Jazz, a vibrant and rhythm-rich dance and music form, has deep roots in African American history. Its origins are inextricably linked to the experiences of enslaved Africans and their descendants in the United States. This article explores the significant impact of African American slaves on the development of jazz music, tracing its evolution from the fields of forced labor to the world stage.
African American music cannot be separated from the Transatlantic Slave Trade and the forced transportation of millions of African people across the Atlantic who were then enslaved. The cultures from which they were torn and the conditions into which they were forced both contributed to the sounds of African American music. Slaves' lives were restricted in innumerable ways, but among them included limits on literacy and property ownership.
Music was therefore passed down orally, and early records of African American music indicate that songs changed frequently, not just from singer to singer, but also from day to day when sung by the same musician.
As slave owners forbade their slaves to chant and sing their ritualistic music, in fear of a rebellion, the original African slaves were forced to change their work songs in the field. The lyrics of their songs changed as well, as the original African work songs did not suit their oppressed situation.
The music that formed as a result became a combination of the original African work songs and references to slave culture. Storytelling was the primary means of education within the slave community, and folk tales were a popular and useful means of passing down wisdom, virtues, and so on from the elders to the youth.
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Expression of oneself, emotions, and beliefs was the purpose of the African work song. Instruments, dancing, culture, religion, and emotion were blended together to form this representative form of music. Adaptation, interpretation, and improvisation lay at the core of this American Negro music.
The nature of slavery dictated the way African culture could be adapted and evolved. For example, drums were forbidden by many slave owners, for fear of its communicative ability to rally the spirits of the enslaved, and lead to aggression or rebellion. As the music derived from their slave/field culture, shouts and hollers were incorporated into their work songs, and were later represented through an instrumental imitation of blues and jazz music.
Christianity was adopted by the Negro people before the efforts of missionaries and evangelists. The North American Negroes were not even allowed to practice or talk about their own religion that their parents taught them. Specifically, in the south, slaves were sometimes beaten or killed when they talked about conjuring up spirits or the devil.
Churches also began sponsoring community activities such as barbecues, picnics, and concerts, which allowed the Negro people to interact with each other. As time went by, African churches were able to produce more liturgical leaders such as apostles, ushers, and deacons.
After the slaves were emancipated, the church community that was built by Negro leaders began to disintegrate because many began to enjoy the freedom outside of the church.
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After years of being defined as property, the Negro had no place in the post-slave white society. They had to find their place both physically, as they looked for somewhere to settle, but also psychologically, as they reconstructed their self-identity and social structure. Their freedom gave them a new sense of autonomy, but also took away the structured order of life to which they were accustomed.
The Reconstruction period brought about liberty for the American Negro and an austere separation from the white ex-slave owners and the white society that surrounded them. Organizations such as the KKK, Pale Faces, and Men of Justice emerged, seeking to frighten Negroes into abandoning their newfound rights, and to some extent succeeding.
After the initial period following the Emancipation, songs that arose from the conditions of slavery created the idea of blues, including the sounds of "shouts, hollers, yells, spirituals, and ballits", mixed with the appropriation and deconstruction of white musical elements.
After Emancipation Negroes had the leisure of being alone and thinking for themselves; however, the situation of self-reliance proposed social and cultural problems that they never encountered as slaves. Both instances were reflected in their music, as the subject music became more personal and touched on issues of wealth and hostility.
Jazz occurs from the appropriation of this instrument and their divergent use by blacks, with elements like "riffs", which gave it a unique Negro or blues sound. In New Orleans blues was influenced by European musical elements, especially brass instruments and marching band music.
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Accordingly, the uptown Negroes, differentiated from the "Creoles" - blacks with French ancestry and culture, usually of a higher class - gave a more primitive, "jass" or "dirty" sound to this appropriated music; which gave blues and jazz a distinct sound. Creoles had to adapt to this sound once segregation placed them on the same level as all other freed black slaves.
The change from Baraka's idea of traditional blues to classic blues represented a new professional entertainment stage for African-American art. Prior to classical blues, traditional blues' functionality required no explicit rules, and therefore a method didn't exist. Classic blues added a structure that was not there before.
Minstrel shows demonstrated recognition of the "Negro" as part of American popular culture, which though it always had been, was never formally recognized. It was now more formal. Minstrel shows, despite the overall slanderous nature towards African Americans, were able to offer some work to black performers.
The Emergence of Jazz and its Early Recordings
Jazz is recognized as beginning around the turn of the 20th century, but is actually much older. Most people believe that its existence derived from African slavery, but it has native African-American roots.
One hundred years ago this month, February 26, 1917, what is generally acknowledged as the first recording of jazz was released. “Livery Stable Blues,” performed by the Original Dixieland Jass Band was a best-selling record for Victor, but is a problematic “first” as it is a recording of a white band performing an African American genre.
There was a copyright lawsuit concerning authorship of the piece. But worse, far from crediting the New Orleans African American musicians they learned from, these young musicians claimed to have “invented” jazz. But it was published at an interesting moment in United States history, as emerging African American genres of blues and jazz were bursting into American consciousness and spreading across the country and then across the world. Among many African Americans there was a desire to move away from musical forms such as spirituals, which were identified with slavery days, and yet they also wanted musical styles of their own.
