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How did musical and social developments in jazz between the end of World War II and the early
1960s parallel social developments at the time? How does this jazz differ from jazz at the
beginning of the twentieth century?

Musical and social developments in jazz in the 20th century were closely linked with the wider
social developments of that time. Black jazz musicians were able to use their rising popularity in
jazz music in order to gain a higher social standing, in a time where racial differences usually
dominated public opinion. They were also able to publically address social issues through the
medium of jazz. As jazz became more popular through commercialisation, segregation within the
jazz community diminished, allowing for the integration of black and white performers and
audiences, and thus playing a large part in the positive development of Americas society. The
introduction of bebop in jazz also paralleled certain aspects of American culture at the time
dancing (the bop) for enjoyment became the new trend.

Jazz is incredibly versatile and has a large range of styles. Due to this, it is incredibly difficult to
associate jazz with a particular type of music; a large number of musicians and historians would
argue that jazz is a construct as opposed to a particular style of music. As Gabbard (2002) says,
Jazz is a construct. Nothing can be called jazz simply because of its nature. It is generally
accepted that earlier jazz - that of the 1920s to 40s - is Afro-American music, in the same way
that classical music is predominantly from European culture. Duke Ellington, a popular black
jazz musician of this era, often referred to jazz as the music of my race (Johnson, 1995). At the
time, jazz was a way for the black population to create a stronger sense of community in what
was a very segregated country. In later years, when jazz music started to become commercialised
by record labels and popular musicians, jazz became a much more ambiguous term. The
improvisational aspect, and features such as twelve-bar-blues, ended up defining jazz more than
the cultural history behind it. Around the 1920s jazz was much less of an ambiguous term than

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it is now. Whilst today we can still classify different types of jazz such as blues, swing or
ragtime, back then they were all very much separated and were not all supported by the now
umbrella term jazz. As more Americans listened to it, jazz also began to be used to describe
the white entertainers that used this music to perform to white audiences, although this
segregation of white and black would not continue (Williams, 2015).

In the beginning of the twentieth century, jazz music itself was very much a reference of social
and political circumstances at the time. Songs would be written to highlight important issues, in
particular to bring attention to racial inequalities in America. Duke Ellingtons Black and Tan
Fantasy, written in 1927, is fundamentally a comment on the large collection of non-white
people in and around his community. Ellington himself said, My men and my race are the
inspiration of my work. I try to catch the character and mood and feeling of my people (1931).
Ellington often wrote music regarding the black community, and this accounted for much of his
appeal. The most noticeable feature of Ellingtons Black and Tan Fantasy is the reference to
Chopins Funeral March at the end of the piece, referring to the lives lost amidst the racial
tension in America, and attempting to bring that to the eye of the public.
It is worth noting that the stereotypical structure of a bop standard, which was a melody head
section followed by improvised solos for each performer, was used to emphasise the equality
between all the players. This effectively compensated for the lack of societal equality for black
musicians at the time, and made a statement about the equal importance of every instrument that
would play during one of these standards, even including bass or drum solos that were not so
often heard in earlier jazz music (Gabbard 2002).

Many black jazz musicians in the 1950s and 60s found that, despite their race disadvantage
socially, they could effectively climb the social ladder by becoming well known in the jazz
community. Recording studios and record labels were eager to broadcast jazz music, and as its

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popularity amongst the public increased, so did their social standing. Despite the benefits that the
recording industry had to offer to black musicians, this commercialisation also posed one of
jazzs largest problems: the music was being broadcast to the general public, and the recording
industry were only interested in making the music more marketable, thus forcing jazz musicians
to create music that appealed mainly to a white audience, and losing much sense of originality.
Very soon, most jazz music that was being recorded began to lack improvisation, something that
had been a core aspect of jazz music in the 50s and 60s. OMeally (1998) describes this process
as white appropriation and commercialisation, which ultimately meant that jazz was no longer
simply music for the black community; it had developed into a more widely appreciated, and
therefore appropriated, style of music.
Perhaps in an effort to keep up with the progressively commercialised music industry, composers
started to move away from structures and compositions as Jellyroll Morton or Ellington wrote
them. Composing became writing a head theme and chord changes only (Williams, A. 2015),
making pieces easier to play, and therefore more accessible to those wanting to learn and play
jazz that hadnt years of experience. In addition, since much jazz began to lack any large
improvisational features, improvisation became a style in its own right, and is know as Free
Jazz.[1]

It is about this time that musicians such as Benny Goodman and George Gershwin became
noticed in the American jazz scene since the recent acceptance of white jazz (Ostransky, 1978).
Benny Goodman - a white jazz musician - brought black musicians such as Lionel Hampton,
Charlie Christian and Teddy Wilson to the eye of the public, all of whom went on to have
successful jazz careers. Goodman however still encountered a lot of criticism from those who
believed that his main motive for working with these black musicians was for his own personal
economic gain (Gerard, 1998). Buster Bailey, a black jazz musician from the 50s, said, One
1[] For an example of free jazz, listen to Ornette Colemans Piece Free Jazz.

