The Recognition of Race - Post #3

         It wasn’t until the 1930’s that Jazz music became a more socially acceptable form of entertainment, especially to the white community. The 1930’s swing music “took on a more explicit set of ideological meanings and evoked more complex responses” (Stowe 53) than Jazz had done in previous generations.

As previously identified, Jazz was concentrated in primarily black impoverished communities, and frowned upon by both whites, and upper-brow black communities. Examples of this include, the origination of Jazz in the red light district of storyville, the association of jazz with slums and gangsters in Chicago, and the way in which Harlem jazz was never able to quite measure up to the African American renaissance art of it’s time. As stated in “Swing Changes," Jazz was perceived as uncouth and primitive; a direct threat to moral propriety, sexual decency, and American womanhood”

(53).

Essentially, two major performances slowly began shifting the negative perceptions away from jazz music. These include the great jazz duo of the century between Goodman and Webb at “The Savoy” (1936), followed by the performance of Goodman at Carnegie Hall (1938). These events “made jazz legit," and created a type of pressure for racial integration, at a time when segregation was still very present. Race was now at the forefront, and as professor Stewart stated, jazz had begun to gain “high culture respect."

The Savoy jazz duo (victory awarded to Webb) also represented the idea of a new form of racial competition, and a new found economic game. It wasn’t until the 1930’s that whites saw black jazz band competition as being “head to head” legitimate competition. This identification of competition always brings out racial consciousness among its players, with each side now representing an entire racial group rather than simply an individual’s artistic talent level (Gioia 140-145). Although groups such as the Dixieland Jazz Band and the Austin High school gang emerged in the 1920’s, black musicians at this time were not put on record and were not yet recognized as being on the same professional competitive level as their white counterparts. Race was explicitly visible and noticeable in the 1930’s due in part to this “new found” competitive landscape.

Now that black’s music was gaining respect as a higher art form, this led to the emergence of white fans and consumers. Swing music drew diverse populations into similar spaces, and in essence began breaking down physical segregation, thereby creating a type of cyberspace integration (Professor Stewart). Jazz musicians now had to market too much broader, larger and more diverse audiences in both live performances and radio mediums. Hence, swing became a platform for “social misgenation," which refers to interracial marriage and sex. However, negative racial connotations arose, as it instilled in white men a fear that their white women would be “consuming the music AND consuming the bodies that were playing it”  (Stewart). Race issues became more prominent in social settings, and were both explicitly talked and written about due to fears revolving around social miscegenation.

         

In addition, the emergence of the white jazz critic also influenced race issues in jazz music of the '30's. The relationship between the white critic and the black musician created racial tension, since the critic was not “embedded in the same reality-the differing aspirations of musicians and the pressures of the music industry” (Stewart lecture). A perfect illustration of this complex relationship can be seen through John Hammond’s critique of Duke Ellington. Hammond “had positioned himself as an arbiter of African American musical authenticity”(Stowe 52), as racial hierarchies were once again reiterated in the lives of black musicians. This is repeatedly displayed through the success Duke Ellington. Aside from talent, Duke’s success was attributed to his exposure to white consumers, for example making appearances at the whites only 'Cotton Club'. Duke was aware that if his music was appealing to the white consumers, this would lead to commercial success, since they were the puppeteers guiding the industry.

         

Hammond then critiques Dukes complex situation as he states that Duke, “disguised a willingness to tolerate racial indignities for the sake of commercial success”, and that as an activist Duke had refused to respond to the “plight of his people." (Swing ppt). With little ground to stand on, white critics were able to “make or break” careers based on their subjective and detached critiques. Not always negative, Hammond did have beliefs that “blacks had an innate superiority (Stowe 61), as he claimed to have “discovered” several important black jazz musicians such as Fletcher Henderson, Count Basie and Billy Holiday (Stowe 52-60). Nonetheless, the relationship of this overarching white “puppeteer” John Hammond, controlled every movement of artists like Ellington, make it apparent that the white critique causes yet another source of racial tension.

In conclusion, the 1930’s brought about not only an era of swing, but also an era that began explicitly recognizing and discussing the discourse of race. This was brought on by the recognition of jazz as a “higher art," a new aspect of economic and cultural competition, a fear of social miscegenation, the emergence of the white consumer, and the relationship between the white critic and the black artist.