That Jazz - Monkey Max Music and File Download

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Part I: All That Jazz: A Tour of the Basics
The New Orleans jazz connection
New Orleans is best known for public performances
of raw African music and dance by
slaves in Congo Square and is an ethnically
diverse city where Creoles (people of mixed ethnicity,
such as African, Cuban, French, and
Spanish) received formal training in music,
including classical and opera. The famed French
Opera House opened in 1859, and many of its
most popular performers were Creole. In early
New Orleans, Creoles, due to their European
roots, enjoyed superior status to African
Americans. But in 1890, the Louisiana Legislature
enacted Code 111, which made the Creole equal
in status to the newly freed slaves which was a
big blow to the Creoles. Most of the Creoles had
slaves themselves and now they were forced to
a lower social status. This change was a catalyst
for the start of what is called jazz as it forced
these two cultures to come together — the
Creoles with their formal training and the rawness
of the newly freed slaves.
New Orleans played an essential role in the
formative years of jazz legends like Louis
Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton (a Creole), and
King Oliver (see Chapter 5). The great myth is
that early jazz players honed their craft in hazy
bars and whorehouses, but many of the early
greats combined formal training with performances
in a variety of contexts such as parades
and Sunday concerts in parks.
Blacks who worshipped at Episcopal, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Roman
Catholic churches in East Coast cities such as Baltimore, Charleston, New
York, and Philadelphia often received training in European music including
classical. During the 18th and 19th centuries, some congregations (and
choirs) were interracial. Northern cities included blacks in cultural events; in
some cases, African Americans formed their own cultural societies, such as
the Philadelphia Library Company of Colored Persons, which, beginning in
1833, presented concerts, lectures, and debates.
Contrary to the common belief that jazz was created primarily by uneducated
blacks with roots in blues, folk, and field chants, African Americans had the
ability to read music and to play classical and other styles of music well
before the inception of jazz. Jazz pioneers such as Scott Joplin, Jelly Roll
Morton, and James P. Johnson brought sophisticated musical knowledge to
their music. (I cover these pioneers in more detail in Chapter 5.)
While jazz musicians brought classical elements into jazz, classical composers
borrowed from African-American music. This transferring of styles proves
that even before the invention of jazz and before African-American music was
valued by American universities, concert halls, and arts patrons, the quality
and originality of black music had already captivated the leading artists of
classical music.