The Genius of Jazz

            Before the start of this class I saw the history of jazz as a revolutionary occurrence that represented the rise of creating new music and dance that went against society’s norms.  It created a subculture in society, music, and dance, from which some people shied away because of their fear of change.  Through jazz, blacks trying to make name for themselves by expressing their culture through music and dance.  I was informed on only the general idea of the rise of jazz, but I did not know much about any specifics.  I knew that I liked the sound and the culture surrounding jazz, swing, ragtime, and bebop, but I could not quantify what differentiated the different styles, nor what led to their creation. 

            However, when I started learning about jazz this quarter, I realized how much I did not know. I was blissfully unaware of the variance of histories that led to the rise of jazz, starting in African music and really taking off in New Orleans and branching off in Kansas City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York.  Jazz grew and transformed into different styles based on the variety of influences of the cities and people who loved jazz.  This class opened my eyes up to the truly rich and diverse history that allowed my appreciation for jazz as a musical style to develop and mature.

            The concept of “genius” was described by Samuel Johnson as “like fire in the flint, only to be produced by collision with a proper subject, it is the business of every man to try whether his faculties may not happily cooperate with his desires.” He explained that genius emerges when it finds its proper subject.  However Dr. Stewart revised this viewpoint when he posited that, “genius emerges when it finds its proper context, environment, audience.” Genius in art is always best in cohesion with community, in a dialogue with a particular community, or a specific time and space (Lecture 1/29).  This community was found in jazz’s move from New Orleans to Chicago, the move from an integrated America to a intensely and incredibly segregated America with a more robust community of industrialism.  This community gave birth to the first jazz super star because it was the perfect context for a genius to emerge from.             

             My definition of the concept of “genius” has changed through my participation in this class. The jazz genius shapes the community, just as the community shapes the genius. The perfect example of this is Thelonious Monk’s genius. “Much of Monk’s genius lay precisely in this ability to juxtapose the simple and complex, a talent he applied in many…ways” (Gioia 243).  This juxtaposition and individuality was something that was inherent in Monk because of his childhood in New York’s San Juan Hill, a neighborhood with great diversity and energy, a combination of which shaped Monk’s personality.  In return, Monk’s distinctive style and unique take fostered a community around his character and produced a new generation of the young and rebellious, the Beat generation.

Thelonious Monk's Community

          Thelonious Monk was born and brought up in San Juan Hill, a neighborhood in the middle of Manhattan, New York.  It was very small and intimate; with close-set apartments and an almost family-like community.  San Juan Hill was known for its diversity, as well as its violent tendencies. “There’s no reason why I should go through that Black Power shit now. I guess everybody in New York had to do that, right? Because every block is a different town. It was mean all over New York, all the boroughs. Then, besides fighting the ofays, you had to fight each other. You go to the next block and you’re in another country” (Kelley 19).  In saying this, Monk alludes to that mixture of cultures, and the atmosphere of violence that accompanied such a variety of people living so close together. Kelley described the area as containing one country for every block.

            In such a community with a myriad of ethnicities, there also came a more cosmopolitan atmosphere. This atmosphere came about as a result of the exposure to so many cultures, as did a certain energy that lent itself to jazz.  With the open and enthusiastic celebration of such differing cultures, and that energy, there came competition. The interracial mixing, but also fighting, that went on in that area of New York created a musical heterodoxy in Monk’s work.  His offbeat and avante garde way of playing was modern & eccentric; he had a very individualistic and idiosyncratic style that was clearly influenced by his diverse surroundings.  San Juan Hill was much too small for comfortable living, but Monk could not afford to move out, and so he was in the belly of the neighborhood, which itself was in the belly of New York; he couldn’t avoid the influence of such a city (Stewart lecture).

            Monk’s transcendence of race can be summarized in the interview in which he insisted “that he doesn’t think about race but rather sees himself as an American. But being an American…“doesn’t prevent me from being aware of all the progress that still needs to be made…I know my music can help bring people together, and that’s what’s important” (Kelley 335).  He did not focus on the problem of racism, but overcame it in his dedication to making jazz music, as he saw it as a way to eventually lead to a “friendship” of cultures in the United States.  Kelly writes, as Larry Ridley recalled, “contrary to that attempt to portray him as some people did as weird or whatever, he was a very bright and brilliant person....  I remember telling Thelonious how I was sick of whites calling us ‘boys’ and stuff like that.  He said, ‘Ain't no drag, Larry, because everybody wants to be young’” (Kelley 417).  

            As Monk was subjected to racism, especially from the cops of New York and elsewhere, the loss of his cabaret card and his arrest in Delaware with Nica, he still refused to respond by becoming more race conscious.  This added a poignancy to his stance in that it only strengthened his resolve to stay out of the race conversation and speak through his music only. As Dr. Stewart said in lecture, “His success in transcending race and class lines is perhaps embodied in his affectionate relationship with Nica (Kathleen Annie Pannonica Rothschild), but also the way in which he adopted and became adopted by a young generation of Blacks and Whites who were rebelling against the strictures of American society.”

