The Great Depression Jazz
Maya Rios
Context
Due to the stock market crash and the overuse of credit the depression hit. Many Americans were losing their jobs causing their income to be low and the need for food and support high. President Hoover was in charge not really knowing what to do to stop the depression. A mixture of many other genres to create what is called Jazz Music. The blues, traditional african american spirituals are just part of what developed the genre Jazz. Originating from New Orleans many black americans migrated North for a chance to find work. Little did they know it would become the new center of Jazz music.
Contrasting to the 1890's
In contrast to the 1890’s where jazz was memorized and loosely played in the 1930’s it started to transform more into swing music rather than the old style of Jazz consisting of free flowing harmonizing and collective improvisation. The Jazz during the 1930's was more of a reflection of what was going on around them and trying to bring hope to the people. It was a distraction to the real world to make them forget even for a moment that they are starving and have nowhere to go. While during the 1890's it was more free flowing and mirrored the fact that many African Americans were moving North.
Jazz Over Time
Another genre of the time was swing music. Jazz was similar to swing music because that is where swing branched off of. Although they were very similar swing music was designed to get people from a larger audience to dance. As Jazz musicians prefer not to work from written scores swing artists would base their music from these scores and arrangements. Musicians starting from Count Basie to Duke Ellington during the depression.
How the world was seen
Many of the Jazz artists during this time period saw music as a way to escape the depression going on around them. They wanted their music to reflect hope that soon it will end. Their music sometimes reflected the hard times Americans were going through, but optimism was shown, because Americans knew that the depression wasn't ending any time soon no matter what the government tried to do.
Sources
https://livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe30s/life_17.html
http://www.tonahangen.com/wsc/us2/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/VERYShortJazz.pdf
http://archive.oah.org/special-issues/katrina/resources/jazz.html
https://www.silkstreetswing.co.uk/swing-and-jazz-how-are-they-different/