake and jump and writhe in ways to suggest a return of the medieval jumping mania.” If such casual dismissiveness was not enough, the writer then argued that jazz was performed by “savages” who showed their “aggressive” and “retarded” nature through music, an image that would likely have brought to some readers’ minds the image of Gus from the 1915 movie Birth of a Nation , in which Gus, an old colonial caricature of black men as dangerous and sexually rapacious, assaults white women.  Jazz, in this all-too-common line of reasoning, did not advance us; it brought us backwards, and possibly even endangered white listeners.

Moreover, white critics often associated jazz with minstrelsy. The earnest contributions to music history by black vaudeville performers was almost always overshadowed by the contemptuous, caricatured performances of white Americans wearing blackface in minstrel shows. This, along with Jim Crow-era racism, meant that jazz quickly became associated in many Americans’ minds not only with the musical style itself, but with the worst images of anti-black mockery. An iconic example of this was Al Jolson’s blackface performance in the epochal 1927 movie, The Jazz Singer , which heralded the end of the silent film era. Jolson, portraying a white Jewish singer, decides to “become American” by wearing blackface and crooning jazz on stage; as the scholar Michael Rogin observes, because blackface and minstrelsy were amongst the most iconic images at the time of American entertainment, viewers would have understood, immediately, how merging jazz and blackface was equivalent to projecting an identity of “American-ness.”

In much the same vein, an explicit connection between jazz and minstrelsy appeared in a famous Betty Boop cartoon, “I’ll Be Glad When You’re Dead You Rascal You” (1932), in which Louis Armstrong and his band perform. In the episode—which, by virtue of Armstrong’s presence, has become part of jazz history—Betty Boop is captured on a safari by dark-skinned cannibals, who attempt to devour her. When her companions, Bimbo and Koko the Clown, attempt to save her, they are chased by a cannibal in an extended scene in which their pursuer morphs into a gigantic black head, which then shifts into Armstrong’s own face, then back into the cannibal, the head’s engorged proportions suggesting the exaggerations of minstrel shows. Armstrong is thus represented as both a skilled singer and  a “savage” attempting to eradicate white characters. Such racist iconography was hardly unusual for cartoons of the Jazz Age and beyond, reinforcing the idea that American cultural production, jazz, and minstrelsy all existed together—an idea softly present, too, in The Great Gatsby , as jazz in the book indicates the American-ness of the text, alongside its minstrel-like racial caricatures in the few times it mentions black Americans.

Despite, or perhaps because of, jazz’s prominence, all the way up to the 1950s , the most conservative critics dismissed jazz as the Devil’s music , immoral orchestration that encouraged sex, drugs, and violence. Writers warning against the “Satanic” quality of jazz, however, were not merely giving jazz the same treatment that rock and hip-hop later would get; they were also drawing on a long history of associating black people with evil—“darkness”—by virtue of one’s swarthy skin, a racist tradition extending well into the early days of European colonialism.

Fitzgerald’s Relationship with Jazz – and Race

Fitzgerald’s embrace of jazz, then, was both an acceptance of popular music and a rejection of these racist critiques. Although the word “jazz” only appears a few times in the Great Gatsby , the music itself is ever-present; when music is playing in the background, Fitzgerald frequently refers to saxophones and horns, iconic instruments of the genre. Because of how organically omnipresent jazz is in Fitzgerald’s novel, virtually all later depictions of the book feature roaring jazzy orchestras as a way of capturing the book’s atmosphere, from film adaptations to the by-now-common phenomenon of the Gatsby party. So indebted is  Gatsby  to jazz and its origins that the critics Catherine Kunce and Paul M. Levitt have strikingly argued that even the structure of the novel itself can be convincingly read as a kind of extended vaudevillian performance .

At the same time, however, Fitzgerald tended to outline black characters in language straight out of minstrel iconography. In The Great Gatsby and elsewhere, black men are often described as “bucks,” a term linking black males to animals white men might hunt. As Gatsby drives Nick Carraway into New York, the narrator describes passing “three modish negroes, two bucks and a girl. I laughed aloud as the yolks of their eyeballs rolled toward us in haughty rivalry.” The men are “bucks;” the rolling eyeballs suggest a caricature from a minstrel poster; and the whole group is meant to inspire laughter. That this is one of the few times black characters explicitly appear in the novel is suggestive.

These tendencies of Fitzgerald’s did not go unnoticed. On July 23 rd , 1934, Earl W. Wilkins, an avid reader of Fitzgerald’s, sent him a letter. “Must all male Negroes in your books and stories be called ‘bucks?’” he asked. Within a fortnight, the scholar Alan Margolies reveals , Fitzgerald replied, but his response has unfortunately been lost. Still, it seemed Wilkins’s letter had made an impression, as Fitzgerald saved it.

Such racist imagery was not exclusive to Fitzgerald’s fiction. In a letter from May, 1921, to Edmund Wilson, Fitzgerald described a trip to Europe by claiming that “[t]he negroid streak creeps northward to defile the Nordic race.” The phrasing contains uncomfortable echoes of racialist pseudoscience and white supremacy.

Yet Fitzgerald would later argue stridently against the white-supremacist movement of “Nordicism,” which held that whites in Europe and America were being “replaced” by the “spread” of nonwhites and that white people would soon simply cease to exist (an idea echoed today in memes about “white genocide”). When Gatsby ’s narrator describes Tom Buchanan’s infamous white-supremacist rants as “impassioned gibberish,” he is perhaps echoing Fitzgerald’s own views. The ideology of “Nordicism” appears in Gatbsy only as further proof of Buchanan’s irredeemable unpleasantness, as Buchanan—the book’s most overtly racist character—is clearly meant to be unlikeable.

Fitzgerald’s deployment of jazz imagery, then, was as cutting-edge as it was conservative. He embraced the new music; he struggled more to embrace its practitioners and progenitors. He was willing to learn. Yet in the age when jazz was at its arguable peak of public visibility, he was still not able to see black people in the same way he saw white Americans and Europeans.

Empathy is partly what jazz set out to create, unsettling traditions and traditionalists at first, then luring them in with its almost surreal, fey beauty. Jazz attempted to dissolve social lines between race, class, and political affiliation, as in James Baldwin’s famous short story, “Sonny’s Blues,” in which the new music ultimately brings two long-warring brothers together by the sheer emotiveness of the melodies that the titular Sonny plays for his sibling. Jazz was, to a degree, an equalizing force both in Fitzgerald’s oeuvre and the wider world.

The Great Gatsby , then, was a clear product of its time, embracing the new music but also falling prey to the caricatures that had become associated with it. Still, it used jazz as the gentle but powerful backdrop to a story of failed love that endures today, and in this way, along with his usage of the term “Jazz Age,” Fitzgerald helped cement the idea that jazz defined the 1920s. For all his flaws, Fitzgerald, too, was a dancer on that grand stage of an era, saxophones, pianos, and everything else blaring around him.

JSTOR is a digital library for scholars, researchers, and students. JSTOR Daily readers can access the original research behind our articles for free on JSTOR.

Get Our Newsletter

More stories.

• “The Crocodile,” Dostoevsky’s Weirdest Short Story

• Writing Online Fiction in China

How Jazz Albums Visualized a Changing America

Nella Larsen’s Lessons in Library School

Recent posts.

