Jazz through the Roaring Twenties

With a great influx of economic activity and growth as well as the ever-changing social and political stage across the United States throughout the 1920s, middle-class people, especially young people, came in need of new forms of entertainment. The new freedoms found through the hustle and bustle of nightlife in big cities, through the spending from the use of credit, and through the invention of the automobile and other modes of transportation all fed the hunger for a new art, a new sound. Jazz music fit this desire.

Starting from the early 1900s and into the teens, jazz music flourished but remained largely contained in New Orleans. However, at the start of the twenties, the people of America were finally ready for this electrifying music. Although less popular among man adults and communities further from the cultural drive of big cities, jazz quickly became the music of the twenties, first by entering the speakeasies and clubs of cities such as New York City and Chicago. Jazz music found success here in areas such as Harlem, New York City.

Dancefloor at Cotton Club in Harlem, New York City

Its rebellious nature and success among younger crowds quickly caught the attention of commercial music; however, jazz did not settle for the long established music industry. Many new and upcoming jazz musicians even started to look towards alternatives to the established industry to have their music published and distributed. This is why the twenties also see the start of many independent or "indie" record labels which continue to the present day providing a wide and accommodating selection of music, suiting every person's taste. However, many of the smaller, independent record labels started in the twenties never survived the Great Depression and many combined with larger, more stable labels.

Although the spread of jazz perpetuated less-popular and upcoming musicians, inventions such as the radio and the phonograph made stars in jazz music just like in any other form of popular music. Whether it was star players such as trumpeter Louis Armstrong or star groups such as Duke Ellington's Big Band, the radio and phonograph made it possible for all of America to be experiencing and listening to the same music. A rise in the printing and selling of sheet music also made it possible for bands to perform all of the hits of star jazz groups in their very own nightclubs and dancehalls.

Duke Ellington Band in Hollywood, California

In addition to the cultural and social evolution that aided the spread of jazz music through America, a rise in economic opportunity also made more bearable the plight of the starving musician. New jobs such as "song pluggers" became necessary and buying and selling of music in all forms (radio, phonograph, sheet music) increased greatly. A "song plugger", for instance, was someone who helped a song or a musician have his or her music sold and heard across radio stations and in stores and clubs with the hope of making the musician's music a "hit". A rise in Broadway musical productions as well as the transition from silent films to films with full soundtracks also got the new sound of American music into people's ears. Composers such as George Gershwin helped to make jazz music more commonly accepted among older, more traditionally accustomed crowds through theater and show music.

Sources:

http://www.jazzstandards.com/history/history-2.htm

http://www.history.com/topics/roaring-twenties