Jazz

=Research Questions:= __How did jazz hinder or help the equality of all men?__ Jazz spoke for equality before desegregation. It condemned the problems of the capitalistic system, and made black suffrage more noticed. __How does jazz reflect the other cultural movement of the time?__ Jazz came directly after ragtime, and had many of its qualities including the syncopated beats. __How does jazz reflect the economy of the time?__ Jazz was originally a lower class music, a group of men could own have their instruments and make their music, but more importantly, Jazz artists were known for their willingness to stay poor and not sign themselves over to companies that would limit their creativity. This reflects on the strength of the artists, and their unique way of not considering materials, and only considering soul.

__What effects did jazz have on politics? Did jazz help raise black suffrage awareness? When was jazz most popular? What instruments were used in jazz? What types of beats are there? Where did jazz originate? Which cultures influenced the development of jazz?__

=Research Design:= The plan is to research Jazz by looking at two parts: during segregation, and after de-segregation. We decided not to look so much at Jazz as music, but Jazz as a movment, the things that effected it politically instead of musically. We decided to do our project this way because we thought that it would be a unique point of view, with information that would not be easy to come across, and would give us a deeper knowledge of Jazz's effect on the people.

= = =Thesis:= Jazz's rise and fall was effected by the culture during segregation, and the changes that occurred after desegregation.

=Findings:= ** Jazz ** Jazz music was based on ragtime and a mix of other styles of music. It began as many slaves wanted to tell how they felt not just with words but with music. It started by taping rhythms on their bodies and singing to them, which eventually led to experimenting with different scales.

They would hit a "blue note" to give the music a certain effect and to go along with their stories. This style of playing is also found in Blues. The musicians would try to keep their songs upbeat and reflect on good times while putting feeling in there. Sometimes their would be a call and response which started when slaves were singing in the fields and ended up to be solos with maybe a sax and a bass. __ http://hubpages.com/hub/How-did-jazz-begin-Part-one-of-a-history-of-jazz __ -Vincent Russell

** Jazz-Before. **

= = Jazz was born in New Orleans. It eventually spread to Chicago, New York, and Kansas. Jazz became highly popular in the 1920’s. One of the reasons that jazz had such an influence on pop culture in the 1920’s is because the jazz records made by jazz musicians were available to whites and blacks. Jazz had a strong affect on many parts of American living in the 1920’s. It played a part in the way people dressed, and how the expressed themselves. Four artists that played a key role in the development of Jazz were King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Kid Ory, and Duke Ellington. Jazz caused the racial problems between blacks and whites to become worse after the civil war. Jazz started out in Orleans in around the end of the nineteenth century into the beginning of the twentieth century. “Jazz” did not become the official name of the movement until 1917.

There were acts of racism, prejudice, and violence against the African American community. Theses acts of discrimination started in 1917 and ended in 1923. The African American Jazz musicians from New Orleans were basically forced from their homes. If they weren’t forced from New Orleans then Jazz might not have flourished as a result. When they left New Orleans they brought the Jazz with them. The most common cities for Jazz musicians to relocate to were Kansas, New York, and Chicago.

Chicago was a great place for the Jazz musicians to start new. The jazz musicians that went to Chicago had changed their music playing style. The style of “New Orleans Jazz” has very wild and unpredictable compared to the jazz that became more refined in Chicago. One of the reasons for the change in jazz style was because it would be more appealing to White middle class listeners. -Taahir Henry

** Jazz- After. ** Jazz had become a symbol of the black civil rights campaign. Jazz artists would sing about segregation, about poverty and about other things in their day to day lives. They sang about modern events and exposed fundamental problems in the capitalistic system. According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, Capitalism is an economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital (important) goods, by investments that are determined by private decision, and by prices, production, and the distribution of goods that are determined mainly by competition in a free market. In a nutshell, Capitalism is about people working for themselves, and is pretty much the opposite of socialism. There are problems in both systems, and one of the problems of a purely capitalistic government is that it makes distinct social classes. This on top of the social classes made by segragation left poor negros at the bottom and with almost no way to make their way up in the world.

Many whites disliked Jazz when it was first created, for many reasons. For one thing, Jazz artists often valued their art more than money, and this made them impossible to be controlled by record companies. Another thing about jazz was that it was 'unorganized'. Unlike most European music, Jazz was not structured or studied at the time. It came from the musicians soul, and represented that persons ideas. Later, after segregation ended, white people started buying Jazz records. Jazz became a way for white people to have adventure. It became a thrill, to go down to a cotton club, and listen to disorganized music and smoke a cigarette in a dark room. In the Fig 1 above, there is a picture of a DVD cover. The movie is a remake of an older movie and staged in the roawring twenties. The movie is named The Cotton Club but the picture is of a sexy woman, and man, and hints to more risque topics. This picture represents what Jazz became after desegregation. Not surprisingly, Jazz lost its popularity in the African-American market. It had lost its soul and was not longer a source of pride. Soon it was transformed into an intellectual art, and college courses about jazz were made.

After the decline of Jazz, the music transformed into something else rapidly. It became about playing instruments faster and faster, or about playing random notes. Originally, jazz had melody, however most jazz today has no melody. When music has no melody, it cannot be in the forefront of someones mind because it cannot really be focused on. Now, Jazz is background music, played as background noise for talk shows. -Claire Elliot

** Jazz Today ** On May 13th 2010, the research team went to a public park and interviewed the good people of Philadelphia. The questions asked were: What does the word 'Jazz' make you think? What social class would you associate Jazz with today? and in the 1930s do you think it was different? Do you associate Jazz with blacks, whites, americans, black-americans, white-americans, other or all?

Most people said that the word Jazz made them think of music and new orleans.

The second question produced the most interesting results, most people associated Jazz today with rich people, and some even put it with "the ritch white folk who could afford to take music lessons and could take the time out from their day to practice" This goes along with our research that said that after desegregation, Jazz moved to become a higher class music. Even more surprisingly was the fact that most people thought that Jazz was an upperclass style of music even back in the '30s. This means that the Black-Americans are not taking pride in this type of music. If they knew that Jazz used to speak for their rights, would it be more lisened to? Would new young Jazz artists come out? Would it be good for the African American people of the United States to be educated in there musical past?

To the third question most people said All, or whites. -Claire Elliot =Samples:=

Louis Armstrong - Stormy Weather media type="file" key="LOUIS ARMSTRONG - STORMY WEATHER.mp3" width="240" height="20" Louis Armstrong was one of the forefathers if Jazz and composed this piece in the jazz era. This song is about bad times but the way he sings it he has hope that times will change.

Think you know your stuff? Ready to learn more? PLAY JEOPARDY! http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2205951/JEOPARDY.pptx =Bibliography:=


 * # "http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/tbacig/studproj/is3099/jazzcult/20sjazz/."//www.d.umn.edu//. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 May 2010. .
 * 1) Cockburn, Alexander, and Jeffrey St. Clair. "CounterPunch." //Counter Punch// (2010): n. pag. Web. 26 May 2010.
 * 2) Merriam, George, and Charles Merriam. "Capatalism." //Merriam-Webster Dictionary// (1982): n. pag. Web. 26 May 2010. .
 * 3) Baraka, Amiri. "Jazz and the White Critic." //xroads.virginia.edu//. N.p., 1960. Web. 26 May 2010. . ||