• Economics in Ancient Greece
• Policing the Holocaust in Paris
• Hi, Jai Alai

Support JSTOR Daily

Sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Indiana University Press

On The Site

• IU Press Journals

Jazz Education in Research and Practice

Edited by Martin Norgaard

• Read on Project Muse
• Read on JSTOR

Journal Information

• Keywords: Education, Music

Description

Jazz Education in Research and Practice  explores diverse topics of jazz scholarship and its applications to pedagogy. The journal provides a forum for interaction and exchange between researchers and practitioners grounded in scholarship. It was developed by and is an extension of the Jazz Education Network Research Interest Group (JENRing) founded in 2014 under the umbrella of the Jazz Education Network (JEN). The journal aims to be inclusive of a wide range of perspectives, from musicology to cultural studies, from psychology to business, that can be applied in the field. In this respect, the editors particularly welcome articles that provide models, resources, and effective techniques for the teaching and learning of the art form.

• Editorial Details
• Submission Info
• Publication Ethics
• Additional Information
• Martin Norgaard, Georgia State University
• Harry Price, Kennesaw State University
• Kevin Watson, Western University

Managing Editor

• Andrew Schmidt, Georgia State University

Editorial Board

• William Bares, UNC Asheville
• Andrew Berish, University of South Florida
• Amy Brandon
• Patrick Brown, JazzArts Charlotte and Davidson College
• Mario Dunkel, Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg
• Magdalena Fuernkranz, Universitaet fuer Musik und Darstellende Kunst, Wien
• Monika Herzig, Indiana University
• Steve Holley
• Kevin Jones, Florida State University
• Michael Kahr, Kunstuniversitaet Graz
• Wolfram Knauer, Jazzinstitut Darmstadt
• Eugene Marlow, University of New York
• John Murphy, University of North Texas
• James Reddan, Western Oregon University
• Russ Spiegel, Barry University
• Elizabeth Surles, Rutgers University (Jazz Research Library)
• Greg Yasinitsky, Washington State University

Authors may view the journal’s style guide and submit manuscripts for consideration via the journal’s online submissions portal:  https://scholarworks.iu.edu/iupjournals/index.php/jazz/index . Inquiries concerning manuscript submission should be directed to the editorial staff at [email protected] .

Jazz Education in Research and Practice (JERP)  is dedicated to following best practices on ethical matters, errors, and retractions. The prevention of publication malpractice is one of the important responsibilities of the editorial board. Any kind of unethical behavior is not acceptable, and JERP does not tolerate plagiarism in any form. Authors submitting articles to JERP affirm that manuscript contents are original and have not been submitted to any other journal.

The following duties outlined for editors, authors, and reviewers are based on the AACE guidelines, which are in turn based on the COPE Code of Conduct for Journal Editors. Editors, authors, and reviewers will also adhere to the AACE and SITE submission guideline policies.

Duties of Editor

Publication Decisions : Based on the review report of the editorial review board, the editor can accept, reject, or request modifications to the manuscript.

Review of Manuscripts : Each editor must ensure that each manuscript is initially evaluated by the editor for originality. Following desk review, the manuscript will be sent out for blind peer review, which the editors will use to determine whether to accept, reject, or request revisions for the manuscript.

Fair Review : The editors must ensure that each manuscript received by JERP is reviewed for its intellectual content without regard to sex, gender, race, religion, citizenship, etc. of the authors.

Confidentiality : The editors must ensure that information regarding manuscripts submitted by the authors is kept confidential.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest : The editors of JERP will not use unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript for their own research without written consent of the author.

Duties of Authors

Reporting Standards : Authors should present an accurate account of their original research as well as an objective discussion of its significance. Manuscripts will follow the submission guidelines of the journal.

Originality : Authors must ensure that they have written entirely original work.

Multiple, Redundant, or Concurrent Publications : Authors should not submit the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently. It is also expected that the author will not publish redundant manuscripts or manuscripts describing the same research in more than one journal.

Acknowledgement of Sources : Authors should acknowledge all sources of data used in the research and cite publications that have been influential in the research work.

Authorship of the Paper : Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to conception, design, execution or interpretation of the reported study. Others who have made significant contribution must be listed as co-authors. Authors also ensure that all the authors have seen and agreed to the submitted version of the manuscript and their inclusion of names as co-authors.

Data Access and Retention : Authors should provide raw data if allowable by the researcher’s institutional review board related to their manuscript for editorial review and must retain such data.

Fundamental Errors in Published Works : If at any point of time, the author(s) discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in submitted manuscript, then the error or inaccuracy must be reported to the editor.

Duties of Reviewers

Confidentiality : Information regarding manuscripts submitted by authors should be kept confidential and be treated as privileged information.

Acknowledgement of Sources : Manuscript reviewers must ensure that authors have acknowledged all sources of data used in the research. Any kind of similarity or overlap between the manuscripts under consideration or with any other published paper of which reviewer has personal knowledge must be immediately brought to the editor’s notice.

Standards of Objectivity : Review of submitted manuscripts must be done objectively and the reviewers should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.

Promptness : In the event that a reviewer feels it is not possible for him/her to complete review of manuscript within stipulated time then this information must be communicated to the editor, so that the manuscript could be sent to another reviewer.

The ethical guidelines for peer reviewers can be found  here .

• Subscription and Ordering Information
• Read Online:  JSTOR
• ISSN: 2639-7668
• e-ISSN: 2639-7676
• Frequency: annually
• First Issue: Volume 1 (January 2020)
• Advertising
• Permissions Request
• Website:  JEN Research Interest Group