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thing Im happy to see is the integration thats happening among musicians (quoted in Means,
1968, p. 22). This highlights the acceptance that was emerging within the jazz community, which
created a more collaborative ethos musically. Eventually, white musicians were hired to perform
in black jazz bands, jazz groups started to become increasingly mixed, and while discrimination
still existed strongly in society, musicians in the jazz community treated each other as equals.
Before this, it was very common to see white performers for black audiences and black
performers for white audiences; not often would one find mixed groups playing for mixed
audiences, so in this way jazz contributed dramatically towards the eventual destruction of racial
segregation in the 20th century.

Towards the 1960s, composers such as Gershwin started to introduce some new concepts within
jazz (Montero Diaz, 2015). When Gershwin first performed his Rhapsody in Blue, it was not
immediately well received, as it was very different to much of the jazz music that already
existed. It pushed many boundaries that existed at the time with his use of big band instruments,
blue notes [2], and the fact that Gershwin was a white performer with a white target audience. In
1945, Dizzy Gillespie recorded Be-Bop, a standard that showed a very avant garde approach
to jazz music. Be-Bop was an onomatopoeic term originating from the characteristic sound of
the music it describes, and its emergence marked the end of the first jazz age (Montero Diaz,
2015). The term Bop was relatively new at this point, and was used to describe any music or
dance that loosely fitted the style, or even the terpsichorean lifestyle that was all the rage
throughout the 20s to the 60s. The new ideas that revolved around dance and music for
enjoyment, instead of making political statement, are some of the key concepts behind the
development of jazz into what we know today.

2[] Blue Notes are flattened notes where one might expect a major interval. For
example in a B flat major scale, there might be a D flat or an E played amongst the
rest of the scale.

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In conclusion, developments in jazz musically and socially often paralleled social developments
in the 20th century a rising popularity of jazz music enabled people of colour to become
successful amidst racial oppression, highlight social issues of the time, and combat the
segregation and prejudices in Americas society. As American society turned away from
discrimination and intolerance and towards and a more integrated society, jazz followed suit, and
new styles such as bebop were introduced, paralleling Americas attempts to step away from old
norms and towards new ideals.

Word Count: 1485

Bibliography
Gabbard, K. (2002) The word jazz, in Mervyn Cooke and David Horn, eds, The Cambridge
Companion to Jazz. Cambridge, pp. 1-6
This source provided much insight into the term jazz on a whole, and how its meaning
changed over time.
Gerard, C. (1998). Jazz in black and white: Race, culture, and identity in the jazz community.
Westport, CT: Praeger.
This source was helpful in determining how ones colour affected their social standing, and
what affect this had on musicians.
Johnson, R. E. (1995). Duke Ellingtons 96th Birthday. JET. 88(1), 58-60
A useful piece of writing that focussed predominantly on Duke Ellington and his opinions.

Means, R. L. (1968). Notes on Negro jazz: 1920-1950: The use of biographical materials in
sociology. The Sociological Quarterly, 9(3), 332-342.

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Another source regarding how colour affected ones popularity, particularly in the music
industry.
Montero Diaz, F. (2015), Jazz Seminar Discussions. MUS-10033 Seminars, Keele University.[3]
OMeally, R. G. (1998), The Jazz Cadence of American Culture. New York, NY: Columbia
University Press.
More information on how the recording industry helped and hindered black jazz musicians.
Ostransky, L., 1978. Jazz city: The impact of our cities on the development of jazz. Prentice
Hall, Vancouver.
Information on how societal opinions had an impact on individuals.
Phillips, Z. (2009), The Social Effects of Jazz, The York Review, 6.1.
This source was particularly helpful in understanding societys reaction to jazz music,
and how this changed over time.
Unknown. (1931). Article. Rhythm. UK.
Duke Ellingtons quote is from this source.
Unknown. (2008), Duke Ellington Biography [Accessed on December 16th 2015] at <
http://www.dukeellington.com/ellingtonbio.html>.
Williams, A. (2015), Jazz and Jazz to 1945. MUS-10033 Lecture, Keele University.
Williams, A. (2015), Modern(ist) Jazz. MUS-10033 Lecture, Keele University.

Discography

3[] In text citations from this source refer to discussions involving other students
during these seminars.

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Coleman, O. (1960) Free Jazz [Sound Recording] Ornette Colemans Double Quartet, New York
City NY, Atlantic Records.
Ellington, Duke. Miley, Bubber. (1927). Black and Tan Fantasy [Sound Recording] Duke
Ellington and his Orchestra. Camden NJ, RCA Victor.
Gershwin, G (1924) Rhapsody in Blue [Sound Recording] George Gershwin, Camden NJ, RCA
Victor.
Gillespie, Dizzy. (1958) BeBop [Sound Recording] Gillespie, Dizzy. Getz, S. Stitt, S., Los
Angeles CA, Verve.