Early Jazz

Being a Jazz musician wasnt anything easy, but it was something extrordinary; being a Jazz musician meant being part of a change in the way of life in the average american. Jazz created the feeling of a more alive person by giving music the hip rythm it needed to make people want to move and dance, Jazz and dancing went great with each other and Jazz created some new dances that would re-revolutionize music, some of these dances are called "truckin", "the shimmy", amd "black bottom". But behind each of these Jazz artist is a unique harsh story that led them to create the music they created, every song they created is not just a song its also a part of their harsh past. And the funky songs they make is to express how great they feel fo finally be free african americans. "You cant say, oh, because your white, or because your black or because your fifteen or because your fifty, you cant do something. You just cant make those distinctions when it somes to what strikes your soul"(Stokes 211). Jazz is known to be the line of desegregation to american music because before Jazz there was few to none african american musicians.
   Jazz music is music that comes from the soul, it doesnt talk about money or fame, it focuses more on the feelings of life and the aspects toward life. Thats why most artist are very emotional when they are performing their songs because they are telling their story of their own from their past. Jazz varied in its own style, it went from brass bands to gospel choirs, and also to the soothing blues.
   New Orleans was where Jazz mainly started it was the perfect place due to the fact that it was the home of music, there were many different brass bands and other types of musical bands that played in local bars and funerals, it was when they all came together that Jazz was created along with many skilled dancers that performed in annual parades.Since New Orleans was a port city many Carribeans started immigrating to the city and added their own carribean style of music to Jazz. After Jazz grew many musicians wanted their shot at recrodings and fame, they knew that New Orleans was way too crowded for that so they went up north to Chicago. Many started performing in clubs there to gain some popularity. Chicago was the main city for musicians in the mid-west. Jazz would keep expanding until it reached New York, in New York many musicians also had a chance to become famous because New York quickly became the center of music publication. New York aslo changed Jazz by having the first piano to be incorporated into this style of music. Jazz originated in the south and expanded as society in the United States became more diverse, as well as it also helped for society to became more diverse. It made its way to the north and after reaching the north it became an official genre of music, a genre that separated blacks and whites and poor from rich.

Cited Sources:

Stokes, W. Royal. Living the Jazz Life: Conversations with Forty Musicians about Their Careers in Jazz. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2000.

Morgan, Thomas L. "Jazz: The First Thirty Years." | Jazz Roots | Early Jazz History on JASS.COM. Nov. 1993. Web. 26 Apr. 2011