Jazz is one of the most exciting and catchy musical genres. Its sonority is rich. Its historical charge, interesting.
To speak of the origin of jazz is to go back to the times of slavery in the United States; and in Spain, to the Silver Age of Spanish music of the 20s.
Historical background of jazz
Since in many areas of the Southern United States it was forbidden by law to beat drums, black slaves devised to use the palms of their hands and feet to recreate percussion and thus be able to enjoy their music and liven up their parties.
However, with the so-called Place Congo (Congo Square) of New Orleans, this prohibition ceased to have force and the slaves were free to assemble, as well as to sing and accompany their music with real percussion and even string instruments; among them, the four-string banjo and the thumb piano.
But not everything was rosy. Restrictions continued. Yes. Street dancing was totally banned between 1825 and 1845; however, in that last year it was reauthorized (only to be held between 4:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.).
Until the mid-1880s -and with a certain ritual character- Sunday meetings were held in Congo Square, where the music was very varied, highlighting songs and dances of Antillean voodoo, as well as rhythms and dances originated in the Caribbean islands.
And in addition to this background, it is impossible to leave out the “black spirituals”, of whom there is evidence in 1770 and are considered one of the most important manifestations of the music of the slaves.
Jazz: Entertainment Music
It is a fact that there were several musical expressions and events that set the tone for the early days of jazz music; and more, by referring to this genre as entertainment music.
Starting with the figure of the “black violinist”, for example, in charge of entertaining family parties in the plantation houses, between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries.
In addition, it is impossible not to mention the “minstrel” that more than one of the musical manifestations that achieved greater success in the period before the war, was a show in which white actors and singers performed with their faces dyed black and fused elements of operetta with songs originating from the plantations.
Such musical numbers became widespread from 1820 onwards.
And it should also be noted that the influence on them was not precisely the music of African origin but of the English opera, although the musical instruments that were used, such as the tambourine, violin and banjo, could make you think otherwise.
Historical data ensure that the Civil War was not only a significant change in American musical life but also in African American life.
Concerning American musical life, by the fact of the birth of new practices as well as the disappearance of old institutions, such as singing schools, for example.
And in the case of African-American music, by the complete destruction of the social structure.
That said, then, it was a greater impact that the African-American demonstration suffered.
All those musical expressions that had been spreading in the first 50 years of the century, had to focus and consolidate in purely American institutions.
And a clear example of this, was the minstrel that although it managed to remain until almost the end of the nineteenth century, its character of parody succumbed and those who presented themselves were really African-American actors and singers.
With this, new dances and rhythms were introduced, such as the “cakewalk” as well as several songs that have remained jazz standards; one of them, “Carry Me Back To Old Virigina”, by James Bland (1878).
It is also worth mentioning that along with European cultured music, other styles of music saw sunlight, such as, “ragtime” that was interpreted by blacks, over time it has remained an especially piano style and its rise is related to the disappearance of the “minstrel”.
Another aspect in this part of the history of jazz impossible to ignore is that the war also meant a strong impulse of military music, as well as the incorporation of the black population into musical bands.
And in addition to this, at the end of the war many newly freed slaves had the opportunity to take music as a way of life, since they were able to buy many of the musical instruments at a low price that came to the market.
From there, several civilian marching bands, for example, flourished and expanded in the south; others more than in the second half of the nineteenth century set the tone in terms of the usual format of popular music concerts.
But again, it wasn’t all rosy.
By the turn of the century, “Jim Crow laws” in Louisiana hardened. Promoting racial segregation with the famous “equal but separate” caused large numbers of African-American musicians to be expelled from black and white bands.
However, these musicians continued to make music and apply their knowledge to brilliant innovations that gave more light to the development of jazz as a rich and interesting musical genre.
The Blues
The blues is mentioned in the origins of jazz because it is one of the musical manifestations of African-American origin that, in addition to being new, was considered the most original and extraordinary, since from its beginning it was presented with songs clearly interpreted by soloists and based on particular opinions or feelings.
Although historical data ensure that it is difficult to pin down the exact point of the birth of the blues as a pure musical form, the appearance of this genre is related to the flourishing of that new African-American society less rooted in its community and more urban. Which makes its beginnings between the years 1870 and 1900.
The Birth Of Jazz
In general, historians and jazz scholars place the birth of this genre no earlier than 1917, since that year dates its first sound recordings.
However, there are several authors who have taken for granted that before the turn of the century (since 1874) there were already musicians and bands that played music in the “hot” style to encourage the black public, often the newcomer to the camps.
These musical performances, composed of marches and waltzes that made an appearance in the American cities of Memphis and New Orleans, both in political and social events, as well as in street parades and burials of personalities of the African American community.
There are even those who claim that by 1905 there were numerous bands that – without knowing about New Orleans jazz – were already presented with a primitive jazz.
But what is a fact – and in which different historians agree – is that the appearance of jazz occurred in the last decades of the nineteenth century in New Orleans, thanks to the fusion of factors not only musical, but also social, racial, religious and historical.
Thus, not in vain, New Orleans has been considered the main cradle of jazz.
Since the beginnings of jazz, there are many musicians who have earned recognition throughout history; one of them, even considered the most famous of all since the late nineteenth century:
Buddy Bolden, to whom Manuel Mello, another of the renowned musicians in the world of this genre, assured a specialized magazine of the time in New Orleans, that before Bolden he already heard jazz.