• Search Menu

Sign in through your institution

• Browse content in Arts and Humanities
• Browse content in Archaeology
• Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Archaeology
• Archaeological Methodology and Techniques
• Archaeology by Region
• Archaeology of Religion
• Archaeology of Trade and Exchange
• Biblical Archaeology
• Contemporary and Public Archaeology
• Environmental Archaeology
• Historical Archaeology
• History and Theory of Archaeology
• Industrial Archaeology
• Landscape Archaeology
• Mortuary Archaeology
• Prehistoric Archaeology
• Underwater Archaeology
• Zooarchaeology
• Browse content in Architecture
• Architectural Structure and Design
• History of Architecture
• Residential and Domestic Buildings
• Theory of Architecture
• Browse content in Art
• Art Subjects and Themes
• History of Art
• Industrial and Commercial Art
• Theory of Art
• Biographical Studies
• Byzantine Studies
• Browse content in Classical Studies
• Classical Numismatics
• Classical Literature
• Classical Reception
• Classical History
• Classical Philosophy
• Classical Mythology
• Classical Art and Architecture
• Classical Oratory and Rhetoric
• Greek and Roman Papyrology
• Greek and Roman Archaeology
• Greek and Roman Epigraphy
• Greek and Roman Law
• Late Antiquity
• Religion in the Ancient World
• Social History
• Digital Humanities
• Browse content in History
• Colonialism and Imperialism
• Diplomatic History
• Environmental History
• Genealogy, Heraldry, Names, and Honours
• Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing
• Historical Geography
• History by Period
• History of Emotions
• History of Agriculture
• History of Education
• History of Gender and Sexuality
• Industrial History
• Intellectual History
• International History
• Labour History
• Legal and Constitutional History
• Local and Family History
• Maritime History
• Military History
• National Liberation and Post-Colonialism
• Oral History
• Political History
• Public History
• Regional and National History
• Revolutions and Rebellions
• Slavery and Abolition of Slavery
• Social and Cultural History
• Theory, Methods, and Historiography
• Urban History
• World History
• Browse content in Language Teaching and Learning
• Language Learning (Specific Skills)
• Language Teaching Theory and Methods
• Browse content in Linguistics
• Applied Linguistics
• Cognitive Linguistics
• Computational Linguistics
• Forensic Linguistics
• Grammar, Syntax and Morphology
• Historical and Diachronic Linguistics
• History of English
• Language Evolution
• Language Reference
• Language Variation
• Language Families
• Language Acquisition
• Lexicography
• Linguistic Anthropology
• Linguistic Theories
• Linguistic Typology
• Phonetics and Phonology
• Psycholinguistics
• Sociolinguistics
• Translation and Interpretation
• Writing Systems
• Browse content in Literature
• Bibliography
• Children's Literature Studies
• Literary Studies (Romanticism)
• Literary Studies (American)
• Literary Studies (Modernism)
• Literary Studies (Asian)
• Literary Studies (European)
• Literary Studies (Eco-criticism)
• Literary Studies - World
• Literary Studies (1500 to 1800)
• Literary Studies (19th Century)
• Literary Studies (20th Century onwards)
• Literary Studies (African American Literature)
• Literary Studies (British and Irish)
• Literary Studies (Early and Medieval)
• Literary Studies (Fiction, Novelists, and Prose Writers)
• Literary Studies (Gender Studies)
• Literary Studies (Graphic Novels)
• Literary Studies (History of the Book)
• Literary Studies (Plays and Playwrights)
• Literary Studies (Poetry and Poets)
• Literary Studies (Postcolonial Literature)
• Literary Studies (Queer Studies)
• Literary Studies (Science Fiction)
• Literary Studies (Travel Literature)
• Literary Studies (War Literature)
• Literary Studies (Women's Writing)
• Literary Theory and Cultural Studies
• Mythology and Folklore
• Shakespeare Studies and Criticism
• Browse content in Media Studies
• Browse content in Music
• Applied Music
• Dance and Music
• Ethics in Music
• Ethnomusicology
• Gender and Sexuality in Music
• Medicine and Music
• Music Cultures
• Music and Media
• Music and Culture
• Music and Religion
• Music Education and Pedagogy
• Music Theory and Analysis
• Musical Scores, Lyrics, and Libretti
• Musical Structures, Styles, and Techniques
• Musicology and Music History
• Performance Practice and Studies
• Race and Ethnicity in Music
• Sound Studies
• Browse content in Performing Arts
• Browse content in Philosophy
• Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art
• Epistemology
• Feminist Philosophy
• History of Western Philosophy
• Metaphysics
• Moral Philosophy
• Non-Western Philosophy
• Philosophy of Language
• Philosophy of Mind
• Philosophy of Perception
• Philosophy of Action
• Philosophy of Law
• Philosophy of Religion
• Philosophy of Science
• Philosophy of Mathematics and Logic
• Practical Ethics
• Social and Political Philosophy
• Browse content in Religion
• Biblical Studies
• Christianity
• East Asian Religions
• History of Religion
• Judaism and Jewish Studies
• Qumran Studies
• Religion and Education
• Religion and Health
• Religion and Politics
• Religion and Science
• Religion and Law
• Religion and Art, Literature, and Music
• Religious Studies
• Browse content in Society and Culture
• Cookery, Food, and Drink
• Cultural Studies
• Customs and Traditions
• Ethical Issues and Debates
• Hobbies, Games, Arts and Crafts
• Natural world, Country Life, and Pets
• Popular Beliefs and Controversial Knowledge
• Sports and Outdoor Recreation
• Technology and Society
• Travel and Holiday
• Visual Culture
• Browse content in Law
• Arbitration
• Browse content in Company and Commercial Law
• Commercial Law
• Company Law
• Browse content in Comparative Law
• Systems of Law
• Competition Law
• Browse content in Constitutional and Administrative Law
• Government Powers
• Judicial Review
• Local Government Law
• Military and Defence Law
• Parliamentary and Legislative Practice
• Construction Law
• Contract Law
• Browse content in Criminal Law
• Criminal Procedure
• Criminal Evidence Law
• Sentencing and Punishment
• Employment and Labour Law
• Environment and Energy Law
• Browse content in Financial Law
• Banking Law
• Insolvency Law
• History of Law
• Human Rights and Immigration
• Intellectual Property Law
• Browse content in International Law
• Private International Law and Conflict of Laws
• Public International Law
• IT and Communications Law
• Jurisprudence and Philosophy of Law
• Law and Society
• Law and Politics
• Browse content in Legal System and Practice
• Courts and Procedure
• Legal Skills and Practice
• Legal System - Costs and Funding
• Primary Sources of Law
• Regulation of Legal Profession
• Medical and Healthcare Law
• Browse content in Policing
• Criminal Investigation and Detection
• Police and Security Services
• Police Procedure and Law
• Police Regional Planning
• Browse content in Property Law
• Personal Property Law
• Restitution
• Study and Revision
• Terrorism and National Security Law
• Browse content in Trusts Law
• Wills and Probate or Succession
• Browse content in Medicine and Health
• Browse content in Allied Health Professions
• Arts Therapies
• Clinical Science
• Dietetics and Nutrition
• Occupational Therapy
• Operating Department Practice
• Physiotherapy
• Radiography
• Speech and Language Therapy
• Browse content in Anaesthetics
• General Anaesthesia
• Clinical Neuroscience
• Browse content in Clinical Medicine
• Acute Medicine
• Cardiovascular Medicine
• Clinical Genetics
• Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics
• Dermatology
• Endocrinology and Diabetes
• Gastroenterology
• Genito-urinary Medicine
• Geriatric Medicine
• Infectious Diseases
• Medical Toxicology
• Medical Oncology
• Pain Medicine
• Palliative Medicine
• Rehabilitation Medicine
• Respiratory Medicine and Pulmonology
• Rheumatology
• Sleep Medicine
• Sports and Exercise Medicine
• Community Medical Services
• Critical Care
• Emergency Medicine
• Forensic Medicine
• Haematology
• History of Medicine
• Browse content in Medical Skills
• Clinical Skills
• Communication Skills
• Nursing Skills
• Surgical Skills
• Medical Ethics
• Browse content in Medical Dentistry
• Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
• Paediatric Dentistry
• Restorative Dentistry and Orthodontics
• Surgical Dentistry
• Medical Statistics and Methodology
• Browse content in Neurology
• Clinical Neurophysiology
• Neuropathology
• Nursing Studies
• Browse content in Obstetrics and Gynaecology
• Gynaecology
• Occupational Medicine
• Ophthalmology
• Otolaryngology (ENT)
• Browse content in Paediatrics
• Neonatology
• Browse content in Pathology
• Chemical Pathology
• Clinical Cytogenetics and Molecular Genetics
• Histopathology
• Medical Microbiology and Virology
• Patient Education and Information
• Browse content in Pharmacology
• Psychopharmacology
• Browse content in Popular Health
• Caring for Others
• Complementary and Alternative Medicine
• Self-help and Personal Development
• Browse content in Preclinical Medicine
• Cell Biology
• Molecular Biology and Genetics
• Reproduction, Growth and Development
• Primary Care
• Professional Development in Medicine
• Browse content in Psychiatry
• Addiction Medicine
• Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
• Forensic Psychiatry
• Learning Disabilities
• Old Age Psychiatry
• Psychotherapy
• Browse content in Public Health and Epidemiology
• Epidemiology
• Public Health
• Browse content in Radiology
• Clinical Radiology
• Interventional Radiology
• Nuclear Medicine
• Radiation Oncology
• Reproductive Medicine
• Browse content in Surgery
• Cardiothoracic Surgery
• Gastro-intestinal and Colorectal Surgery
• General Surgery
• Neurosurgery
• Paediatric Surgery
• Peri-operative Care
• Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
• Surgical Oncology
• Transplant Surgery
• Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery
• Vascular Surgery
• Browse content in Science and Mathematics
• Browse content in Biological Sciences
• Aquatic Biology
• Biochemistry
• Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
• Developmental Biology
• Ecology and Conservation
• Evolutionary Biology
• Genetics and Genomics
• Microbiology
• Molecular and Cell Biology
• Natural History
• Plant Sciences and Forestry
• Research Methods in Life Sciences
• Structural Biology
• Systems Biology
• Zoology and Animal Sciences
• Browse content in Chemistry
• Analytical Chemistry
• Computational Chemistry
• Crystallography
• Environmental Chemistry
• Industrial Chemistry
• Inorganic Chemistry
• Materials Chemistry
• Medicinal Chemistry
• Mineralogy and Gems
• Organic Chemistry
• Physical Chemistry
• Polymer Chemistry
• Study and Communication Skills in Chemistry
• Theoretical Chemistry
• Browse content in Computer Science
• Artificial Intelligence
• Computer Architecture and Logic Design
• Game Studies
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Mathematical Theory of Computation
• Programming Languages
• Software Engineering
• Systems Analysis and Design
• Virtual Reality
• Browse content in Computing
• Business Applications
• Computer Games
• Computer Security
• Computer Networking and Communications
• Digital Lifestyle
• Graphical and Digital Media Applications
• Operating Systems
• Browse content in Earth Sciences and Geography
• Atmospheric Sciences
• Environmental Geography
• Geology and the Lithosphere
• Maps and Map-making
• Meteorology and Climatology
• Oceanography and Hydrology
• Palaeontology
• Physical Geography and Topography
• Regional Geography
• Soil Science
• Urban Geography
• Browse content in Engineering and Technology
• Agriculture and Farming
• Biological Engineering
• Civil Engineering, Surveying, and Building
• Electronics and Communications Engineering
• Energy Technology
• Engineering (General)
• Environmental Science, Engineering, and Technology
• History of Engineering and Technology
• Mechanical Engineering and Materials
• Technology of Industrial Chemistry
• Transport Technology and Trades
• Browse content in Environmental Science
• Applied Ecology (Environmental Science)
• Conservation of the Environment (Environmental Science)
• Environmental Sustainability
• Environmentalist Thought and Ideology (Environmental Science)
• Management of Land and Natural Resources (Environmental Science)
• Natural Disasters (Environmental Science)
• Nuclear Issues (Environmental Science)
• Pollution and Threats to the Environment (Environmental Science)
• Social Impact of Environmental Issues (Environmental Science)
• History of Science and Technology
• Browse content in Materials Science
• Ceramics and Glasses
• Composite Materials
• Metals, Alloying, and Corrosion
• Nanotechnology
• Browse content in Mathematics
• Applied Mathematics
• Biomathematics and Statistics
• History of Mathematics
• Mathematical Education
• Mathematical Finance
• Mathematical Analysis
• Numerical and Computational Mathematics
• Probability and Statistics
• Pure Mathematics
• Browse content in Neuroscience
• Cognition and Behavioural Neuroscience
• Development of the Nervous System
• Disorders of the Nervous System
• History of Neuroscience
• Invertebrate Neurobiology
• Molecular and Cellular Systems
• Neuroendocrinology and Autonomic Nervous System
• Neuroscientific Techniques
• Sensory and Motor Systems
• Browse content in Physics
• Astronomy and Astrophysics
• Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics
• Biological and Medical Physics
• Classical Mechanics
• Computational Physics
• Condensed Matter Physics
• Electromagnetism, Optics, and Acoustics
• History of Physics
• Mathematical and Statistical Physics
• Measurement Science
• Nuclear Physics
• Particles and Fields
• Plasma Physics
• Quantum Physics
• Relativity and Gravitation
• Semiconductor and Mesoscopic Physics
• Browse content in Psychology
• Affective Sciences
• Clinical Psychology
• Cognitive Psychology
• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Criminal and Forensic Psychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Educational Psychology
• Evolutionary Psychology
• Health Psychology
• History and Systems in Psychology
• Music Psychology
• Neuropsychology
• Organizational Psychology
• Psychological Assessment and Testing
• Psychology of Human-Technology Interaction
• Psychology Professional Development and Training
• Research Methods in Psychology
• Social Psychology
• Browse content in Social Sciences
• Browse content in Anthropology
• Anthropology of Religion
• Human Evolution
• Medical Anthropology
• Physical Anthropology
• Regional Anthropology
• Social and Cultural Anthropology
• Theory and Practice of Anthropology
• Browse content in Business and Management
• Business Ethics
• Business History
• Business Strategy
• Business and Technology
• Business and Government
• Business and the Environment
• Comparative Management
• Corporate Governance
• Corporate Social Responsibility
• Entrepreneurship
• Health Management
• Human Resource Management
• Industrial and Employment Relations
• Industry Studies
• Information and Communication Technologies
• International Business
• Knowledge Management
• Management and Management Techniques
• Operations Management
• Organizational Theory and Behaviour
• Pensions and Pension Management
• Public and Nonprofit Management
• Social Issues in Business and Management
• Strategic Management
• Supply Chain Management
• Browse content in Criminology and Criminal Justice
• Criminal Justice
• Criminology
• Forms of Crime
• International and Comparative Criminology
• Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice
• Development Studies
• Browse content in Economics
• Agricultural, Environmental, and Natural Resource Economics
• Asian Economics
• Behavioural Finance
• Behavioural Economics and Neuroeconomics
• Econometrics and Mathematical Economics
• Economic History
• Economic Methodology
• Economic Systems
• Economic Development and Growth
• Financial Markets
• Financial Institutions and Services
• General Economics and Teaching
• Health, Education, and Welfare
• History of Economic Thought
• International Economics
• Labour and Demographic Economics
• Law and Economics
• Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics
• Microeconomics
• Public Economics
• Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics
• Welfare Economics
• Browse content in Education
• Adult Education and Continuous Learning
• Care and Counselling of Students
• Early Childhood and Elementary Education
• Educational Equipment and Technology
• Educational Strategies and Policy
• Higher and Further Education
• Organization and Management of Education
• Philosophy and Theory of Education
• Schools Studies
• Secondary Education
• Teaching of a Specific Subject
• Teaching of Specific Groups and Special Educational Needs
• Teaching Skills and Techniques
• Browse content in Environment
• Applied Ecology (Social Science)
• Climate Change
• Conservation of the Environment (Social Science)
• Environmentalist Thought and Ideology (Social Science)
• Management of Land and Natural Resources (Social Science)
• Natural Disasters (Environment)
• Pollution and Threats to the Environment (Social Science)
• Social Impact of Environmental Issues (Social Science)
• Sustainability
• Browse content in Human Geography
• Cultural Geography
• Economic Geography
• Political Geography
• Browse content in Interdisciplinary Studies
• Communication Studies
• Museums, Libraries, and Information Sciences
• Browse content in Politics
• African Politics
• Asian Politics
• Chinese Politics
• Comparative Politics
• Conflict Politics
• Elections and Electoral Studies
• Environmental Politics
• Ethnic Politics
• European Union
• Foreign Policy
• Gender and Politics
• Human Rights and Politics
• Indian Politics
• International Relations
• International Organization (Politics)
• Irish Politics
• Latin American Politics
• Middle Eastern Politics
• Political Behaviour
• Political Economy
• Political Institutions
• Political Theory
• Political Methodology
• Political Communication
• Political Philosophy
• Political Sociology
• Politics and Law
• Politics of Development
• Public Policy
• Public Administration
• Qualitative Political Methodology
• Quantitative Political Methodology
• Regional Political Studies
• Russian Politics
• Security Studies
• State and Local Government
• UK Politics
• US Politics
• Browse content in Regional and Area Studies
• African Studies
• Asian Studies
• East Asian Studies
• Japanese Studies
• Latin American Studies
• Middle Eastern Studies
• Native American Studies
• Scottish Studies
• Browse content in Research and Information
• Research Methods
• Browse content in Social Work
• Addictions and Substance Misuse
• Adoption and Fostering
• Care of the Elderly
• Child and Adolescent Social Work
• Couple and Family Social Work
• Direct Practice and Clinical Social Work
• Emergency Services
• Human Behaviour and the Social Environment
• International and Global Issues in Social Work
• Mental and Behavioural Health
• Social Justice and Human Rights
• Social Policy and Advocacy
• Social Work and Crime and Justice
• Social Work Macro Practice
• Social Work Practice Settings
• Social Work Research and Evidence-based Practice
• Welfare and Benefit Systems
• Browse content in Sociology
• Childhood Studies
• Community Development
• Comparative and Historical Sociology
• Disability Studies
• Economic Sociology
• Gender and Sexuality
• Gerontology and Ageing
• Health, Illness, and Medicine
• Marriage and the Family
• Migration Studies
• Occupations, Professions, and Work
• Organizations
• Population and Demography
• Race and Ethnicity
• Social Theory
• Social Movements and Social Change
• Social Research and Statistics
• Social Stratification, Inequality, and Mobility
• Sociology of Religion
• Sociology of Education
• Sport and Leisure
• Urban and Rural Studies
• Browse content in Warfare and Defence
• Defence Strategy, Planning, and Research
• Land Forces and Warfare
• Military Administration
• Military Life and Institutions
• Naval Forces and Warfare
• Other Warfare and Defence Issues
• Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution
• Weapons and Equipment

