Jazz Emerges in Cosmopolitan New Orleans

New Orleans is the birthplace of Jazz. In this city the cultural, economic and social environment provided the perfect preconditions for the rise of Jazz. The city was a French colony, which was taken over by the Spanish and then bought by the US (Gioia 6). Thus, the French, the Spanish, the Caribbean and the African slaves shaped the city’s cultural and musical environment. As New Orleans grew to be an important trading center, many more people and cultures were integrated into this cosmopolitan city. Most notably, the Mexican presence at the Cotton Exposition in 1884 in New Orleans brought in their musical culture (Johnson 225). The Mexican musicians were classically trained and brought with them woodwind instruments and the saxophone, both of which were important in the formation of Jazz (Johnson 225, 226). Many of the Mexican musicians taught the first (Jazz) musicians classical music and thus enabled a mixing of their cultural musical heritage to create Jazz (Johnson 226). This was particularly important since Europeans refused to teach classical music to the Black community and, without the classical influence, Jazz wouldn’t have developed the way it did. 

The African people and Creoles created Jazz by transforming musical styles and “assimilating some of [their] elements” (Gioia 8). This technique was used with the various musical cultures present in New Orleans to create Jazz, blues, rock, ragtime and many more (Gioia 8). Thus, the cultural diversity and interaction between Europeans, Caribbeans, Africans, Mexicans and others was key to the formation of Jazz. There is often fierce controversy about how much each musical tradition contributed to the making of Jazz. I think that, even though some cultures might have contributed more or less to the formation of jazz, even the smallest input was necessary to create it. Therefore, in a sense, all contributions were equally important.

               Another crucial factor in the development of Jazz was the Latin-Catholic culture in New Orleans at that time (Gioia 6). Under this ideology slaves were treated much more benevolent and their expression of culture and music wasn’t violently suppressed. They were even allowed to practice, and thus preserve, their music in the Congo Square (Gioia 6). This more open society facilitated the expression and mixing of different musical cultures. It also gave space for “an attempt to reassess the worth of the black man within the society” and thus enabling the black man to be a subject in his actions, rather than a stigmatized object (Jones L. 96). He could step up and combine musical traditions to create Jazz and thus exert agency as a subject. This led to a psychological liberation. Therefore, in a sense, Jazz was a symbolic resistance and liberation of black people and New Orleans was the center of this liberation. Furthermore, in New Orleans a society developed that had an “extraordinary […] passion for brass bands” and music in general (Gioia 30). Music was played everywhere, even at funerals. Without this love for music, Jazz would have probably never been invented (Gioia 30). The musicians wouldn’t have had the support of the people, which would have hindered cross-cultural musical experiments and the overall development of new styles, like Jazz, that appealed to the public. 

               Finally, the most important reason why Jazz emerged in New Orleans is that it was uniquely situated to become a global trading city. The steamboat trade with South America, Africa, Europe, Mexico and other places enabled the crucial cultural diversity and exchange that was the basis for the development of Jazz. 

The Jazz that developed in New Orleans was quite distinctive from later forms in that it had a collectivistic approach, which means that it was based on ensemble, rather than on soloist, performances (Gioia 53). This working together to create the music is reflective of the diversity that was assimilated into Jazz. After the beginning era, Louis Armstrong “herald[ed] the new Age of the Soloist” and moved Jazz into the direction of soloist performances and away from the traditional New Orleans ensemble style (Gioia 53). 

In conclusion, Jazz developed in cosmopolitan New Orleans because it provided the crucial social, economic and cultural climate for artistic exchange and musical experimentation.

Commented on Neel Sabnis blog: http://blst14sabnis.blogspot.com