Blog #3, 1930's-- The Disruptive Depression in Full Swing

From the early times of ragtime to its evolution seen in New Orleans to jazz, this musical style always held a certain tagline to it—a tagline associated with African America roots. Going back to examples such as the Congo Square reinforces the notion that it was not just a certain pattern of notes correlating a race but a representation of heritage and struggle of a people. Over time these traditions diffused into the white community, with transitions including Baptist Church songs to the style of Stride to bebop.

As we have seen over time, jazz transitioned in culture not just musically but geographically. From the late nineteenth century to the early 1930's, jazz migrated from New Orleans to Chicago, New York, and even Paris, spreading its influence across the world as "European participation in the jazz world was no longer merely as a passive, if receptive, audience…European jazz musicians had made enormous strides by the mid-1930s" (Gioia, 159). Through this migration, major influences in jazz transferred to a conspicuous blending of white and black ideologies.

Simultaneously through this process, the United States faced the Great Depression. This drastic economic crash created an instant free-for-all in regards to survival and competition in the music industry. With these new conditions subtly nullifying any former indication of segregation (in the music industry), the swing era of the 1930's established an “equal” playing field between whites and blacks who battled for respectability for high class in the low-culture music seen in jazz. “Equal” since, as Gioia stated, "it is important to acknowledge the advantages enjoyed by Goodman and other white jazz artists during the era. Unlike the black bandleaders, they were more readily accepted by mainstream America…" (Gioia, 133). This difference in success is seen with people like Benny Goodman and Chick Webb, who did not have to make sacrifices for fame compared to others who lived in a different light such as Duke Ellington, who needed Irving Mills to keep a white face on his publicity.

            From an anecdotal perspective, this acknowledgement can be easily viewed in the case of Charlie Black (ironically), who as a high school student went to view Louis Armstrong perform at ***Texas University—in the South. It is clear from the article, Black did not acknowledge blacks as equals until he was directly facing a true “genius” in the art of jazz. As traveling bands distributed themselves across America and into the South, Black epitomizes the perspective of many against black musicians in a market that whites now permeated themselves into.

            Between the advent of radio, broadcasting, and recording companies up to this point, it took time to transition to the corporate capitalistic system the music industry is seen as today. Because of the slow gap to proper record-keeping, the proper credit for new techniques, musical patterns, and theories is often contested when discussing this time period for jazz, as "the relationship between black American artists and white audiences and white patrons is surely more complex than most people think...it is always difficult to tell who is copying whom."

            With all of these new factors contributing to the now open conflicts between whites and blacks, while it is impossible to justify the means by which some responded the hinted integration the jazz industry proposed, one cannot deny that the characteristics surrounding the swing era was a disruptive movement that catalyzed the clash of race for the society of the time.

Commented on Morgan's blog. Found at http://blst14morganbrubaker.blogspot.com/