"Do you know what it means to miss New
Orleans? When that's where you left your heart..." (Louis Armstrong). There were many factors that played a role
in the creation of jazz in New Orleans. Syncretism of cultures and musical
traditions, the city's love affair of music, and some amazing artists are three
of the most important factors that led to the emergence of jazz.
New Orleans was the birth place of
jazz. This unique, American music genre evolved from a combination of blues and
ragtime. Jazz was more than simply a musical evolution though. It was also a
cultural evolution, and New Orleans was the perfect host city for this
evolution to occur. An amazing amount of syncretism was happening in New
Orleans at the turn of the twentieth century. It had a large French, Spanish,
and Haitian influence. In particular, there was a large black Creole population
who clung strongly to their European roots. They were well-trained, disciplined
musicians. As they were forced to intermingle more and more with the larger
African American population, their music began to adapt and mix with the less-disciplined,
"vitally-alive" music of their distant brothers. Out of this melting
pot came the first jazz music.
It was often rumored that the first
jazz music was played in Storyville - the red light district of New Orleans. However,
little evidence can be found to support the theory that jazz was played in the
brothels. Although we cannot say for certain where jazz music was first played
in the city of New Orleans, we know that it was soon playing everywhere in the city.
It was played in the parks, the churches, rent parties, assembly halls, and grand
street celebrations like Mardi Gras. It was not even uncommon for music to be
played at funerals. Music permeated every level of society in New Orleans. The
city was in love with celebration and vital-aliveness.
Ted Gioia calls Buddy Bolden "the
elusive father of jazz." To our knowledge, there are no recordings of his
music, and his career only lasted a few short years. Despite this, Bolden is a
character of legend. It is clear that his music was, at the very least, a different
form of ragtime. Perhaps it was even real jazz. He emphasized wind instruments
at the expense of the strings, and he had notoriety for his group's
"daring move into the syncopated and blues-infected sounds that would
prefigure jazz" (Gioia 35). The first group to record real jazz music was
actually a white band called the Original Dixieland Jazz Band. They were raised
in New Orleans and probably learned their music in the city, but their
professional performances were in Chicago and New York. Jelly Roll Morton was
the first person to claim to have invented jazz music, but his assertion seems
unlikely to be true. Nevertheless, Morton offered some amazing analysis of the
jazz idiom. King Oliver and Louis Armstrong are the first jazz legends.
Although they did not create jazz, they commercialized it and played a large
role in its success and wide-spread popularity.
Due to its love-affair with music,
its cultural heritage, and a particular group of its residents, New Orleans was
the birth city of jazz. Of these three factors, syncretism stands out to me as
the most important factor in the creation of jazz. After all, jazz is an
evolution of musical genres. Without the syncretism of French, Spanish,
African, and American culture and music, the world may have never seen jazz.
