"Trying to achieve harmony through conflict" -Wynton Marsalis
The Social Impact of Jazz
One of Jazz’s key contributions to the world was its help in diversifying the music industry. Jazz played a major role in the Harlem Renaissance, which was cultural and social revolution in New York during the “Jazz Age”. Like many poets and artists of this time period, jazz musicians often rebelled against the artistic norms of the day to create something completely their own. After the “Great Migration” of African Americans in the south coming to the north in search of better jobs, jazz flourished and helped many get through the tough economic times of the Great Depression. Although generally overlooked, jazz has played a major role in many civil rights movements, including the call-and-response chants of the abolition era to the march songs sung by many in the South during the 1950s and '60s.
The Harlem Renaissance
"African-American music was also deeply affected by the social currents of the 1920s. Previously confined to the South, jazz and blues began to be played in northern cities during World War I and soon became established in the rapidly growing northern black communities. Louis Armstrong went from New Orleans to Chicago in 1922 to play with King Oliver's jazz band, and Jelly Roll Morton began arranging the previously spontaneous jazz pieces during the mid-1920s, preparing the way for big band leaders such as Duke Ellington and Fletcher Henderson." - Meg Beiter, a renowned jazz writer who chiefly writes about the social and cultural sides of this genre
Jazz was a huge part of the Harlem Renaissance, and this cultural movement was a huge part of the the 1900s. From the period between the end of WWI and the beginning of the Depression, many Americans became infatuated with jazz and shed the ideas that only one race could go to a certain club or concert, and this lead to less segregation. Less segregation ultimately lead to equal rights. The Harlem Renaissance was very important not only because of the great writing and art that became because of it but because of its huge impact on the way the American social structure works.
"Once you wake up thought in a man, you can never put it to sleep again." - Langston Hughes
"Once you wake up thought in a man, you can never put it to sleep again." - Langston Hughes
"Jazz Quartet" "Louis" "Blue Piano"
Paintings by Nadia Mikaelenko
Paintings by Nadia Mikaelenko