It’s All about Jazz

“As a musical language of communication,” writes Tom Morgan in Jass.com, “jazz is the first indigenous American style to affect music in the rest of the World. From the beat of ragtime syncopation and driving brass bands to soaring gospel choirs mixed with field hollers and the deep down growl of the blues, jazz\'s many roots are celebrated almost everywhere in the United States.”

Morgan takes us city to city to savor the rich history of jazz music. The city of New Orleans features prominently in early development of jazz. A port city with doors to the spicy sounds of the Caribbean and Mexico and a large, well-established black population, the Crescent City was ripe for the development of new music at the turn of the century. Brass bands marched in numerous parades and played to comfort families during funerals. Also, numerous society dances required skilled musical ensembles. New Orleans was home to great early clarinetists Johnny Dodds, Jimmy Noone and Sidney Bechet. One of the first great cornetist, Joe \"King\" Oliver and his leading student and future star, Louis Armstrong hailed from New Orleans along with other influential musicians including Jelly Roll Morton.

Chicago became the focal point for jazz in the early 1920s when New Orleans musicians found their way north after clubs in the Storyville area of New Orleans were closed. Jazz began to gain wider notice as recordings made in the Windy City sold throughout America. Chicago was a magnet for musicians in the Mid-West. Famous musicians who received acclaim for their work in Chicago were Earl Hines, Johnny Dodds, Louis Armstrong and King Oliver.

New York City contributed to the richness of jazz in many ways. The first piano style to be incorporated into jazz was stride which developed from ragtime and was popular in New York. The city was also the center of the music publishing business. Also in New York, James Reese Europe experimented with a style of jazz that involved large orchestras. Many of his early recordings would be considered ragtime, though his later recordings in 1919 clearly show jazz improvisation. In the 1920s, New York City had two pioneering orchestras that would eventually greatly affect jazz history. Fletcher Henderson put together a band that first appeared at the Cotton Club in New York in 1923. Henderson\'s unit featured future jazz stars Coleman Hawkins and Don Redman but it wasn\'t until Henderson brought Louis Armstrong from Chicago to play with his group that the band began to develop into a full-fledged jazz group which would help to usher in the swing era.

Jazz is much more than elegant dinner music. To the open-minded, improvisation can provide a means of transportation to unpredictable new domains of the mind and spirit. Since the very early days, jazz has also been an ally of other art forms, including dance, poetry, and visual art. In the balance, the superimposition of styles provokes as much inspiration as response. The arc of melody, the color of timbre, the texture of harmony, and the flash of motion are all interconnected in intuitive ways.

What is the future of jazz? Veteran jazz journalist Bret Primack writes in AllAboutJazz.com: “Sadly, in the past, these sorts of efforts have gone nowhere, largely because the different factions of the Jazz community haven\'t been able to unite. Trying to bring the old record business folks together was like trying to bring the Jews and Palestinians to the peace table. I can only hope that these days are over for the Jazz industry.”

“Until something like that happens, it\'s all about Jazz education,” quips Primack.
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