The city of New Orleans was often
times referred to as the “New York” of the South, due to it’s trading centers,
diversity, and an associated cosmopolitan energy. Gioia does an exemplary job
of identifying components of this contemporary city, which created the perfect
environment for a new jazzy American sound to evolve. He describes New Orleans as a flourishing economic
power, as it was a center for trade routes and a major hub of commerce for various
items such as cotton, tobacco, grain, and sugar. In fact, the term “Tip of the
South” was coined to describe New Orleans and its' economic prosperity was a
major contributing factor in creating a successful environment for a special
kind of jazz music to take shape.
New Orleans, uniqueness is also seen
in its creation of “Congo Squares," where Africans were able to sing and
dance their native music. Also present were brass bands, which played at
various social events such as Saturday night fish fries, and Wednesday night
lawn parties. This Congo square environment as well as brass bands being
incorporated into social life, provides a fertile ground for African music and
creative improvisation, rather than suppressing these African elements like
many Christian and protestant areas did during that time. This fertile music
ground lead to a cultural blending of music styles, allowing for the innovation
of the new music style jazz. Another factor, which set New Orleans apart from
other US cities, was that it consisted of many diverse peoples, such as the French
(who brought catholic influence), creoles of color (light skinned blacks) West
Africans, and immigrants from across the globe. Gioia refers to this as a “cultural
gumbo," a melting pot of different peoples, cultures, and types of music,
all brought to this one city at this one particular time. Cultural blending is
seen when creoles of color were forced to assimilate back into African culture,
resulting in their traditional music training fusing with African “blues” and
ragtime music, creating a “jazzy” sound. Gioia states, “this ragging of more
traditional compositions, and this blurring of musical genres, was central to
the creation of jazz music” (Gioia, 33).
Gioia noted that Jazz in New
Orleans has many sources, such as Buddy Bolden, “the elusive father of
Jazz," who is cited by many as the first jazz musician. Jelly Roll Morton,
is mentioned as “the world’s greatest hot tune writer”, an extremely talent
composer who many claim invented jazz. Others include the Original Dixie Land
Jazz band, King Oliver a cornetist and band leader, and of course the
spectacularly talented Louis Armstrong on the trumpet.
In analyzing the various factors
Gioia presents, I believe that Creoles of color are what really allowed Jazz to
emerge in New Orleans. Although diversity was present in New Orleans, it was
still going through a time of segregation and oppression, as was the rest of
America. These creoles of color were the bridge between the black and white
communities since essentially they belonged to both cultures. This “double consciousness,"
Creoles experienced, is, what essentially transformed European music, blending
blues and ragtime components into a beautifully fused and innovative American
form which we call Jazz. Without these Creoles of color, these music genres
would remain distinct categories, and would never have this syncretism of
different musical forms, which is at the core of all Jazz music. The Creoles of
color population served as a midway point between two very distinct cultures
and musical sounds, and allowed them to come together and fuse into a distinct
New Orleans style Jazz.
