In the paper, I will discuss why it was New Orleans that became the birthplace of jazz. One may argue that there were bands performing ragtime throughout the US in the end of the XIX century. The whole American South was singing the blues. It is possible to name more than a dozen cities, where there were all those constituent elements which evolved into jazz music. Anyhow, it was mainly New Orleans where for the first time jazz music emerged. Further, I will dwell on reasons that led to this.
Perhaps the most convincing evidence that the birthplace of jazz is New Orleans is the nature of the city itself. New Orleans is not like any other city of the USA. Founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, from its first days, it became the largest city in the American South (Piazza 11). Its peculiarity was that it possessed significantly more French-Spanish features, than the Anglo-Saxon culture (Piazza 11). Its spiritual home was France. This city was characterized with a spirit of freedom which was visible mainly in the passion for entertainment (neworleansonline.com “Birthplace of Jazz”).
In the period between 1895 and 1910, in New Orleans, there emerged a large group of musicians playing very different music – blues, ragtime, marches and other styles (Gioia 46). Generally, the Creoles, which were a significant part of New Orleans residents, did not play blues, preferring classical music to it (Gioia 46). The African Americans, by contrast, were attracted with "rough" music rich with ragtime and syncopation, which reminded them their native folklore (Gioia 46-47). Steadily, these two movements gradually merged: march, ragtime, blues. Then one day from this mix, a special style of music emerged, hitherto unknown. It was jazz music that was destined to leave the streets of New Orleans and conquer the world over the next three decades.
Another reason which resulted in emergence and rapid development of jazz was the abundance of musical instruments which was peculiar only to New Orleans. After the end of the Spanish-American War of 1898, huge amount of used orchestral instruments appeared on the second-hand market (Gioia 63). These instruments once belonged to US soldiers which were demobilized and safely returned home. Starting from 1900 all the little shops of the city were full of clarinets, trombones, cornets, drums. This was so unusual taking into account that before the Negros did not have any opportunity to buy even the cheapest musical instrument.
There was also another factor, which made the birth of Jazz music possible. This factor was a large entertainment district in New Orleans. As the only major center of the South, New Orleans had been attracting all those hunters, loggers, fishermen and simply those willing to have fun over two centuries. Since New Orleans was a huge port city, there arrived a lot of seafarers. All these people longed for pleasure – and the city was offering to them prostitutes, alcohol, gambling and drugs (Piazza 16). In 1897, local authorities concentrated all public houses in one area, called Storyville (Piazza 18). Hundreds new public houses and bars started operating there requiring live musicians. Thanks to Storyville, pioneers of Jazz music got better jobs than at plantations. Constantly improving their skills, steadily musicians created their own style of play – Jazz music.
Another rather important factor of emergence of Jazz was the convergence and interaction of cultures of the African Americans and the Creoles. Thanks to this interaction, their quite different music styles gradually mixed with each other giving birth to the new genre – Jazz (neworleansonline.com “Birthplace of Jazz”).
Works Cited
Gioia, T. The History of Jazz. Oxford University Press, 2011. Print.
New Orleans Official Guide. “ Birthplace of Jazz”. neworleansonline.com. N.d. Web. 12 mar. 2016.
Piazza, T. Why New Orleans Matters. Harper Collins, 2009. Print.
