Jazz History part 2

Jazz History part 2

In the early history of Jazz, a special collaborative relationship developed between brass bands in New Orleans and mutual aid and benevolent societies. Mutual aid and benevolent societies were common among many ethnic groups in urban areas in the 19th century. After the Civil War such organizations took on special meaning for emancipated African-Americans who had limited economic resources.

The purposes of such societies were to "help the sick and bury the dead" - important functions because blacks were generally prohibited from getting commercial health and life insurance and other services.

While many organizations in New Orleans used brass bands in parades, concerts, political rallies, and funerals, African-American mutual aid and benevolent societies had their own expressive approach to funeral processions and parades, which continues to the present. At their events, community celebrants would join in the exuberant dancing procession. The phenomena of community participation in parades became known as "the second line," second, that is, to the official society members and their contracted band.

Other community organizations also used New Orleans-style "ragtime" brass bands. Mardi Gras walking clubs, notably the Jefferson City Buzzards and the Cornet Carnival Club (still in existence), were employers of the music.

Multiple Choice

A special collaborative relationship developed between brass bands in New Orleans and mutual aid and benevolent societies in the early days of Jazz development.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

The purpose of mutual aid and benevolent societies was to:

• Provide food for the communities they served

• Give jobs to people

• Provide music for church functions

• Help the sick and bury the dead

Multiple Choice

At their events, community celebrants would join in the exuberant dancing procession in the parades. This became known as...

• The Second Line

• The Two Step

• The Hot Foot

• The Party Line

By the turn of the century New Orleans was thriving not only as a major sea and river port but also as a major entertainment center. Legitimate theater, vaudeville, and music publishing houses and instrument stores employed musicians in the central business district. Less legitimate entertainment establishments flourished in and around the officially sanctioned red-light district near Canal and Rampart streets. Out on the shores of Lake Ponchartrain bands competed for audiences at amusement parks and resorts. Street parades were common in the neighborhood, and community social halls and corner saloons held dances almost nightly.

New Orleanians never lost their penchant for dancing, and most of the city's brass band members doubled as dance band players. The Superior Brass Band, for instance, had overlapping personnel with its sister group, The Superior Orchestra. Dance bands and orchestras softened the brass sound with stringed instruments, including violin, guitar, and string bass. At the turn of the century string dance bands were popular in more polite settings, and "dirty" music, as the more genteel dances were known, was the staple of many downtown Creole of color bands such as John Robichaux's Orchestra.

Multiple Choice

By the turn of the century New Orleans was thriving not only as a major sea and river port but also as a major center for sports entertainment.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

Most of the city's brass band members began to double as:

• Dancers

• String Band Players

• Dance Band Players

• Bandleaders

Earthier vernacular dance styles were increasing in popularity in New Orleans. Over the last decade of the 19th century, non reading musicians playing more improvised music drew larger audiences for dances and parades. The increasing popularity of this more "ratty" music brought many trained and untrained musicians into the improvising bands. Also, repressive segregation laws passed in the 1890s (as a backlash to Reconstruction) increased discrimination toward anyone with African blood and eliminated the special status previously afforded Creoles of color. These changes ultimately united black and Creole of color musicians, thus strengthening early jazz by combing the uptown improvisational style with the more disciplined Creole approach.

Most New Orleans events were accompanied by music, and there were many opportunities for musicians to work. In addition to parades and dances, bands played at picnics, fish fries, political rallies, store openings, lawn parties, athletic events, church festivals, weddings, and funerals.

Sometime before 1900, African-American neighborhood organizations known as social aid and pleasure clubs also began to spring up in the city. Similar in their neighborhood orientation to the mutual aid and benevolent societies, the purposes of social and pleasure clubs were to provide a social outlet for its members, provide community service, and parade as an expression of community pride. This parading provided dependable work for musicians and became an important training ground for young musical talent.

New Orleans jazz began to spread to other cities as the city's musicians joined riverboat bands and vaudeville, minstrel, and other show tours. Jelly Roll Morton, an innovative piano stylist and composer, began his odyssey outside of New Orleans as early as 1907. 

