Natalie Garcia
MUS245/AAS240
Professor Conklin
2 November 2018
Is Jazz Black Music?
It’s a question that has no definitive answer and has been asked from the beginning, every expert will say something different, is jazz black music? In order to address this, one must define the terms ‘jazz’ and ‘black music’ separately. Jazz is a music that comes from the African American community, an amalgam of European, Caribbean, and African cultures, originating from New Orleans. It often times has a sense of swing and improvisation, along with other elements such as syncopation and the blues to some degree. Black music is defined as any music written by a black person. More specifically, black music usually incorporates rhythm, antiphony, and timbre. The two definitions have a lot of overlap. With that said, analyzing whether or not jazz is black music can be determined. Jazz is black music because it originates from African American descent, it’s predominantly produced and played by black musicians, and serves a distinct purpose to African Americans.
In order to answer this question, we need to go to the beginnings of jazz. Jazz originates from slavery; Dr. Salim Washington says, “My understanding of jazz is yes, it is an American product… it did come from these shores, but it didn’t represent the nation in all of its strifes and political manifestations. In fact, it’s a music that comes from slavery”. Jazz can’t be understood without looking back at who produced it. Slaves were given the opportunity to dance and sing on Sundays; For example, in New Orleans, slave owners would allow their slaves to go to an area called Congo Square, where they gathered in song and dance. The precursors to jazz arose out of these gatherings and from the work they were forced to do. What was born out of slavery were spirituals, field hollers, and work songs; These styles of songs influenced the music that would eventually be considered jazz. All three predecessors were a way for African Americans to mentally escape from the exhaustive work that they were forced to do and allowed them to communicate with each other in a way that their white slave owners wouldn’t understand. The spirituals were usually sung in groups and they used biblical references within the songs that had secret meanings. An example of a spiritual would be “Swing Low Sweet Chariot” which has a coded message about the underground railroad and escaping slave states to make their way into freedom in the north. The ‘sweet chariot’ is the underground railroad and the verses saying “Comin’ for to carry me home…” actually mean coming to take me to freedom in the north. These coded messages kept the slaves’ plans hidden in plain sight from their owner. The field hollers were usually sung solo, and their function was to help pass the time while slaves were doing their work out in the fields. These songs helped them deal with the oppression that they were facing. The work songs were typically sung in groups while slaves worked. They also sang these to get through the day, almost using their tools as instruments. These three precursors evolved into early forms of jazz such as the blues and ragtime. Looking back at these types of songs allows us to better understand the nature of where Jazz came from, the roots of jazz are African American.
The majority of jazz musicians are black and they’re usually trying to prove that black people are capable of creating intelligent art. Some of the biggest names that come to mind regarding jazz are all African Americans like Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Count Basie. These black artists were all about trying to prove themselves because, since the beginning of jazz’s predominance in the country, white people had mocked them. White people created minstrel shows, making fun of black music by using blackface and taunting black culture. With that said, as the style of jazz progressed, black musicians wanted to make jazz into an art form. In bebop, black musicians began making recompositions of songs by altering chords and using different melodies. It wasn’t easy either, it was a risky new genre of jazz and was seen as dangerous to play, but artists like Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie really pushed for its approval and recognition. Black musicians wanted to be seen as intellectual and sophisticated, unlike how they had been seen their whole lives, thus bebop was complex, frantic, and energetic music. They were purposefully trying to weed out the “weak jazz musicians” or in other words the white musicians; jazz allowed them to prove themselves. White people never had to deal with the racism and segregation that black jazz musicians faced. Blacks dominated the whites in the sense of there being more black jazz players. Besides, the race of person playing jazz doesn’t change where it came from, it will always be African American music. When analyzing jazz being black music it’s also important to look at the purpose that the people playing it have. Blacks and whites do not have the same purpose for playing jazz music. For black people, jazz is an outlet to express their concerns, spread movements they support, and send messages about society’s racism against them. For black people, jazz is a search for their culture. White people can’t use jazz in the same way, for them, jazz is only a search for self. Take a look at the blues, for instance, it’s function was quite simple, to get rid of the blues and not just any blues, but the sadness and anxiety that blacks had during times of oppression. Although slavery was over by the time the blues were developed, the African American community still faced racism and were considered “second class citizens” not seen as equal to whites. Some of the many black jazz musicians who used their songs to tell stories include Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, and Nina Simone. Billie Holiday’s ‘Strange Fruit’ is about lynchings, a common violent type of attack that unfortunately many African Americans experienced in the 20th century. The song, originally a poem by Abel Meeropol, essentially was protesting racism in America and was widely known throughout the country. Armstrong’s ‘What Did I do to be so Black and Blue’ is a civil rights song. It explains the struggle that every black person goes through; Even someone as famous and as popular among any race as Louis Armstrong faced racism. Some of the lyrics are really bold like “I’m white inside but that don’t help my case, that’s life can’t hide what’s in my face,” and “My only sin is in my skin,” but Armstrong only sang the truth. Nina Simone’s ‘Mississippi Goddam’ is also a civil rights song. It’s about a bombing attack by the Ku Klux Klan on a church in Alabama that killed four girls and injured many others. The song is extremely powerful and goes to show some of the violence that blacks went through. Jazz aided in creating an outlet for black men and women to begin a movement. The purpose of this music isn’t for white people’s pleasure, it has a deeper context in which black people are able to convey their emotions and the oppression that they face.
There is no need for white people to claim jazz music as their own, they already have a multitude of things that they can call their own. Needless to say, Jazz is still American music because it did originate here; However, it was born out of slavery and the oppression that followed slavery for decades. Jazz is also produced and performed predominantly by black musicians. No other culture will ever be able to relate to jazz music in the same way as African Americans, it serves a certain purpose to them. Overall, jazz is black music; black people carved jazz to be what it is and no other race can take credit for that.