1920s Jazz

from the PBS article The Devils Music:

1920s Jazz

Jazz was different because

it broke the rulesmusical
and social.
It featured improvisation over traditional
structure, performer over composer, and
Black American experience over
conventional White sensibilities.

Undercurrents of racism bore strongly upon

the opposition to jazz, which was seen as
barbaric and immoral.

Because black musicians were

not allowed to play in "proper"
establishments like their white
counterparts, jazz became
associated with brothels and
other less reputable venues.

As jazzs popularity grew, so

did campaigns to censor the
devils music.

Early detractors
like Thomas
Edison, inventor of
the phonograph,
ridiculed jazz,
saying it sounded
better played
backwards.
A Cincinnati home for expectant mothers
won an injunction to prevent construction of
a neighboring theater where jazz would be
played, convincing a court that the music
was dangerous to fetuses.

When my grandmother found out that I was

playing jazz music in one of the sporting houses
in the District, she told me that I had disgraced
the family and forbade me to live at the house...
She told me that devil music would surely bring
about my downfall but I just couldnt put it behind
me.

- Jelly Roll Morton

jazz composer and musician

The advent of Prohibition in 1920

brought jazz into gangster-run
nightclubs -- the only venues that
served alcohol and hired black
musicians.

Whites and blacks began mixing

socially for the first time in the
Black and Tan clubs of Chicago.

Harlem Night Club

Sleek black boys in a cabaret.
Jazz-band, jazz-band,
Play, plAY, PLAY!
Tomorrow.who knows?
Dance today!
White girls eyes
Call gay black boys.
Black boys lips
Grin jungle joys.
Dark brown girls
In blond mens arms.
Jazz-band, jazz-band,
Sing Eves charms!
White ones, brown ones,
What do you know
About tomorrow
Where all paths go?
Jazz-boys, jazz-boys,
Play, plAY, PLAY!
Tomorrow.is darkness.
Joy today!

Langston Hughes

In the 1920s, the black arts

movement known as the Harlem
Renaissance began, solidifying
New York Citys position at the
epicenter of African American
culture.

Although jazz was an important part of this

movement, not all blacks were fans of the
music, including W. E. B. DuBois, a leader of
the Harlem Renaissance, who was said to
prefer Beethoven and Negro spirituals to
jazz.

Even today, the controversy over gangster rap

and explicit song lyrics suggests that concern
still exists over the effect that some African
American popular music may have on its
listeners.

What do you think?

Take some time to sit back and enjoy the
music.

Text Sources:
PBS article The Devils Music: 1920s Jazz http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/cultureshock/beyond/jazz.html

Langston Hughes, Harlem Night Club -

http
://www.jerryjazzmusician.com/2013/12/harlem-night-club-poem-langston-hughes/

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