A new sound arose in street and community music of African Americans in the late 19th century. It was usually one singer accompanied by a guitar and characterized by “bent” or “blue” notes, not on the standard scale. These notes likely had earlier origins, as they are found in rural African American work songs.
The “blue notes” could best be played on instruments that allowed the creation of “blue” notes such as the guitar (especially slide guitar), wind, and brass instruments. The songs expressed a longing, loss, or desire and came to be called “the blues.”
The word “blues” already existed in popular song distribution for sad songs and love songs, so many song titles had “blues” in them long before blues music saw print.
An important African American composer who sought to reach a wide audience as a band leader was W. C. Handy, who is sometimes called “the Father of the Blues.” Early blues recordings of his compositions, performed by white musicians, are often marked “foxtrot,” indicating the dance that could be done to it, and so played faster than was normal for the blues as played among African Americans. This is an example that was wildly popular when it was published in 1914, but not a foxtrot: “Memphis Blues,” played by a white minstrel show group, the Honey Boy Minstrels. The lyrics, also by Handy, reflect minstrel show themes, as the minstrel shows were still an important venue for African American composers to market their works in 1914. The minstrel shows were a problem, of course, because they represented African Americans as caricatures, and both Black and white performers had to perform in blackface. Nevertheless, many African American songwriters and performers chose to work for the shows.
Ferdinand Joseph LeMott (also spelled LaMoth) was born to a Creole family in New Orleans in about 1890 (according to his baptismal certificate, but other records differ). In New Orleans “Creole” refers to French-speaking African Americans. He showed talent for performing music as a child and became a professional piano player at 14 and came to be known as “Jelly Roll Morton.” Morton began his career playing ragtime. What came to be called jass or jazz emerged from ragtime and other musical influences such as blues, often with additional instruments, such as brass.
Morton liked to introduce himself by saying invented jazz. While some have doubted this, his claim is the earliest. He published “Jelly Roll Blues,” in 1915, and this is thought to be the earliest example of jazz sheet music. Morton said that he wrote it earlier, and this is likely true. Performing music live was where his money came from initially - publishing and recording music came later. But publishing sheet music was a way to get his compositions to a wider audience.
Jazz spread, and was performed by both African American and European Americans almost from the time it was conceived. Recording these new musical genres for wider distribution was a challenge, because those who controlled the recording industry, who were mainly white, felt that blues and jazz should be performed by white musicians. Recordings by African American musicians, by their standards, could only be marketed to African Americans and so received more limited distribution.
Segregated society also made it difficult for Black and white musicians to perform and be recorded together, although this did happen in informal settings. So our early recorded examples are mainly of all-white musicians and singers. All-Black groups were recorded for distribution to African Americans. Composers and arrangers could be African American and have the record distributed widely if the performers were white.
A problem of the time was that many white musicians and singers did not understand the “blue notes” and the minstrel shows of the time that made fun of African Americans, presenting them as caricatures in blackface, meant that singers who tried to sing as if they were Black often were not acceptable to African American composers.
There were a few singers who were sought out by African American songwriters because they were able to sing the blues convincingly. Marion Harris, a singer we know little about, was attractive, popular, and could sing the blues and jazz. She was probably from Chicago, and may have learned the blues there.
Composer Turner Layton and lyricist Henry Creamer had a cause expressed in this song. They wanted Americans to know that African Americans were going to war for their country and doing a good job. It would not do for the song only to be heard by African Americans. They used music and humor to get their message across. Henry Creamer and Turner Layton also produced sheet music intended for wide distribution.
“After You’ve Gone” has a picture of a white woman on the cover, in order to be acceptable on the parlor piano of European Americans. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Creamer did not put his photo on his sheet music which probably was another a marketing tactic.
Jewish American artists, who had experienced discrimination and experienced or heard stories of pogroms and purges in Europe, were especially likely to sympathize with the cause of African American artists. Belle Baker, born in New York to a Russian Jewish family, was a versatile performer who could sing ragtime and blues. The song “Jubilee Blues” (1923) was composed by another Jewish American, Maurice Abrahams, with lyrics by Henry Creamer. Al Jolson, a Jewish immigrant who famously performed jazz and blues on the minstrel stage during this time, was also an advocate for the African American performers he worked with.
In spite of bias by record producers of the time, some African Americans artists did cross over and become popular for white audiences. It shouldn’t be surprising, since European Americans could see African Americans perform on stage and there was a demand for this music. But recordings and sheet music were items brought into the home, and this led to an expectation by publishers of a more restricted audience.
One of the most successful singers whose recordings became widely popular was Ma Rainey. Bessie Smith was another who in many ways an heir to Rainey and was a success with all audiences.
Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle made waves by performing in suit and tie on minstrel stages without blackface. They hoped to help a transition to a more respectful treatment of African American performers at the end of the minstrel show era. But instead they became an exception to the rule. They did make records some of their own performances that were widely sought after.
The period when efforts were made to segregate music, and when white musicians “covered” African American music and song for marketing to European Americans, continued into the middle of the twentieth century when rock and roll collided with discrimination and a growing segment of the public, of all ethnic groups, began to protest.
Today some feel that some attitudes and practices of that era persist, affecting opportunities for performers and composers of color.
