Jews in Jazz
 | This article needs attention from an expert in Jazz. (December 2018) |
Jewish Americans have played a significant role in Jazz, a music genre created and developed by African Americans. As Jazz spread, it developed to encompass many different cultures, and the work of Jewish composers in Tin Pan Alley helped shape the many different sounds that jazz came to incorporate.[1]
Background[edit]
Jazz music is a multicultural music, created and developed by African Americans using European instruments with Jewish Americans and others mixing in to further diversify the music.[2] Jazz music was invented in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Originating in New Orleans, the music gained its momentum by getting a start in the red light districts.[3] African Americans playing ragtime in the red light districts were the precursor to what was soon to become Jazz. As World War I came to a close Jazz started to enter the public arena. Two years later the prohibition of alcohol went into effect. This resulted in the creation of speakeasies, which allowed for Jazz music to flourish.
Jewish American contributions[edit]
Jewish Americans were able to thrive in Jazz because of the probationary whiteness that they were allotted at the time.[4] George Bornstein wrote that African Americans were sympathetic to the plight of the Jewish American and vice versa. As disenfranchised minorities themselves, Jewish composers of popular music saw themselves as natural allies with African-Americans. This enabled them to make music that was promoted and heard as "black music.”[5]
Louis Armstrong was willing to show his sympathy in an outspoken manner, going as far as being photographed wearing a Star of David necklace. Willie "The Lion" Smith grew up alongside Jewish Americans and later discovering he had a Jewish ancestor of his own and converting to the religion.[6]
The Jazz Singer with Al Jolson is one example of how Jewish Americans were able to bring Jazz, music that African Americans developed, and into popular culture. [7] Ted Merwin wrote that the film was seen as a glorification of Jewish assimilation into American culture.[8]
Benny Goodman was a vital Jewish American to the progression of Jazz. Goodman was the leader of a racially integrated band named King of Swing. His jazz concert in the Carnegie Hall in 1938 was the first ever to be played there. The concert was described by Bruce Eder as "the single most important jazz or popular music concert in history: jazz's 'coming out' party to the world of 'respectable' music."[9]
Notable figures[edit]
- Willie "The Lion" Smith
- Teddy Charles
- Irving Berlin
- George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin
- Benny Goodman
- Joe Glasser
- Herbie Mann
- Stan Getz
- Lee Konitz
- Al Jolson
- Buddy Rich
- Artie Shaw
- John Zorn
References[edit]
- ↑ Nine Jews Who Changed the Sound of Jazz
- ↑ Commission., United States. National Park Service. Denver Service Center. United States. Preservation of Jazz Advisory (1991). New Orleans jazz study. United States, Dept. of the Interior, National Park Service. OCLC 25424735. Search this book on
- ↑ author., Cooke, Mervyn (2013). The chronicle of jazz. ISBN 9780500516669. OCLC 854617107. Search this book on
- ↑ Marin, Reva (December 2015). "Representations of Identity in Jewish Jazz Autobiography". Canadian Review of American Studies. 45 (3): 323–353. doi:10.3138/cras.2015.s10. ISSN 0007-7720.
- ↑ 'Body and Soul' doc explores links between jazz and Jews
- ↑ George, Bornstein (2011). The colors of Zion : blacks, Jews, and Irish from 1845 to 1945. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674057012. OCLC 897046437. Search this book on
- ↑ actor., Jolson, Al, 1886-1950, voice, The jazz singer., ISBN 9781785439445, OCLC 970692281
- ↑ Davis, Marni. (2007). "In Their Own Image: New York Jews in Jazz Age Popular Culture (review)". American Jewish History. 93 (1): 103–104. doi:10.1353/ajh.2007.0020. ISSN 1086-3141.
- ↑ 1909-1986., Goodman, Benny (2006), Benny Goodman live at Carnegie Hall, 1938 : complete., AVID Entertainment, OCLC 213466278
This article "Jews in Jazz" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Jews in Jazz. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
