I don’t know where jazz is going. Maybe it’s going to hell. You can’t make anything go anywhere. It just happens. —thelonious monk
Despite the fact that during the 1920’s blacks were considered unworthy and therefore below the “sophisticated” white class for most aspects of life, it seemed that the two races found similarity through the growing era of Jazz. Between new and inventive ways of playing the trombone or piano to mixing different cultures of music to make unique jazz sounds, several big name artists in this time rose to fame and stamped their names in history.
Compared to most of the heavyweight jazz players in the 20’s, Joe “King” Oliver was considered to have the most popular jazz band. What differentiated him from the crowd was his influence of Creole- a mixture of French and African folk music styles that began to blend in the south during the Pacific Slave Trades. “This embrace [of incorporating styles] has not always been comfortable, nor should it expected to be since African culture was, and remains, multifarious. The wide range of areas that Africans were taken from meant they were as different as they were similar,” (Miller, 1) within the growing genre of jazz. Oliver played the trombone as well as the cornet. He was most noted for playing the cornet in Bill Johnson’s band in Chicago, where he first picked up the name Joe “King” Oliver- king of the cornet.
Joe “King” Oliver’s “Sobbin’ Blues”
A mentee of the great Joe “King” Oliver, Louis Armstrong rose to fame during Oliver’s heyday. Armstrong took on jobs that Oliver could not fit into his schedule. This allowed Armstrong’s name and musical talents to become known across the nation. Many knew him for his ability to improvise lines within an already written song, both rhythmically and harmonically. He became known as the first real superstar of 1920’s jazz music.
Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald “Summertime”
Different from most jazz stars during this era, Paul Whiteman capitalized in the field of symphonic jazz. Whiteman enjoyed hiring big-time jazz names to perform with his symphonic band, creating a jazzier feel without becoming a full-fledged jazz band. This created a modern jazz spin that took off later in the 1930’s.
Paul Whiteman’s “Whispering”
Throughout the 20’s jazz music grew to a new level and new faces had risen to a new level of fame despite their race or personal musical talents. All of their musical contributions made their own watermark on jazz as a whole, but no matter how much it progresses, “jazz is bound up with a pluralism that somehow reconciles these apparently irreconcilable trends.” (Deveaux, pg. 486)
Bibliography
DeVeaux, Scott. "Constructing the Jazz Tradition." Constructing the Jazz Tradition: Jazz Historiography. New York: Columbia UP, 1998. N. pag. Print.
Miller, Herbie. Syncopating Rhythms: Jazz and Caribbean Culture. New York: Jazz Studies, 2007. Print.
Jessica Alderete
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