Jazz in the 1920s Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Jazz in the 1920s - Essay Example This important event in history marked the importance of New Orleans as a regional musical center. The "Congo Square" became the breeding ground for what will become a very significant part of the American culture. In this place, the formerly slaves in the community were allowed to express themselves through music and other art form. Thus, they sang "work songs filled with irony, imagery, and love-relief from the tensions of their lives (American Popular Music 2005)." The blues, which is a precursor of jazz also flourished in the "Congo Square" giving way to the creation of jazz music. Compared to other types of music, jazz has its distinct characteristics. Jazz is characterized by blue notes, syncopation, swing, call and response, polyrhythm and improvisation. This repot will specifically look at the Jazz Age (1920s) and one of the most influential figure during that time. This paper will focus on the significance of jazz after the World War I and the significant places where it flourished. One section will give an account to the contributions of Louis Armstrong in jazz music. It will also briefly explain the situation jazz in the post World War II. A decade after the World... The 1920s, which is often regarded as the Roaring Twenties came to be known as the "Jazz Age." The decade witnessed the collapse of the America's traditional set -up. Its old perceived social conventions had ruined by the Great War but new principles developed. Jazz became the popular music embodying the "let-loose" social attitude during the period. It is during these times that people seem to get tired of the previous war and were expressing their relief through the use of mediums like music. Women, in particular, felt triumphant in their newfound freedom (that is, being granted the right to vote in 1920). They began to stick to a more liberated culture by bobbing their hair and wearing short flapper dresses. After the war, it became apparent that the public desired entertainment which led to the opening of public dance halls, clubs, and tearooms in cities. New dances like the Charleston are widely popular in dance floors and clubs. Black dances like the shimmy, turkey trot, buzzard lope, chicken scratch, monkey glide, and bunny hug were eventually adopted by the white public which implies the growing in the Arican-American culture. The new music, new dances and new fashions which dominated the new era outraged many as the Catholic Telegraph quoted:"The music is sensuous, the female is only half dressed and the motions may not be described in a family newspaper. Suffice it to say that there are certain houses appropriate for such dances but these houses have been closed by law (The Jazz Age 2006)." The Rise of Jazz Accordingly, two disparate, but important, inventions of the second half of the nineteenth century quietly had set the stage for jazz to capture the spotlight in American popular music by the 1920s-George Pullman's invention of