            Monk’s music captivated a freethinking community that was not solely black. It exemplified the concept of a new community of “artistic souls” that rebelled against middle class conventionality.  “That community was very small at first, but grew and blossomed, and laid the ground for his tenure at the Five Spot in 1957, where the owners said Monk could be there ‘as long as he wanted’” (Stewart lecture).   This community embraced him any others with open arms and a yearning for individuality as well as a intrinsic sense of belonging.  According to Dr. Stewart, “Monk used his art to create a new community, a bohemian community bound together by a tolerance for modernity, for dissonance in music and for the avant garde in art and life.”

Race in the Swing Era

The subject of race in association with jazz had continually been a point of discussion.  The dialogues about race in jazz were controversial and polarizing, but they had not come to a forefront socially and culturally until the Swing Era came about.  With the move of jazz from New Orleans to Chicago, and then to New York, jazz became much more conventional.  It was no longer solely an installment in the hot, dance club world, but had come out into the vanguard. As a result of this widespread assimilation of a primarily black art form, there grew a sense of rivalry amidst the jazz musicians.  

According to lecture, “White and black musicians were in competition for financial rewards and cultural respect for mastery of the art form.”  The differences over race and culture in the Swing Era were defined by two performances, a competitive zeitgeist and racial theory (Stewart). Situations of competition tended to bring out racial consciousness.  There was more at stake, for example, the contest over who was the king of swing.  This competition highlighted differences and rewarded structure.

            The most shining moment of integration during this time was Benny Goodman’s performance at Carnegie Hall in 1938.   Benny’s small quartet was made up of his drummer Gene Krupa, black pianist Teddy Wilson, and black vibraphonist Lionel Hampton.  Benny Goodman was exalted and confirmed as king of jazz, and at the same time he stood for a moment of inclusiveness.  This garnered a pressure on inclusion even in the midst of a highly segregated society. 

Goodman’s situation was complex because he wanted to succeed himself, but he also profited from advancing a black creative form, so he maneuvered in order to include black performers in the frontlines, essentially breaking the color bar. As Gioia notes, “…Goodman used his preeminence to break through many barriers – of racial prejudice, of class distinctions, of snobbery and close-mindedness…” (138). 

An aspect of the racial tensions rising during the Swing Era was largely attributed to the upsurge of white jazz critics reviewing a black art form.  The jitterbug and the white jazz fan defined swing; as did the white jazz critic. “Another part of Swing integration was that black musicians were now open to criticism and comments by those who represented the white audience, especially the radical white audience that considered themselves the ‘true’ fans of jazz” (Stewart).

As lecture suggested, this racial tension was found in the artist vs. the critic.  Within this, the black artist was toted as a ‘representative’ of the race that was not as fortunate enough to have access to the economies of commercial jazz. However, this generalization and belittlement was particularly cutting because the jazz critics this debasement was issued by were all white.  According to Dr. Stewart, “swing became jazz as politics”, and along with it a popular, largely white, audience could now “critique Black jazz artists from a new subject position in American society and culture, that of the dedicated white enthusiast of black cultural production.”  Resulting from this politicized Swing Era, the discourse of race was brought to light.  

1920s Chi-Town Jazz

Professor Stewart’s revision to Samuel Johnson’s words on “genius” was to say that, “genius emerges when it finds it proper context, its proper environment, its proper audience.”  Chicago had all the right aspects, the proper context, environment, and audience, needed in order to reveal jazz genius.  This deeply segregated, robust city of industrialism, filled an “undifferentiated blackness”, is what caused the “Age of the Soloist” the “bearer of the most profound individuality, because it is an individuality tied to achieved in response to a community whose dynamism” made way for the soloist to emerge and redefine jazz (Stewart).

Chicago’s position as an extremely multi-ethnic and multi-racial city, as well as one of great modernism meant that immigrants made up a large portion of the city’s population.  This tension between whites and blacks led to riots and unrest, which in turn, taught that black population that they needed to be self-reliant.  In the wake of the riot, a commercial racial nationalism emerged, leading to black entrepreneurialism that laid economic ground for a market for consumer culture, as well as a thirst for American culture.  “This created an opportunity for jazz musicians, dancers, singers, and other performers to flourish in Chicago, using jazz as entertainment music”. So arose a distinctive black culture in Chicago that was defined by not only a lack of nostalgia, but also an ability “to take commercial culture and produce a unique musical form that was compelling” to blacks and whites alike (Stewart).

In lecture we listened to the Chicago style, and defined it as being characterized as a brash, sparkling, and upbeat trumpet, and a bluesy swinging rhythm section style of jazz. These factors combined made for a spectacular sound, which, in turn, lent itself very well to dancing.  This dance-ability allowed the shift from the hot, brothel-like jazz to the dance pavilions that became popular within the middle and working class.

