The Louisiana Purchase opened up
a vast amount of land to the still nurturing United States in 1803. As this
area developed, the Mississippi River became a hallmark of trading and market
sharing between regions and businesses across the country. New Orleans as it
happened was located in at the mouth of this pipeline, catalyzing it as a
bedrock for trade with $5 million in goods incoming per year in the early 1800s
to $200 million in 1851. On top of that, the South had already established a
vibrant local foundation of economic investments in the area, particularly with
the slave trade and long-established plantations (27, Gioia). With any hotspot
for trade, an animated cosmopolitan culture emerged, clashing musical
backgrounds, especially between the upper class whites and the densely
populated blacks from New Orleans’ slave-trade origins (7, Gioia). Out of this
social conflict and multi-generational presence in a common area, the creole
class emerged, provided with the perfect environment to gain upper-class popularity
while utilizing and spreading the musical styles of blacks that we have now
coined as “jazz.”
This cosmopolitan dynamic is
clearly emphasized in the case of Storyville, also known as “The District,”
which formed the proper environment in which the lower and upper classes were
able to discreetly conglomerate. (29, Gioia). Additionally, some of the most
prominent contributors discussed include Buddy Bolden, often seen as the first true
jazz musician to come out of the waters, displaying strong ties in his music to
blues and ragtime (34, Gioia). Jelly Roll Morton is often the highlighted
example of a creole successfully separated from his “darker” roots, managing to
lead an ensemble to fame, and even making the somewhat audacious claim to have “invented”
jazz as an abstract principle. His history is often embellished with a bold
personality, but even when objectively analyzing his pieces there is no denying
his progressive style and complexity crucial to jazz’s evolution (41, Gioia)
Alongside them include Freddie Keppard, Sidney Bechet, “King” Oliver, and of
course his protégé Louis Armstrong, the first “soloist” to ironically escape the ensemble and bring out individuality to the heart of jazz, just like
the blues (43,58, Gioia).
As noted earlier though, the
influences to jazz did not come purely internally. New Orleans as a trading hub
brought in styles from across the hemisphere. A major factor to note is the Eighth Regimental
Band’s presence during the World’s Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition
in 1884. Multiple members stayed and mentored up and coming jazz musicians not
only with classical techniques, but also integrated woodwind instruments (particularly
the clarinet) into the local genre (229, Johnson & 55, Gioia). I believe this contribution to jazz’s maturity was vital, as it provided the style
with a stronger—but NOT fundamental—tie to organization in its musical theory, subtly
embedding its reach to upper-classes’ social networks of the time further.
Direct origins of jazz have long
been debated, especially with regards to the most significant proponents. This
obscurity, however, is arguably the most important aspect of this style’s
history, in that just like its improvisational and interactive components on a
musical front, similar links are found in its history. In other words, there is
no important factor for the emergence of jazz in New Orleans. For all we know
given our own historical bias, there are numerous underground stories we shall
never learn about, all of which were vital to the compilation of what we have
come to call “jazz.”
Commented on:
Delia's blog, http://blst14delia.blogspot.com/
Commented on:
Delia's blog, http://blst14delia.blogspot.com/