• < Previous chapter
• Next chapter >

3 The Jazz Age

• Published: March 2021
• Cite Icon Cite
• Permissions Icon Permissions

This chapter traces the rise of Louis Armstrong to stardom during the 1920s, and the emergence of jazz as the defining music of the decade—a period now often called the “Jazz Age.” Armstrong’s historic recordings, the “Hot Fives” and “Hot Sevens,” are assessed, as well as his work with influential pianist Earl Hines. These developments are placed in the context of the growing importance of Chicago in the jazz world of this era, and the stylistic changes brought about by this geographical shift. The chapter also looks at the leading exponents of Chicago jazz, especially cornetist Bix Beiderbecke and saxophonist Frankie Trumbauer, as well as the work of Paul Whiteman, Pee Wee Russell, Sidney Bechet, and Jack Teagarden.

Personal account

• Sign in with email/username & password
• Get email alerts
• Save searches
• Purchase content
• Activate your purchase/trial code
• Add your ORCID iD

Institutional access

Sign in with a library card.

• Sign in with username/password
• Recommend to your librarian
• Institutional account management
• Get help with access

Access to content on Oxford Academic is often provided through institutional subscriptions and purchases. If you are a member of an institution with an active account, you may be able to access content in one of the following ways:

IP based access

Typically, access is provided across an institutional network to a range of IP addresses. This authentication occurs automatically, and it is not possible to sign out of an IP authenticated account.

Choose this option to get remote access when outside your institution. Shibboleth/Open Athens technology is used to provide single sign-on between your institution’s website and Oxford Academic.

• Click Sign in through your institution.
• Select your institution from the list provided, which will take you to your institution's website to sign in.
• When on the institution site, please use the credentials provided by your institution. Do not use an Oxford Academic personal account.
• Following successful sign in, you will be returned to Oxford Academic.

If your institution is not listed or you cannot sign in to your institution’s website, please contact your librarian or administrator.

Enter your library card number to sign in. If you cannot sign in, please contact your librarian.

Society Members

Society member access to a journal is achieved in one of the following ways:

Sign in through society site

Many societies offer single sign-on between the society website and Oxford Academic. If you see ‘Sign in through society site’ in the sign in pane within a journal:

• Click Sign in through society site.
• When on the society site, please use the credentials provided by that society. Do not use an Oxford Academic personal account.

If you do not have a society account or have forgotten your username or password, please contact your society.

Sign in using a personal account

Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members. See below.

A personal account can be used to get email alerts, save searches, purchase content, and activate subscriptions.

Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members.

Viewing your signed in accounts

Click the account icon in the top right to:

• View your signed in personal account and access account management features.
• View the institutional accounts that are providing access.

Signed in but can't access content

Oxford Academic is home to a wide variety of products. The institutional subscription may not cover the content that you are trying to access. If you believe you should have access to that content, please contact your librarian.

For librarians and administrators, your personal account also provides access to institutional account management. Here you will find options to view and activate subscriptions, manage institutional settings and access options, access usage statistics, and more.

Our books are available by subscription or purchase to libraries and institutions.

• About Oxford Academic
• Publish journals with us
• University press partners
• What we publish
• New features  
• Open access
• Rights and permissions
• Accessibility
• Advertising
• Media enquiries
• Oxford University Press
• Oxford Languages
• University of Oxford

Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide

• Copyright © 2024 Oxford University Press
• Cookie settings
• Cookie policy
• Privacy policy
• Legal notice

This Feature Is Available To Subscribers Only

Sign In or Create an Account

This PDF is available to Subscribers Only

For full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription.

Jazz Research Journal

About the Journal

The journal aims to represent a range of disciplinary perspectives on jazz, from ethnography to film studies, sociology to cultural studies, and offers a platform for new thinking on jazz. In this respect, the editors particularly welcome articles that challenge traditional approaches to jazz and encourage writings that engage with jazz as a discursive practice. Read more about the journal.

Announcements

Call for papers: does it work exploring the reduction of gender-based sexism, discrimination, and violence in jazz and improvised music.

Call for Papers: Does it work? Exploring the reduction of gender-based sexism, discrimination, and violence in jazz and improvised music Jazz Research Journal special issue, Winter 2025 Editors: Marie Buscatto (University Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne) and Sarah Raine (University College Dublin)

Call for Papers: Creative Practice in Jazz Research

Current issue, gender and jazz research in spain on the way to finding its own voice.

• Requires Subscription or Fee PDF (GBP 23)
• Requires Subscription or Fee HTML (GBP 23)

Green in blue The environmental impacts of jazz production and consumption

Creating the improvised moment, the changing face of my jazz photographic practice, challenging subjects; inclusivity and diversity code of conduct, quota, tokenism, anti-oppression and the likes - an invitation for debate, review article, william sites, sun ra’s chicago: afrofuturism and the city, jen wilson, freedom music: wales, emancipation and jazz 1850–1950, subscription.

Login to access subscriber-only resources.

Information

Accessibility

Unsubscribe

Latest publications

Equinox Publishing Ltd - 415 The Workstation 15 Paternoster Row, Sheffield, S1 2BX United Kingdom Telephone: +44 (0)114 221-0285 

Privacy Policy

Four Case Studies on the Spread of Early Jazz

by Elijah Culp, Sam Harris, Zane Ross, and Lauren Vilendrer

One of the most heavily debated topics in modern music history is the origins of jazz in the United States. With jazz being a quintessential example of American art, scholars have extensively researched and debated its origins in order to understand both how jazz began and the great impact it has had on American culture. Early roots of jazz are firmly embedded in ragtime and blues music, but today the genre is defined as a broad style of music, encapsulating complex harmonies, syncopated rhythms, and an emphasis on improvisation. Most music historians agree that the spread of jazz took place during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, and credit New Orleans, Louisiana, as a key location in its early development. Jazz then spread from New Orleans to various locations across the United States, most predominantly to New York City and Chicago as a part of The Great Migration. This spread of jazz from New Orleans to other locations across the United States is large in part due to The Great Migration The specialization of race in the early twentieth-century United States focuses a lot on this: jazz emerged from New Orleans and spread quickly elsewhere because the Black Americans who invented it were in the process of moving all over.

