Jazz Age, also known as the roaring twenties, came about. The Jazz Age occurred when the economy of America was in its prime, before the tragedy of the Stock Market Crash and Great Depression. The Jazz Age brought forth gallants female suffrage leaders, writers, and musicians, each Influencing a different class of people In society. Jazz was created In the twentieth century by a group of African American musicians from New Orleans (Teach). They took the rhythms and melodies of their ancestors and “westernizes” them to form what we now call Jazz (Teach).
These alienated men then moved to Chicago and other American cities sharing their newfound music with the people (Teach). Around the time jazz was created, racism was very prominent, but as Carols Weatherboard said, “Racism ripped America at the seams, and Jazz stitched the nation together one song at a time” (Faberge). Jazz had many generations that progressed from swing, bebop, cool Jazz and hard bop, to fusion (Burner). First came the swing era known as “The Big Band Era” (Faberge). These big bands incorporated dance and music, and were also the climax of Jazz (Faberge).
Artists of the swing era have Influenced music In today’s society. Artists such as Michael Bubble have Incorporated some of the swing elements In his music, producing award winning songs and albums (All that Jazz World War II combined with a recording ban led to the fall of the swing era (Faberge). Beginning in the sass, “small-group oriented” Jazz called bebop came along (Faberge). Bebop was the beginning of modern Jazz (Faberge). It was played in clubs in New York; however, it had no connection with dancing (Faberge). Bebop was all about improvising, but this era suffered with financial success (Faberge).
There were two types of Jazz in the sass, cool-Jazz and hard bop (Faberge). Cool-Jazz was a reaction to bop that incorporated many instruments that you wouldn’t normally see in Jazz such all the flute, oboe, and the French horn (Faberge). Hard bop dealt with gospel tinged music (Faberge). While these two forms of Jazz were still In the making, along came a third, which was a blend of Jazz and classical music called model Jazz (Faberge). This type of Jazz wasn’t very successful (Faberge). Following their fall came fusion, the last jazz generation (Faberge).
It incorporated rock and reached its peak at the end of the sass (Faberge). Jazz and its history are filled with many talented musicians. Their individuality and input during this music era came in many varieties, Just like the many variations of jazz music itself. One reason for the diversity of musicians during this time was because Jazz incorporated such a vast array of instruments. Daniel Perez was a famous pianist (Faberge). He used his piano playing skills mixed with “ethnic grooves and wordless vocals” to be an influential jazz musician (Faberge). Dave Douglas was a strong contributor to Jazz.
He not only made known his trumpet playing skills, but also switched up his instrument choice on each of his records to showcase his musical diversity (Faberge). One of the greatest Jazz musicians of all time was Louis Armstrong! His talented trumpet and vocal skills helped pave the way for many other solo Jazz musicians who wanted to follow In his footsteps (Teach). The Lost Generation of the sass was a group of writers that lived in Europe, Monitor (The Lost Generation… ). The younger group was highly focused on by the media tabloids (The Lost Generation… . The younger group were socialites and famous for their costume parties (The Lost Generation… ). D. J. Taylor Affair wrote many articles about the group’s daily lives (The Lost Generation… . In The socialites that lived in Britain in the sass were pressured by the tightly regulated society, to live a censored life (The Lost Generation… ). Not all of the Lost Generation was originally from Europe, some moved there from America. The American writers felt that America was not a successful country because it was void of a cosmopolitan culture (Crunched).
Cosmopolitan culture is a variety of backgrounds and culture (Crunched). Until World War l, American writers were expected to use rigid Victorian styles of the nineteenth century (Crunched). The solution to their problem, America’s jack of culture, was to pack up and go to Europe (Crunched). By going to Europe, they expected to find literary freedom and cosmopolitan way of life (Crunched). Two very successful people of the lost generation are Ernest Hemingway and Ezra Pound. Hemingway was well known for his fiction (Dupes). The main topics of his work centralized around his love of embellishment of facts (Dupes).
Hemingway based his work on observation and description, rather than rhetoric views (Dupes). Pounds first book of poems was named “A Lumen Spent’ (1908); the book was published by A. Antonio’ (Likened). Pound, Hilled Doolittle, and Richard Allotting published “Des limitless”, a book based on their teashop conversations (Likened). Pound founded his own publishing company with Richard Allotting (Likened). In a world where men dominated almost every aspect of life, women found difficulties in being recognized for their talents.
The women of the sass were known for doing music such as spirituals, work songs, gospel, or blues, but never Jazz ( History through the sass… ). If, on the rare occasion, a woman was in a Jazz band; her role was to be the pianist. In order to showcase their musical talents without discrimination, women had to pass and perform as men. Jazz was considered a masculine art that would be destabilize if women were seen performing it (History through the sass… ). As time passed, women began to rebel against the majority and form their own minority as instrumentalists.
This arousal of female musicians was caused by the trailblazers of Jazz; Mamma Smith, Bessie Smith, and Ma Rained (History through the sass… ). Though women were making a stand, the outcome, sadly, was a different story. Stress from all the critics resulted in these strong women resorting to excessive drinking and drug abuse, therefore causing a decline in their health, and in mom cases, causing death. Jazz was not the only aspect of society that women were taken charge of. They were also looking for equality. As history books have revealed, women of the Jazz Age were seeking equality in society.
After supporting World War 1, women felt as if they deserved the same rights that men were given, such as the right to vote (Kasbah). Suffragists began to form groups also known as parties. Three of the parties formed by suffragists were the National Women’s Party, The Women’s Peace Party, and The No Democratic Rights Party (Women’s Rights… ). These groups educated women about politics so that they would eave legitimate votes. Suffragists volunteered at hospitals and government offices. After fighting and campaigning there cause, legislation passed the women’s suffrage and becoming law on August 26, 1920 (Women’s Rights… . These women did not stop there. They kept pressing the government to continue their act of enforcing equality. Therefore, legislation was passed stating that women would have equal pay to men (Women’s Rights… ). These women continued until soon they had a female in the Congress. Women in the sass fought for what they believed in until finally, they received the fruit of their labor. Women getting hired in certain positions in the workforce were as rare as women in Jazz until a few women decided to change that. One trailblazer for women was Jane Dixon.
Jane Dixon was the first sports analyst for New York Telegram (Kasbah). It took many years of Dixon writing in the domestic life and fiction columns before her boss finally promoted her to sports analyst. Her boss thought it would be an excellent idea for her to write about the boxing matches from a woman’s angle, so that the paper would appeal to more than Just male readers. Though Dixon was the sports analyst now, she still contributed to the omen’s page by discussing women’s rights and lamenting the loss of domesticity and modesty of females (Kasbah).
Dixon was also an outspoken woman that voiced her political and personal opinion about the events taking place. She encouraged that women not get into a “loveless” marriage, but use their talents. She also thought that women should forget old tradition about the clinging vine and the sturdy oak (Kasbah). Dixon also seemed to contradict her strong belief in female independence when she says that women should stop advances by asserting the value of home, life, marriage, and family (Kasbah).
Dixon was not trying to straddle the fence as some would say, but expressing the importance of a woman’s principal duty in life, which is to keep the home life in order. Not only were women taking a stand in society, but also in politics. There were many different inspirational figures of the Jazz Age. These leaders left their mark in the Jazz Age Culture. The participants of the Jazz Age range from all ages, nationalities and classes. The Jazz Age was the era of mending what racism and discrimination had tore apart. Accepting what people of that time period considered unusual or unacceptable, was the new mindset the Jazz Age brought about.