Notes on Jazz: the First 100 Years

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Notes onJazz the First 100 Years

• Chapter 2 Early Jazz

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• The Shift from Ragtime to Jazz
• jazz styles whatever that means developed
  wherever musicians, encouraged by the spontaneous
  performance practices of ragtime and
  turn-of-the-century popular music, took jazzlike
  liberties.
• Although New Orleans is often considered the
  birthplace of jazz, music resembling early jazz
  may have developed in several places almost
  simultaneously.
• The etymology origins and historical
  development of the word jazz.
• Many early jazz musicians referred to their music
  as ragtime.

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• New Orleans
• Brass bands, various kinds of dance bands and
  orchestras could be found in New Orleans.
• The Vieux Carré ("French Quarter") was the heart
  of the French-speaking district. It was home to
  French families, their servants, and Creoles of
  Color.
• Many of the Creoles were successful business
  people, and they figured prominently in the
  Carré's cultural activities.

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• It was generally understood that, regardless of
  parentage, the French-speaking "downtown"
  families were significantly higher on the social
  ladder than those on the other side of Canal
  Street.
• Although it is true that most of the "uptown"
  people of color had darker skin than their
  "downtown" counterparts, skin color and physical
  features were not the only defining features for
  the two communities.
• Cultural traits defined the two groups the
  Creoles spoke French and had a predominantly
  Catholic background. Their uptown counterparts
  were Protestant, English-speaking, and to a large
  extent had assimilated Anglo-American culture and
  lost touch with much of their African heritage
  (Johnson 2000).
• Creole musicians (for whom musical performance
  was a "hobby" rather than a profession) had
  access to the best formal musical training
  available, and they participated in opera and
  symphonic performances as well as the numerous
  brass bands.

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• After the War Between the States, the cultural
  distinctions between the creoles and other people
  of color gradually eroded.
• Economics.
• Some decline in opportunities in skilled trades.
• Music as a hobby could become a profession.
• Imposition of Jim Crow laws and changes in the
  social definition of the Creoles.
• Storyville.

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• Storyville
• Alderman Sidney Story wrote Section 1 of
  Ordinance 13,032 C.S., establishing 38-block area
  that became known as Storyville.
• "While some legitimate enterprises were conducted
  in the area, Storyville was primarily a collage
  of cabarets, whorehouses, cafes, cribs,
  honky-tonks, houses of assignation,
  "dance-schools," gambling joints, and
  clip-joints, all devoted to fleecing the
  adventurous sensualist of his money" (Buerkle and
  Barker 1973, p. 19).
• A wide variety of music could be heard in
  Storyville, ranging from string trios to ragtime
  pianists to the blues
• Musicians listened to each other and adapted
  their own styles. 
• The music in Storyville was clearly functional
  the music in these establishments enhanced the
  atmosphere, making customers feel happy and more
  willing to part with their earnings.
• Musicians needed to make a living, and they
  played (and recorded) whatever produced income.
• Early jazz was considered tainted by critics
  both by venues in which it was performed and by
  the unpolished, improvisatory nature of the
  music.
• Playing in Storyville meant a loss of social
  status within the community, but the work was
  steadier and the money was a little better.
  Musicians frequently commented that they did not
  necessarily enjoy playing in Storyville, although
  some seemed to revel in the decadence.

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• In August 1917, the Secretary of War and the
  Secretary of the Navy issued orders forbidding
  open prostitution within five miles of Army or
  Navy posts. After much protest, the city finally
  conceded, and operation of a brothel became
  illegal anywhere in the city. This of course did
  not eliminate prostitution, but it was driven
  underground, and large numbers of musicians lost
  their jobs. This contributed to the emigration of
  musicians from New Orleans that had already
  begun.

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• Buddy Bolden - "Sometime around 1897, the Charles
  "Buddy" Bolden band began filling the dance halls
  and streets of New Orleans with a new kind of
  music. Instead of following the notes on sheet
  music like they were a railroad track, Buddy made
  his cornet an extension of his emotions. To this
  rough Negro barber, popular melodies were only
  points of embarkation for funky, hip-swinging
  improvisation. Some twenty years later this new
  music would be called jazz." (Buerkle and Barker,
  p. vii)
• Bolden played cornet and was generally considered
  the first to actively embellish melodies in the
  jazz style.
• He was the first "King of Jazz" in New Orleans
  and is remembered by musicians of the time as
  one of the finest horn players they had ever
  heard.
• He became known around 1895 playing in New
  Orleans parades and dances, and his band
  eventually rose to become one of the most popular
  in the city.
• In 1907 his health deteriorated and he was
  committed to a mental institution where he spent
  the remainder of his life.

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• The Advent of Jazz Recording
• The Victor Talking Machine Company
• founded in 1901.
• 1914 J. R. Europes recordings featured
• ragtime pieces.
• 1917 probable 1st jazz recording by the ODJB
  (Livery Stable Blues and Dixie(land) Jass Band
  One Step.)
• 1925 electric recording with microphones.

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• Joe King Oliver
• Born in or near New Orleans in 1885.
• Began playing with brass bands in New Orleans
  around 1908.
• First called the King by Kid Ory while playing
  in his band in 1917.
• Moved to Chicago in 1919 to play with Bill
  Johnsons Original Creole Orchestra. He started
  his own group - King Olivers Creole Jazz Band -
  in 1922, and later formed a larger ensemble
  called the Dixie Syncopaters
• 1923 recordings introduced Louis Armstrong to the
  world, but the group fell apart in 1924.
• Two successful weeks at the Savoy Ballroom led to
  an invitation to open the new Cotton Club with
  his group as the house band. In one of several
  disastrous business moves, Oliver decided that he
  was not being paid enough and rejected the offer.
• His final "mistake" was an extended tour of the
  South beginning in 1931. By 1936 he had ended up
  in Savannah selling fruit and vegetables and
  sweeping out a pool parlor. He died there in
  April 1938.
• Oliver's contribution to the music is in some
  ways difficult to assess. His melodic style
  differed from that of his protégé Armstrong, and
  he "had a repertory of expressive deviations of
  rhythm and pitch, some verging on theatrical
  novelty effects and others derived from blues
  vocal style
• He frequently used timbre modifiers of various
  sorts and was especially renowned for his wa-wa
  effects, as in his famous three-chorus solo on
  "Dipper Mouth Blues.
• By 1925 his performance style had been superseded
  by Louis Armstrong, but he had a significant
  impact on Bubber Miley as well as on Armstrong
  himself.