According to Scaruffi, “Chicago jazz’s collective sound prevailed over individual sound.”  The influence of the free, big city spirit influenced much more improvisation by individual players.  Some main stayers in Chicago jazz included Joe Oliver’s band, Louis Armstrong, and Bix Beiderbecke.  As we talked about in lecture, the Chicago jazz scene was distinguished from others by the new sound emerging with Louis Armstrong: the soloist who swings the entire band.

Louis Armstrong’s unique and differentiating technique on the trumpet created a longer, slower, “blues-ier” sound.  His sound was defined by more sustained, powerful, long notes, and lyricism; very opposing to those of Joe Oliver’s band.  This rhythm was instrumental in the creation of the feeling of the slow drag of late night jazz dance hall that was so pervasive in Chicago at that time.  Just as it was said in lecture, these dance halls served as an open sanctuary for working class blacks to be entertained, and to perpetuate and recreate their culture; and Louis Armstrong’s sound made that possible. The great innovation of the 1920s, the emergence and eventual dominance of the soloist, all allowed for the emergence of a completely fresh take on jazz, found exclusively in Chicago.

New Orleans Jazz

According to Ted Gioia, the author of “The History of Jazz”, New Orleans was the birthplace of the amalgamation of music and culture that became jazz.  New Orleans’ role in the nascence of jazz had many contributing factors; some of them being the emergence of trade and commerce in the city, the French Catholic influences, as well as the following American appropriation.  These elements combined to create a unique culture that was the breeding ground for a new genre of music.

The city of New Orleans in the 18^th and early 19^th centuries was a rapidly burgeoning metropolitan hub of business that ran along the Mississippi River.  The expansion and growth of the city was largely caused by the lifting of trade restrictions on the Mississippi River resulting from the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.  New Orleans lent itself well to imports and exports because of its placement at the foot of the Mississippi River, therefore all roads led to the city.  It had a swamp-like, sultry feel that encouraged carousal and debauchery, as a port city should. “Indeed, some have suggested that a contagion of vice, more than the contingencies of culture or economics, spurred the birth of New Orleans Jazz” (Gioia 31).  This society of trade, money, and amusement quickly drew people towards the city and it soon flourished as an economic engine of power, as well as a cosmopolitan center.

The French first owned New Orleans, then the Spanish took over, and later the French regained control, but finally it came under American hold in the Louisiana Purchase.  Under the French, the city had a distinctly liberal, and Catholic feel, which infused it with ornate architecture, art, and a mixed race population.  The city viewed slavery with the more permissive Latin system of rules that saw slaves as human souls who were allowed to marry (even intermarry), own property, purchase themselves, and even be freed by their masters.  This broad-minded ideology about slavery differed greatly from the English slavery laws that the Americans abided to, in which none of those rights were possible.

Another aspect of the French influence was exhibited in the mixed race population that included the Creoles of color, who were considered a different class that the white or blacks.  They remained close to their masters and mistresses and immersed themselves in white culture, distanced themselves from black culture, and so their music had distinct European influences.

With the joining of Louisiana with the United States, the uniquely French, Catholic, and racially liberal New Orleans became the New York of the South. There was a certain “vital aliveness” in the city that was a result of the African tradition that was prevalent in the majority black population.  Gioia argues that what made New Orleans so unique was the energy of competition that was palpable in the trade and the society of the city that gave it an air of a fast-paced living.  The liberalism of the area also made it stand out among other cities.  Congo Square in the 1800s was a place designated for slaves to go on Sundays to play music and dance, while white people watched. This caused a more open and inviting atmosphere for the growth of a new culture.  With the passing of the 1898 Louisiana Legislative Code, the joining of the Creoles and the blacks combined ragtime and blues to create jazz.

Some of the sources of New Orleans jazz that Gioia mentioned were: Storyville, Buddy Bolden, Original Dixieland Jazz Band, Jelly Roll Morton.  Storyville was the red light district in the black neighborhood of New Orleans that is largely seen as the birthplace of jazz music.  It’s raucous and sexualized atmosphere contributed to the hot and sultry tones of jazz.  The cornet player, Buddy Bolden was important in the birth of jazz because of his daring lyrics and introduction of “syncopated and blues-inflected sounds that would prefigure jazz” (Gioia 35).  The Original Dixieland Jazz Band was a band of white musicians whose part in playing distinctly black music is a subject of much debate. However, while Gioia does not take a side in the debate, he does say that the ODJB was clearly one of the most wide-ranging of the early jazz bands, encompassing jazz, blues, rag forms, and pop songs, and even swing (Gioia 38). Jelly Roll Morton was considered the greatest of the New Orleans jazz composers, and though, despite what he said, he was not the inventor of jazz,  he was the first to think of jazz music in abstract terms (Gioia 39).

I believe that the most important factor that explains why jazz emerged in New Orleans is the mixture of white and black culture as a result of the Creoles and blacks being forced to come together because of the American's "One Drop Rule". This allowed for the combination of ragtime and blues to find a middle path and created the jazz music that is so enjoyed by the rest of the world.

Work Cited:
Gioia, Ted. The History of Jazz. New York: Oxford UP, 1997. Print.