Micah Hargers
New Orleans Jazz
Central Question
How did New Orleans music define an entire ethnic society throughout the south?
New Orleans is strongly associated with jazz music, universally being considered to be the birthplace of the genre. Earliest form was Dixieland which is sometimes called traditional jazz 'New Orleans' and 'New Orleans Jazz'
New Orleans Jazz was a result of the mixing together of different ethnicities and the shift in American society in the north during the Civil War after the Louisiana Purchase, and the dispute over the Louisiana territory between the Spanish and the French between the the 1760s and the early 1800s, cultural friction between English-Speaking Anglo- and African Americans flooding the city of New Orleans. Boundaries were made like "uptown" New Orleans also known as the American sector and "downtown" New Orleans which is the older creole district. However these diverse cultures often lived within close proximity to each other. New Orleans music was also impacted by popular musical forms that proliferated throughout the U.S during the Civil War, at a time where Brass Marching Bands were the rage in the late 1800s
Louis Armstrong - C'est si bon (1962)
Dixieland - Buddy Bolden
New Orleans Jazz Reflected in the 1950s
New Orleans Jazz and it's affect on ethnic society can compare to the Rock n' Roll craze of the 1950s. The genre of popular music originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and into the early 1950s. Rock n' Roll was inspired and gained musical styles from African American musical styles like Gospel, Boogie-Woogie, Rhythm and Blues, Country Music and of course Jazz.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFkXBvL9odI
The Continuity of Jazz
New Orleans Jazz and it's ability to continue through the years can be visible through the instruments used. Many instruments in American pop culture were used in jazz as well as the musicality of the instruments. In Jazz, for instance, cornet or trumpet, clarinet, and trombone were used to create improvisation without distorting the melody so that the song is memorable. The same can go for the Piano, Guitar, Bass, Tuba, and drums which drives the rhythm and delivers syncopated rhythm for dancing which was all the craze during the Roaring 20s and even to today.
Louis Armstrong - What a wonderful world ( 1967 )
Blue Lu Barker - Trombone man blues
Honourable Mentions: Past and Present
- Jelly Roll Morton (1899-1941)
- Sidney Bechet (1897-1959)
- Danny Barker (1909-1994)
- Louis Prima (1910-1978)
- Allen Toussaint (1938-2015)
- Fats Domino
- Dirty Dozen Brass Band
- Harry Connick Jr.