The emergence of jazz indisputably challenged the conventions of American music and the norms of Western classical music. These challenges came in the form of various social factors at the core of jazz—including race, ethnicity, and the reflection and celebration of African and African American culture. Meanwhile, the conventions of Western classical music dictated a more exclusive and formal role for musical performers and their audiences alike. Instruction in music was reserved for members of Western classical musical society, many times excluding women, people of color, and indigenous peoples. The appeal of jazz to black and white audiences brought backlash, and with the backlash came the spread of generalized misconceptions. These misconceptions, rooted in the belief of white racial superiority, included labeling jazz “merely as a product of noble savages – music produced by untutored, unbuttoned semi literates” 1 . Racist myths like this perpetuate racial prejudice and complicate the process of comprehending the origin story of jazz. The story of jazz must acknowledge the unfortunate reality of the Jim Crow Era and the legal (and often violent) segregation of daily life that denied musicians of color access to equal quality educational opportunities as white people, let alone the chance to learn and read music. 

Our team utilized an online mapping program, ArcGIS StoryMaps, as a method to depict the emergence of early jazz in New Orleans and its spread to other locations across the United States. With the help of ArcGIS, our maps display plotted points accompanied by dates, textual evidence, and recordings. Our motivation for this project is to ground the origins and spread of early jazz through the lives of the musicians who made it. We chose to highlight four of the most prominent early jazz musicians in this project not only because of their central roles in the development of jazz but because they represent jazz as a phenomenon at once local, national, and global, right from the start. We have identified Buddy Bolden, Joseph “King” Oliver and his Creole Jazz Band, Sidney Bechet, and Jelly Roll Morton as four jazz pioneers, and these musicians will serve as our vehicles for understanding the spread of early jazz.

Jelly Roll Morton

In search of the historic origins of jazz, one must pay special attention to Jelly Roll Morton, the self-professed inventor of the genre itself. Morton was born as Ferdinand Joseph La Menthe, his name as multicultural as the city from which he hailed…

Buddy Bolden

Buddy Bolden is widely regarded as the first musician to partake in the practice of spontaneous improvisation within the jazz tradition, and therefore many scholars claim that Bolden…

Sidney Bechet

Perhaps no other jazz musician worked with as many of the genre’s early greats as Sidney Bechet. Sidney Bechet was a famous jazz clarinetist and soprano saxophone player born on May 14, 1897 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Bechet family…

King Oliver

King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band has been reported as a “live sensation” and one of the first Black New Orleans jazz ensembles to gain recognition in the recording industry. For these reasons…

Our Findings

Some general trends emerge in our research that reframe our thinking about the spread of jazz. The geographical travel of these musicians throughout their careers was most likely highly motivated by the economy. Jazz musicians had to seek out where jobs existed in the form of residencies, gigs, tours, and other performance opportunities. In this sense, the mythos of “jazz spreading from New Orleans to up North” is proven and disproven; while many did make their way to Chicago and New York, it was only when a job opportunity presented itself. Pretending that the North was the final destination for these musicians diminishes their expansive geographical impact, as many of the musicians left the North and found work in areas such as Europe or on the West Coast of the United States. 

Although early jazz seems to have been studied extensively, we believe there is still room for further research. We must start by acknowledging the lack of female musicians involved in the spread of early jazz, as seen in our data. This trend is partly due to the individuals we chose to focus on, as they were all African American men. We chose to focus on Morton, Bechet, Bolden, and Oliver because they had been cited as key figures in the history of early jazz, a history that notably tends to overlook female musicians. This could be because of societal practices in musician circles, the ability for women to be employed as musicians at bars and brothels where longer-term employment existed, bias among music historians (themselves mostly men until the last few decades), or a genuine lack of documentation in primary and secondary sources. We cannot attempt to answer the questions surrounding women in early jazz as our data on it is virtually non-existent; this provides an opportunity for continued study for another research group. The prominent impact of artists’ monetary needs reframes our thinking, as we are no longer just looking at the musicians, but also the economics that shaped the spread of early jazz. This calls for further investigation into the money musicians were paid, and where their revenue came from. In grounding the early spread of jazz through mapping, our eyes are opened to see the truths and lies in the mythos of the spread of Jazz. Through this, we start to move past accepting this narrative towards understanding why it took over the nation the way it did.

Get to know our four team members who put this project together!

Our Methodology

 This research group chose to study Jelly Roll Morton, Buddy Bolden, Sidney Bechet, and Joe “King” Oliver because they were cited in prior academic writing…

Our Sources

To better understand our research and follow our own learning, head to our bibliography below!

1 “What Jazz Is – and Isn’t.” Wynton Marsalis, https://wyntonmarsalis.org/news/entry/music-what-jazz-is-and-isnt .  

Boatwright Memorial Library

• Basic Reference
• Classical Music Research
• Global Music Research
• Popular Music Research
• Jazz Research
• Piano Research
• Streaming Video & Audio
• Journal Articles
• Recommended Websites
• Parsons Music Library
• Department of Music

USING ONESEARCH FOR JAZZ RESEARCH

In addition to searching for proper names, it can be helpful to enter subject terms into OneSearch

JOURNAL ARTICLES ON JAZZ TOPICS

Use the journal indexes below to find articles on jazz topics.   The Music Periodicals Database has the broadest coverage, with many full-text articles.  JSTOR offers recent scholarly articles in many subject areas.  RILM Abstracts contains only scholarly material, including dissertations and conference papers.

WEBSITES FOR JAZZ

• All About Jazz A comprehensive portal featuring news, reviews, profiles, and forums, plus monthly venue schedules for the NY metro area.
• Institute of Jazz Studies Located at Rutgers University, this is the largest and most comprehensive library and archive of jazz materials in the world.
• Center for Jazz Studies A unit of Columbia University that offers classes, exhibitions, lectures, performances, and scholarly resources in jazz studies.
• Smithsonian Jazz Home to the Duke Ellington Archive, Jazz Appreciation Month, the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, and an online youth education curriculum.
• Jazz at Lincoln Center Its NYC venue houses performance space and the Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame. Sponsors "Jazz in the Schools" and other educational activities.
• Chicago Jazz Archive A University of Chicago site focusing on a variety of local jazz musicians and styles.

WHERE TO START

To get an overview of a jazz topic, try  Grove Music Online .  It gives background information and bibliographies. All Music Guide is another good place to look for information about jazz artists and genres.

Eddie Meadows' book, Jazz Scholarship and Pedagogy , is an annotated bibliography of books, recordings, videos, and websites.

• << Previous: Popular Music Research
• Next: Piano Research >>

History of Jazz Music Research Paper

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

Music has multipurpose, which range from entertainment, aesthetic value, and symbol to communication. Since ancient time different genres of music, musical instruments and musicians have evolved. Music genres such as classics, rock, soul, and jazz have undergone considerable growth and development throughout the history.

Consequently, a number of personalities contributed to the growth of music. On the other hand, the development or emergence of diverse musical instruments like guitar, saxophone, flutes, and drums among others are the key to composition of diverse or good music. For instance, America is the home for jazz where it represented not only the diverse culture but also the personality and lifestyle of the Americans. Famous jazz musicians like Lucas Armstrong were among the men behind the development of jazz.

Due to its popularity and advancement, jazz is expanding in all directions of music, from dancing styles to individual artist style. The emergence of recording studios, cultural festivities led to the development, high spread, and awareness of jazz music in Europe.

Due to the unification of different states, America enjoys a diverse culture, which is the basis for the growth of jazz in the world (Feather 5).

Jazz was originally common in bars but the dynamicity of cultures and languages has made it pave its way into clubs, schools/university halls, during concerts or festive celebrations. Similarly, the jazz music is evolving in line with the changing culture; each generation slowly contributes to its growth. According to Merriam, jazz music has led to the stability and integration of societal cultures (7).

Due to the effect of jazz, racial discrimination declined as both the blacks and white could form a single band thus promoting unity. States like New Orleans, Louisiana are the main cities where jazz originated because people usually converged in the two cities to present the diverse music genres.