Multiple Choice

Blacks and Creoles of Color began to collaborate and push the new Jazz style more aggressively due to...

• Slave owners reclaiming all freedmen as slaves

• Repressive segregation laws passed in the 1870s

• The formation of the Black Musician's Union

• Repressive segregation laws passed in the early 1890s

Multiple Choice

The New Orleans music scene provided few opportunities for musicians to work.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

Shortly before 1900, African-American neighborhood organizations known as (Blank) started to spring up all over the city of New Orleans.

• social aid and pleasure clubs

• funeral homes and churches

• bars and saloons

• fraternities and sororities

The Original Creole Orchestra, was an important early group that left New Orleans, moving to Los Angeles in 1912 and then touring the Orpheum Theater circuit, with gigs in Chicago and New York. In fact, Chicago and New York became the main markets for New Orleans jazz. Tom Brown's Band from Dixieland left New Orleans for Chicago in 1915, and Nick LaRocca and other members of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band headed there in 1916.

In 1917 the Original Dixieland Jazz Band cut the first commercial jazz recording while playing in New York City, where they were enthusiastically received. The Victor release was an unexpected hit. Suddenly, jazz New Orleans style was a national craze.

With the new demand for jazz, employment opportunities in the north coaxed more musicians to leave New Orleans. For example, clarinetist Sidney Bechet left for Chicago in 1917, and cornetist Joe "King" Oliver followed two years later. The appeal of the New Orleans sound knew no boundaries. By 1919 the Original Dixieland Jazz Band was performing in England and Bechet was in France; their music was wholeheartedly welcomed.

Multiple Choice

The Original Creole Orchestra left New Orleans and moved to (Blank) in 1912.

• Dallas

• Chicago

• New York

• Los Angeles

• Detroit

Multiple Choice

The Original Dixieland Jazz Band cut the first commercial Jazz recording in what year?

• 1911

• 1922

• 1917

• 1944

• 1912

Multiple Choice

With New Orleans Jazz gaining popularity, most musicians stayed in New Orleans to become better at playing this style of music.

• True

• False

King Oliver, who had led popular bands in New Orleans along with trombonist Edward "Kid" Ory, established the trend-setting Creole Jazz Band in Chicago in 1922. Also in Chicago, the New Orleans Rhythm Kings blended the Oliver and Original Dixieland Jazz Band sounds and collaborated with Jelly Roll Morton in 1923.

Perhaps the most significant departure from New Orleans was in 1922 when Louis Armstrong was summoned to Chicago by King Oliver, his mentor. Louis Armstrong swung with a great New Orleans feeling, but unlike any of his predecessors, his brilliant playing led a revolution in jazz that replaced the polyphonic ensemble style of New Orleans with development of the soloist's art.

Polyphonic means...

producing many sounds simultaneously; many-voiced.

"a 64-voice polyphonic sound module"

MUSIC (especially of vocal music) in two or more parts each having a melody of its own; contrapuntal."polyphonic choral music"

MUSIC (of an instrument): capable of producing more than one note at a time."keyboards and other polyphonic instruments"

The technical improvement and popularity of phonograph records spread Armstrong's instrumental and vocal innovations and make him internationally famous. His Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings (1925-28), including his celebrated work with Earl Hines, were quite popular and are milestones in the progression of the music.

Multiple Choice

What two popular band leaders formed the Creole Jazz Band in Chicago?

• Buddy Bolden and Kid Ory

• Kid Ory and Louis Armstrong

• King Oliver and Kid Ory

• Sidney Bechet and Louis Armstrong

Multiple Choice

What does "polyphony" mean?

• capable of rendering the listener stunned

• capable of making harmonious sounds

• capable of producing more than one note at a time.

• capable of unison melody lines

Multiple Choice

The New Orleans Rhythm Kings collaborated with what band leader in Chicago in 1923?

• Jelly Roll Morton

• King Oliver

• Louis Armstrong

• Kid Ory

• Buddy Bolden