jaz as uniquely american

7/31/2019 Jaz as Uniquely American

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10/24/11

What Makes Jazz Uniquely American

Thelonious Monk was once quoted as saying Everybody in all countries tries to play jazz.

While this is hyperbole, it is clear that Monks message rings true. Jazz is a special type of music in that it

has not faded in popularity much, unlike other genres of music that have grown old and outdated with

their generation. Jazz music is a global phenomenon, and in many ways is an icon: it is easily recognized

and can be a way of life for those who follow it. Yetjazz music has also been called Americas Classical

Music. How can such a global image be labeled something so uniquely tied to a specific country? This

question can be answered by looking at the origins of jazz. Jazz is a multicultural institute, it originated in

America despite heavy influence from other areas of the world, and jazz evolved on a global scale based

on Americas own economic and social development.

America is a country of many cultures, often called the melting pot of the world. Looking at how

vast Americas cultural, ethnic, and racial diversity is, it is not be hard to see that something called

uniquely American should contain multiple examples and influences from different identities. The

reading Early Jazz: Its Roots and Musical Development by Gunther Schuller spoke about the major

influences of jazz originating from Africa and Europe. It explained that though you shouldnt stereotype

influences of a massive musical entity in such day and night terms, it is clear that most rhythms and

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melodies stemmed from Africa, either through traditional chants and rituals or slave field work shouts

and callings, and most harmonies came from Europes already vast classical music library. The

entanglement of these two influences created the backbone and the earliest examples of what we


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would call jazz. The two cultures, one predominantly white and the other predominantly black,

inevitably put their own culture and sentiments into jazz music. This difference can be seen in

comparing an early white jazz band with an early black jazz band, such as The Original Dixieland Jazz

Band and Duke Ellington and His Orchestra. By listening to two tracks by both of these artists you can

tell that the Dixieland Band has a much stiffer feel to their music, while Duke Ellington and His

Orchestras music flows with an impromptu feel, even if it is written out. Nevertheless, both groups had

significant influence on jazz music. The Original Dixieland Jazz Band recorded the first jazz song for

commercial use, which was a cornerstone in jazz music becoming a mainstream sensation. Duke

Ellingtons compositions became some of the most important in jazz history, and his son continued the

Duke Ellington Orchestra after his death, as did his grandson after his sons death, and so on to this day.

Both of these groups had significant impact on jazz, just as many other groups from different cultural

identities did before and after them. The largest commonality between the two groups, though: They

are both American.

The thing that most makes jazz uniquely American, and might be the most overlooked, is that it

originated in America. America was built by our founding fathers on the principles of equality, freedom,

expression of thought and person, and the right to interpret. These are all found in surplus in jazz music.

In no other genre of music do you see more covers, interpretations, and remakes of songs than in jazz.

This isnt because the original artist messed up, but because of the wide range of variations you can

implement on any such jazz piece. A great example of this is Miles Daviss So What, from the

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album Kind of Blue. The majority of the song is high amounts of improv by members of the band on

trumpet, saxophone, and piano, all backed up by a consistent rhythm section made of bass and drum

set. This type of jazz reflects the core American values that our country was created on. The openness


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of the song is a great template for future artists to put their own spin on things. Since jazz wasnt written

with a set of guidelines, people had the freedom to make their own. This entitled artists to put jazz

music into tracks not originally made as jazz, such as in The Bad Pluss cover of Nirvanas Smells like

Teen Spirit. Their ability to take rock instruments and transcribe their parts for jazz instruments

exemplifies the freedom that jazz encourages. The point that jazz incorporates American values is

further proven when you look at the World War II era, when Hitler banned jazz music in Nazi Germany.

Despite jazz music being widely popular in Europe and other areas before Hitlers rise to power, he saw

jazz as a representation of resistance, a source of power for his enemies, and he was intimidated by it.

During this time America and the free parts of Europe played jazz over the radio to promote patriotism

and freedom. Jazz was seen as a representation of the freedom America stood for, and is still seen as

such today.

Economists argue that anything that develops in the world does so because of politics and the

economy. The same holds true for jazz music, as it evolved on a global scale with great influence by

Americas economic and social progress. An example of this is the early life of great trumpeter and

vocalist Louis Armstrong. Satchmo was born into an extremely poor family in New Orleans, Louisiana.

He spent a lot of his childhood in the bad parts of town, and despite getting in trouble every now and

then found a way to fall in love with music. In his teens he ended up working on a steamboat on the

Mississippi River. This led him to join many others in the exodus to Chicago, as the city began to boom

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with musical talent. During these earliest years of his musical career was when his talent really began to

take shape. When we take a step back and look at the big picture as a whole, we can see that Louiss

path to musical greatness would never have happened without one of the single-most important


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economic developments of history: the steamboat. The steamboat allowed for much simpler

transportation of goods and people to the expanding north and western parts of the U.S. Before even

the invention of the steamboat came the mass urbanization records of the industrial revolution. During

the industrial revolution new inventions and developments made supporting a family and earning

money much easier in the city factories than in rural farms. Such is the way of life, and the jazz

community took notice. Jazz moved into the spotlight thanks to the city clubs and bars that jazz

musicians frequented. The Roaring Twenties, as they were called, were years of extreme jazz

experimentation, innovation, and success. Jazz moved out of the localized entities it resided in

previously and started taking over the country and world in full force. No doubt that without the help of

urbanization and economic developments jazz would have become just as popular as it was then, but it

would have taken much longer to achieve. Economic and social progress not only enhanced the spread

of jazz music, but was necessary in making it as popular as it has been for decades.

Jazz is a global institution filled with millions of peoples on insights, contributions, and ideas on

how to make it better. The major African and European influences on early jazz helped make it a

multicultural style of music, yet it still has its origins firmly rooted in American tradition and values.

Those principles and values the country was created on helped shape the form and structure of jazz, and

the economic and social developments of America during jazzs heyday boosted it to global

appreciation. Yet when you take all of these things and put them together and you create something so

abstract and complex as jazz, it can only be described as uniquely American.

jaz as uniquely american

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