For instance, Classical music from Europe and blues from south America or America led to the birth of jazz as a genre of music. Unfortunately, the word jazz is yet to trace its roots or originality. Therefore, jazz is a collection of different genres of music from America, Europe, Africa, and Asia.

Different people led to the development and growth of jazz music. Louis Armstrong is the father of jazz music that is in the current music industry (Haskins 8). Born in 1911, Louis was not only artistic but also talented, a fact that made him to outshine his competitors.

He slowly changed his music instrument from a cornet to a trumpet player, which is currently the basic tool in jazz music. He was perfect and sophisticated attracting large crowds during his music tours in New York, Chicago, and Illinois among other cities in the United States.

Due to his talent, he was a singer with excellent trumpeting skills, a bandleader, and a music composer during the twentieth century. Although he died about two decades ago, his legacy still lives because all jazz musicians look up to his skills for best results. As the godfather of jazz music, currently the famous jazz musicians like Duke Ellington and Dizzy Gillespie look up to him as a source of inspiration.

Others like Ella Fitzgerald consider him as the source of their creativity especially when composing, writing or singing jazz music. Therefore, the growth of jazz music cannot end without the consideration of the ancient famous jazz musician, Louis Armstrong.

The major instrument that must accompany musicians while playing jazz music is the trumpet. The historical jazz players include Clifford Brown, Jon Faddis, Harry James and Wallace Rooney -the list is endless (Tarr 25). Nevertheless, the emergence of instruments like saxophone and techniques like music recording, phonograph, and record player promoted the growth of jazz music.

Additionally, the discovery of entertainment facilities like the radio stations promoted the popularity of the music worldwide. To promote their music, the jazz musicians formed band, which performed during cultural festival or in dance halls. On the other hand, the emergence of other instruments like drums has led to the distinction of jazz music (Fordham 1).

Therefore, every musician incorporates his/her instruments, tactics, and culture to suit her/his audience. Consequently, the music industry, categorizes the jazz music as classical jazz, rock jazz or Latin jazz among others. Rock jazz combines rock stars and jazz musicians while Latin jazz traces its origin for Latin America. Therefore, as the jazz music continues to spread so does the sub-genres.

The development of jazz language, orchestrations, and formation of bands widely contributed to the growth of jazz music. The bands opened door for musicians to try out and improvise new performing techniques.

Bebop is one of the ancient styles that came into existence due to the intellectual level of Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker; the two were talented trumpeter and saxophonist respectively (Fordham 20). The development of big bands, which led to the evolution of Bebop, stabilized the jazz music. Consequently, swing style emerged from the big ands.

The swing singing and dancing style was a symbol of peace in a person’s mind. The technique originated from formation of orchestras whereby a variety of instruments like piano, trumpet, saxophone, and trombone among others led to the cultivation of a single rhythm. Usually the instruments are in groups of two, three, and four and so on to produce a specific rhythm.

The swing style pioneered the development of other styles, which differ for each artist. Currently, each of the jazz musicians has a unique style that identifies him or her. The commemoration of the Charlie Parker in Kansas has led to the rebirth of swing dance but integrated with the modern dance styles and advanced musical instruments.

Scat is the main language that led to the growth of jazz music. The historical vocalists like Sarah Vaughn with the band singers had to mimic vocals or the sounds of the instruments like the trumpets, drums, and piano among others. By 1940, a new style like “Boogie woogie” developed to increase the music rhythm (Feather 10).

In 1950, jazz music became “rock and roll music” but in the twenty first century, every country or an artist embraces its individual style (Haskins 15). Currently, America holds the highest number of jazz vocals in the world owing to the fact that it is the origin of the music.

Before Jazz music became popular, the artists and fans of the music especially American experienced many challenges. There was racial discrimination, emergence of rock music and the closure of many clubs to curb alcoholism and smoking. For instance, after gaining much fame in 1940s, the evolution of rock music in 1960 diverted people’s attention from jazz to rock. Sadly, most of the nightclubs, radio stations, and music recorders concentrated on rock music.

Some of the bars and night clubs denied the jazz musician a chance to perform therefore destabilizing the music. When the jazz music was beginning to come into the limelight, the United States government banned smoking and drinking in clubs. Thus, the jazz musicians could not perform because the law enforcers were on the look out to arrest anybody found in the clubs or prohibited places.

The prohibition led to the slow growth of jazz music as people could not freely converge to attend a music concert in the bars. Additionally, the musicians had to perform in clubs, which were located underground with concealed identity. Regrettably, racial discrimination was dominant in the twentieth century.

The black people could not collaborate with the white people therefore hindering the growth of the music. Due to the inability to collaborate, talents from different races went unnoticed. In 1950, the popularity of jazz music slowly killed the racial issue, which saw the formation of interracial bands.

The collaboration of Benn Goodman and Teddy Wilson was the first interaction between black and white. After sometime, there very many interracial bands or groups and the individuals had a chance to learn diverse skills from each other leading to the growth of jazz music.

In the contemporary world, jazz music is common in schools, universities, discos and all other social places. Schools, which teach jazz dance and vocals, are everywhere while individuals have specialized in jazz music at different capacities such as teachers or musicians, which enable them to earn a living.

The music industry has developed modern instruments like trumpets, drums and brass, which accelerates the growth of the music. Some musicians have transformed the music by incorporating in beats while others have adopted their orchestra in form of cinemas. To spice up the music, the pop stars like Amy Winehouse and the late Michael Jackson combined pop and jazz, which is successful in America.

Additionally, the gospel lovers are incorporating jazz style in the music leading to its spread. Although there were fears for the extinction of the old jazz music styles, current artists usually incorporate the ancient styles into the modern styles therefore balancing the two.

Finally, in the modern times jazz music has promoted peace, unity, and love among different countries. In addition, people from different culture come together to learn, accept, compare, and appreciate the cultural diversities in the modern world though jazz music.

In summary, music is a subject in the world that has enabled people to live in harmony. Development of musical instruments like guitar, saxophone, piano, and tambourine among others led to the evolution music genres like jazz. Historically, jazz originated from America especially in the city of New Orleans, Louisiana in the 1930s.

Cultural diversity due to slavery is the main factor, which engineered the evolution of jazz. Louis Armstrong is the core founder of jazz; he artistically played the trumpet raising him to the level of a celebrity. The current jazz musicians consider him as an inspiration and mentor to the jazz music.

Through the formation of bands and collaboration of people with different talents, jazz music rose to international levels. Although the growth slowed due to obstacles like racial segregation, jazz music has spread in all social places in the modern world. The music promotes unity because it enhances interaction of people from all over the world.

Works Cited

Feather, Leonard. The Jazz Years: Earwitness to an Era . New York: Da Capo Press, 1987.

Fordham, John. Jazz . London: Dorling Kindersley, 1993.

Haskins, James. Black Music in America: A History through Its People . New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1987.

Merriam, Alan. The anthropology of music . United States: Northwestern university press, 1964.

Tarr, Edward. The Trumpet . Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press, 1988.

• Importance of Sound
• How Music Influenced English Poetry Until 1750
• "The Man I Love" Performance Comparison
• Jazz Concert
• “Round Midnight” by Carmen Sings Monk vs. “Hotter than That” by Louis Armstrong
• Popular Music and Thinking Errors
• Alternative Culture and Postmodernism
• Hip Hop Influence on Youth: Statistics and Effects
• Summary of Chapters on Music
• Concert Review: Arnold Schoenberg’s 1909 Pieces Replay
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2018, June 7). History of Jazz Music. https://ivypanda.com/essays/history-of-jazz/

"History of Jazz Music." IvyPanda , 7 June 2018, ivypanda.com/essays/history-of-jazz/.

IvyPanda . (2018) 'History of Jazz Music'. 7 June.

IvyPanda . 2018. "History of Jazz Music." June 7, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/history-of-jazz/.