Even on that same occasion, Mello highlighted the work of violinist Johnny Schenk and his group founded in 1893 and dissolved in 1898, composed of guitarist John Weinmunson, cornetist Batt Steckler and double bassist Albert Bix.
Another of the names that have been highlighted before Bolden by other authors, has been that of Manuel Pérez (1879-1946).
However, and despite the fact that Bolden did not record any album because in 1907 he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital, it has not been in vain that his name rumbles in the history of jazz, since he founded his band (the Buddy Bolden’s Ragtime Band) at the beginning of the 1890s, along with brilliant musicians and that like other groups of that time, they performed at New Orleans nightclubs and frequently performed seasons on riverboats.
And finally, among some of the other names impossible to leave out that date from before the end of the nineteenth century: John Robechaux (violinist) who maintained a band between 1895 and 1900, also in conjunction with great musicians.
In addition, Joseph Petit (trombonist) and Freddie Keppard (cornetist) who successively led the “Olympia Band” between 1900 and 1909. Frank Dusen who kept Bolden’s band.
And, of course, King Oliver and the well-known Louis Armstrong, who began their careers in the band “The Brown Skinned Babies” of trombonist Kid Ory.
Other Focal Points Of Jazz Development
In addition to the aforementioned historical reviews, there are authors who have assured that in addition to New Orleans, other places in the United States served as a stage for the development of new music; as in Memphis, for example, where it is said that by 1907 there were jazz bands.
There is even data that indicates that in 1891, the African-American pastor Daniel J. Jenkins (Charleston, South Carolina) founded the Jenkins Orphanage for children, where four years later, he instituted a rigorous musical program in contemporary religious and secular music, as well as marches and overtures.
This program was aimed at young people, including fugitive and precocious orphans for their “salvation” and rehabilitation, since they performed with ragtime in bars and brothels.
In the Jenkins Orphanage originated several bands whose members were called “black sheep” and who in addition to traveling, earned money to maintain the institution of the shepherd; and many of them received formal musical training.
On the other hand, it is impossible not to mention other bands that, in less than 30 years later, performed nationally, one of them coming to travel to England and share the stage with several legends of the jazz genre, such as Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Lionel Hampton, Gus Aitken, Jabbo Smith and Cladys “Cat” Anderson.
In addition to that influence that touched Europe, in the northern United States the “hot” style of playing ragtime (categorized as an early form of jazz) developed that was centered in New York, but expanded to African-American communities from Baltimore to Maryland.
Then, in the early 1910s, in Chicago dance bands continued the New Orleans fashion, but introduced the saxophone as among the instruments of jazz.
And as if that were not enough, another style of bands that incorporated the blues as a main element, saw light on the wings banks of the Mississippi from Memphis to Saint Louis.
Jazz In Spain
Although historically the presence of jazz in the Iberian territory has been considered scarce; and so much so that Leonard Feather in his “Encyclopedia of Jazz” pointed out that “Spain is a desert for jazz”, it is a fact that jazz in this country also meant a cultural revolution as it did in every part of the world where it sounded.
It is also true that the number of musicians of international stature that Spanish jazz has given has been limited; one of them, Tete Montoliu (1933 – 1997) that resonates and shines in the history of jazz in Spain, but there have also been other musicians who, even in recent decades have opted to connect popular Spanish genres with jazz.
Names such as Miguel Torné, Vicente Quirós, Jesús Guridi, Daniel Antón and José Iturbe, among many others, joined the new and catchy musical current, and throughout the 20s and 30s they added new cosmopolitan airs that extended to musical theater, zarzuelas and magazines.
Now, according to historical reviews, the first reference in Spain to jazz is from 1929, in the hands of Sam Wooding and his “Chocolate Kiddies” who not only performed in Madrid but also in San Sebastian, and also in Barcelona where they recorded an album.
In that same year, the British orchestra of Jack Hilton and harry Flemming were presented at the Universal Exhibition in Barcelona, where it was undoubtedly the announcement that “the new African-American fashion” would seduce Spain.
However, there were also precedents such as the euphoria of ragtime in dance halls and the appearance of African-American jazz rhythms and musicians on the European continent, between 1914 and 1929, which coincided with the time of the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera and the generation of 1927, in which the so-called “black orchestra” used to play both in the Rector’s Club and in the basement of the Palace Hotel.
All this occurred in the first third of the twentieth century, where the presentation of jazz to society through the “fox-trot” was promoted, as well as different rhythms with African American roots related to the birth of jazz that even have records in the Jazz playlists of the Hispanic Digital Library.
In addition, the National Library of Spain has one of the most important collections in the country, of jazz records recorded and / or published in Spain.
I confess that I have been excited to tell you about this part because throughout my life I have known that my great-grandfather, Manuel “El Maño” Espinosa (drummer), took the first directed jazz band to Venezuela and even made life with this musical genre in Panama. But in another installment I could tell you more about this.
And, by the way, since 2011 and every April 30, International Jazz Day is celebrated. It was declared by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization; and devised by Herbie Hancock, American jazz pianist and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador.
Sources:
- A Century Of Jazz In Spain By J Avieryuste (2013) – El Cultural
- History And Jazz – Lafaro Jazz Institute
- 5 Ways Jazz Has Influenced Our World – Catawiki