Harlem Stride in New York, Hot Swing in Chicago

Which city was most important to jazz in the 1920s—Chicago or New York? Why? What role did social, economic, and racial conditions play in creating the particular climate for jazz in that city? Was there a Chicago or Harlem style of jazz? If so, what was it, who played it, and what distinguished it from others? Whose (band or individual) art best represents the culture and community of the city you chose? Why? Please provide references.

While New York's contribution to all styles of jazz in the 1930s is unsurpassed, the 1920s were a time when New York and Chicago had distinctly different types of jazz. New York jazz, usually for respectable middle class consumption, mainly followed the European vein of big band melodies and harmonies, thorough composition, and cool, tight playing. The big bands of Duke Ellington and Fletcher Henderson epitomize the typical New York jazz scene, with strict leadership and guidance within a larger band. Chicago jazz, by contrast, designed for dance halls and dens of vice, was hotter and much more unhinged, allowing for creative energy which was much more experimental and avant-garde. The Austin High Gang is the clearest early example of this style of competitive, showy instrument playing within a loosely structured composition. While such a simple assessment of the two cities might lead one to believe that Chicago was putting out the more creative and superior jazz, the development and evolution toward Harlem stride piano which was taking place within New York at this time provided the syncopation and improvisation which allows me to say that New York was the more important site of the evolution of jazz in this period.

The most monumental figures in the development of creative phrasing within New York were James P. Johnson, Willie "The Lion" Smith, and Fats Waller. Gioia captures the immense importance of Harlem stride piano in the development of jazz when he states that Johnson would use musical devices as various as classical interpolations, counterpoint exercises, and he even experimented with jazz combos (p. 97-8). Without the evolution of ragtime and boogie-woogie into stride piano, New York jazz would only be a representative of thoroughly composed, tightly performed European music, and would have been lacking the improvisational energy of African American dance music. While Chicagoans such as Benny Goodman and Gene Krupa developed a hot dance style nearing swing while they performed in Chicago, the Harlem stride piano greats also captured this rhythmic energy, while supplementing a much tighter big band style which satisfied the harmonic and melodic tastes of upper class consumers of European music

New Orleans: adaptating to diversity

What did New Orleans contribute to the emergence of jazz at the beginning of the 20th century? Why did jazz emerge in New Orleans instead of other American cities? What were some of the sources of New Orleans jazz as mentioned by Gioia? After considering the evidence that Gioia presents, what do you believe was the most important factor that explains why jazz emerged in New Orleans?

The importance of New Orleans in the development of jazz cannot be overstated. In addition to being a melting pot of the Spanish, French, African, and English cultures, New Orleans was a place where inter-cultural exchange was a widespread and accepted practice. In addition to having opera houses and symphony orchestras which played the composed music of European culture, New Orleans was home to Congo Square and other sites of African musical display which performed a more spiritual and spontaneous style of music. European and African cultural fusion would create musical styles in which planned musical movements could be combined with spiritual spontaneity and a unique style which arose dialectically from the input of the other performers on the spot. The African culture encouraged performances in which everyone in the group would participate organically, and as a result New Orleans residents and the New Orleans diaspora cannot be overvalued in the development of jazz as style which values group interplay as much as individual excellence.

As the most obvious progenitor to jazz, ragtime added syncopation, typically a "swung" or "ragged" piano chord, which infectiously makes the group want to move to the music. This musical style, which evolved in the dance halls of New Orleans and St. Louis, also incorporated Western melodies and composition, as Scott Joplin created a ragtime opera. Along with ragged piano, African and Creole culture also brought to jazz large, rich-sounding brass bands which were popular in New Orleans and incorporated catchy melodic counterpoint into a style which I believe is fundamentally defined and characterized by rhythmic syncopation and an improvisational performative style.

Ultimately, the cultural integration and adaptation which was so common and valuable in the music of the red light district of New Orleans created a competitive musical culture based around live performances which were completely unlike the written sheet music which was so valued in traditional European musical styles. Storyville was a melting pot within the melting pot of New Orleans, and when audience reactions and input encouraged musicians to compete with each other to win over the audiences and possibly steal each others venues and gigs, live performers had to adapt their music around the style of both the other band members and the audience. Playing in such a diverse environment, musicians had to incorporate the large variety of tastes of the entire group into their playing, or else popular opinion would cause them to lose paid work. In a city where music was incredibly popular and in such high demand, jazz was conceived as an art focused around spontaneous and adaptive live performances which were suited to the situation and to the movements of the other members of the group, and could never be replicated or truly expressed as composed sheet music. Syncopated phrasing and impromptu counterpoint could create live music in which a loose composition was colored and flavored by the sudden whims of the musician on the spot during his musical meditation.

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