1. IvyPanda . "History of Jazz Music." June 7, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/history-of-jazz/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "History of Jazz Music." June 7, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/history-of-jazz/.

“The Jazz Age”

1920s America – 50 Resources for High school Students

“And as I sat there brooding on the old, unknown world, I thought of Gatsby’s wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock. He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night.” -F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby , 1925

In Pioneer’s ongoing series of blogs here , here , here , and here on curricular resources for parents, families, and teachers during COVID-19, this one focuses on:

Celebrating The Roaring 20s in America.

“The parties were bigger. The pace was faster, the shows were broader, the buildings were higher, the morals were looser, and the liquor was cheaper,” observed Nick Carraway, the narrator of The Great Gatsby . The horrors of the First World War and the 1918 Flu Epidemic coupled with the rising consumerism, Hollywood’s movie culture, the 1919 Chicago Black Sox scandal, and the growth of professional sports, Prohibition, and jazz music ushered in 1920s America. It was among the most interesting, exciting, and entertaining decades in the nation’s history, and still leaves a powerful imprint on our culture and world today.

The ‘20s figures were larger than life. Babe Ruth, perhaps still the greatest, most celebrated figure in the history of sports, earned his own adjective – “Ruthian.” Charles Lindbergh, the first human to fly solo over the Atlantic Ocean and the modern age’s first international media celebrity, was the prototypical American hero, before later falling from grace.

A noisy and frenetic decade, it created high and low art and timeless music, including lyrically introspective novels from F. Scott Fitzgerald; poignant poetry from Langston Hughes; as well as blues and jazz from African-American geniuses like Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong, and Duke Ellington. There were also Broadway shows, playful tunes, and popular movies from Cole Porter, George Gershwin, and Cecil B. DeMille. Widely distributed and increasingly fashionable, the American entertainment culture was improvised across the country and exported to the world. And it remains among the best examples of democratic art ever produced.

Nineteen Twenties politics were at once conservative, liberal, radical, nativist, and progressive. Paradoxically, the man at the center of it all was an introvert. President Calvin Coolidge, a New England Yankee with a stoic temperament and few words, was perhaps our last truly constitutionally-centered president. His famous political maxims: “It is much more important to kill bad bills than to pass good ones” and “the chief business of the American people is business,” contain much practical wisdom we could learn from today.

The Roaring ‘20s started with a post-war boom and ended with financial disaster when the Stock Market crashed in 1929. Having replaced London as the financial center of the world after WWI, New York City’s message of razzle dazzle advertising, cheap credit, mounting debt, hype-driven speculation, and renegade consumerism, ultimately all came to an abrupt end with the 1929 Crash. But the impact of NYC’s and America’s aura of limitlessness and materialism penetrated deep into the national soul across the 20 th century. It’s all perhaps best captured by the sage of the 1920s, F. Scott Fitzgerald, in his essay, My Lost City :

“From the ruins rose the Empire State Building, lonely and inexplicable as the Sphinx and, just as it had been a tradition of mine to climb to the Plaza Roof to take leave of the beautiful city, extending as far as eyes could reach, so now I went to the roof of the last and most magnificent of towers. Then I understood—everything was explained: I had discovered the crowning error of the city, its Pandora’s Box. Full of vaunting pride the New Yorker had climbed here and seen with dismay what he had never suspected, that the city was not the endless succession of canyons that he had supposed but that it had limits—from the tallest structure he saw for the first time that it faded out into the country on all sides, into an expanse of green and blue that alone was limitless. And with the awful realization that New York was a city after all and not a universe, the whole shining edifice that he had reared in his imagination came crashing to the ground.”

American schoolchildren need to know more about the basics of the history of and lessons from the 1920s, which did as much as any decade to shape our modern country in the last century. To remedy this, we’re offering a variety of resources to help parents, teachers, and high schoolers:

Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920s (Harper Perennial Modern Classics), by Frederick Lewis Allen

This Side of Paradise, by F. Scott Fitzgerald

A Flame of Pure Fire: Jack Dempsey and the Roaring ’20s, by Roger Kahn

The First Red Scare

Prohibition, by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick

The Age of Innocence, by Edith Wharton

Rothstein: The Life, Times, and Murder of the Criminal Genius Who Fixed the 1919 World Series, by David Pietrusza

Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

Sacco and Vanzetti: The Men, the Murders, and the Judgment of Mankind, by Bruce Watson

Negro League Baseball

The Waste Land, by T. S. Eliot

The Teapot Dome Scandal: How Big Oil Bought the Harding White House and Tried to Steal the Country, by Laton McCartney

Coolidge, by Amity Shlaes

Mellon: An American Life, by David Cannadine

The Life of Langston Hughes: Volume I: 1902-1941: I, Too, Sing America, by Arnold Rampersad

Empire of Dreams: The Epic Life of Cecil B. DeMille, Scott Eyman

The Collection, Bessie Smith

Charles Evans Hughes

Harlem Renaissance

Scott Fitzgerald: A Biography, by Jeffrey Meyers

Zelda Fitzgerald: The Tragic, Meticulously Researched Biography of the Jazz Age’s High Priestess, by Sally Cline

The Complete Hot Five & Hot Seven Recordings (CD), Louis Armstrong

Flapper: A Madcap Story of Sex, Style, Celebrity, and the Women Who Made America Modern, by Joshua Zeitz

Houdini!!!: The Career of Ehrich Weiss, by Kenneth Silverman

Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America’s Continuing Debate over Science and Religion, Edward J. Larson

Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston, by Valerie Boyd

Charmed Circle: Gertrude Stein & Company, by James R. Mellow

The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway

Anything Goes: A Biography of the Roaring Twenties, by Lucy Moore

Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong, by Terry Teachout

The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Duke: A Life of Duke Ellington, by Terry Teachout

Chaplin: His Life and Art, by David Robinson

Manhattan Transfer, by John Dos Passos

Women of the 1920s: Style, Glamour, and the Avant-Garde, by Thomas Bleitner

The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy, by David Nasaw

Gloria Swanson: The Ultimate Star, by Stephen Michael Shearer

Babe: The Legend Comes to Life, by Robert Creamer

Josephine: The Hungry Heart, by Jean-Claude Baker

Jimmie Rodgers

Cole Porter, by William McBrien

Amelia Lost: The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart, by Candace Fleming

Art Deco Complete: The Definitive Guide to the Decorative Arts of the 1920s, by Alastair Duncan

Capone: The Man and the Era, by Laurence Bergreen

The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes, by Langston Hughes (Author) and Arnold Rampersad (Editor)

George Gershwin

The Okeh Ellington (CD), Duke Ellington and His Orchestra

Lindbergh, by A. Scott Berg

Mickey Mouse

Rainbow’s End: The Crash of 1929 (Pivotal Moments in American History), by Maury Klein

Click here to learn more.

Remote learning resources.

Click to visit our Remote Learning Resources homepage!

Get Updates on our Education Research!

• Name First Last

Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.

To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to  upgrade your browser .

•  We're Hiring!
•  Help Center

The Jazz Age

• Most Cited Papers
• Most Downloaded Papers
• Newest Papers
• Scott Fitzgerald The Great Gatsby Follow Following
• Faculdade De Letras Da Universidade De Coimbra Follow Following
• Modernism Follow Following
• Metropolitan Youth Culture Follow Following
• 20th Century American Follow Following
• Jazz History Follow Following
• Jazz Studies Follow Following
• England Follow Following
• The American Dream in the Great Gatsby Follow Following
• The Lost Generation Follow Following

Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link.

• Academia.edu Journals
•   We're Hiring!
•   Help Center
• Find new research papers in:
• Health Sciences
• Earth Sciences
• Cognitive Science
• Mathematics
• Computer Science
• Academia ©2024