Prohibition, Chicago Style

                In 1920, the United States passed the 18^th amendment in a sobering effort to curtail Americans’ use of alcohol. This meant bars could not serve alcohol; it meant the deserving, middle-American laborer couldn’t distill his own Gin in his bath-tub; it meant no one doin’ nothin’ involving a drink – legally, at least. However, it also meant the rise of illicit, mob-sponsored, underground clubs – clubs that needed to serve a beat with their booze. Thus, in the 1920’s, Chicago emerged as an economic center for both the mob, and jazz. Yet, there was still another kind of prohibition; the kind that kept black musicians and white musicians from playing together; the kind that forced after-closing jam sessions on the Chicago south side.  However, the way Chicago dealt with racial segregation produced a sound that, in my opinion, is less a product of white society and thus, a truer reflection of jazz. Ultimately, Chicago left a bigger footprint than New York did on jazz in the 1920’s because it forced society to come to jazz, rather than assimilating jazz into society. Thus, Chicago is the “quintessential sound of jazz” during the Prohibition era because of its economic, social, and cultural conditions.[i]

                Chicago had a unique set of economic attributes that contributed to its distinct “Hot Jazz” sound. Just like most professional African Americans, “musicians moved north … for a better life, for greater opportunities to work, to support a family, [for] a modicum of personal freedom,” and for a generally better socioeconomic position.[ii] In Chicago, the booming steel industry and stockyards attracted thousands of African Americans from the South. This meant Chicago had a huge audience that was already acclimated to jazz as an art form. Thus, Chicago quickly became the Mecca for Jazz. At the same time, stereotypical 20’s big-band jazz had not yet become prevalent in New York. Once again, this shows that Chicago was the forerunning force in 20’s jazz. The best response New York had to Chicago’s jazz-scene was the Fletcher Henderson Band, where “the arrangements were simple, sticking close to the model set by King Oliver.”[iii] Thus, even New York’s most notable ensemble of the early 20’s was working off a Chicagoan template.         

                Chicago also had a rich cultural and social setting that helped develop the premiere sound of the 1920’s. The “Black Belt,” on the South Side, is somewhat analogous to Harlem. However, most of the clubs on the South Side were still controlled by the mob, causing friction between club owners and musicians. Thus, the blues were still an influence in the “Hot Jazz” sound – specifically in the dissonance of the charts.[iv] Chicagoans also substituted the string bass for the tuba.[v] The geographical disjunction of Chicago saw the emergence of an unexpected and unique cultural element. That is, whites ventured to the South Side to see what jazz was really all about. This was in direct contrast to the assimilation of jazz in New York, where jazz transmuted into white society’s musical scheme, drifting away from its origins.

Chicago’s social unrest was another contributor to “Hot Jazz.” I believe the 1919 Chicago Race Riot was a major source of tension in Chicago’s geographical subdivision. Renting practices were consistently driven by race, further intensifying the “black” South Side. Since race was such an issue, Chicago jazz did not drift into the mainstream – rather, the mainstream drifted into Chicago jazz.  The Austin High Gang, a group of white high-school aged musicians, is the premiere example of white suburbia colliding with Chicago jazz. The Austin High Gang came to know jazz on the South Side’s terms, and that is why they became great practitioners of the “Hot Jazz” sound during the McKenzie-Condon recording sessions.[vi]

                The 18^th amendment would be repealed in 1933, but the racial prohibitions these musicians faced would not end until decades later.  Although New York also faced these same social constraints, it reacted differently, causing a white, society-style jazz. However, Chicago forced an encounter that was more original, never losing sight of jazz’s roots. Despite this concern for originality, Chicago still developed a “Hot” style of its own that was imperative to all subsequent developments in jazz and pop music.

               

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[i] Gioia, Ted. The History of Jazz; 74.

[ii] Gioia, Ted. The History of Jazz; 45.

[iii] Gioia, Ted. The History of Jazz; 110.

[iv] 1922, By. "YouTube - King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band - Dippermouth Blues (Sugarfoot Stomp) 1923."  <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-HJI464CVs>

[v] Gioia, Ted. The History of Jazz; 75.

[vi] Lyttleton, Humphrey. The Best of Jazz: The Chicagoans. 153,154.

Origins of Jazz

       For some, the American art form is defined by consumerism pop art; by Campbell's Soup and Andy Warhol. But this is not the original American aesthetic. In fact, the American art form, Jazz, originated over one hundred years prior to the pop art movement, in New Orleans. Born out of the oppression of African-Americans, Jazz developed in a social context. Jazz was displaced—from both the synchronous orchestration of European music and White America. This gave jazz a certain cultural attachment, referenced by the existence of New Orleans' "Congo Square," where slaves would gather to perform cultural dances accompanied by African-style strings and percussion. The Congo Square evidences an "actual transfer of African ritual to the native soil of [America]." In this tiny corner of New Orleans, jazz was clearly subjugated, but nevertheless, allowed to flourish. In addition, New Orleans experienced a booming economy due to the Mississippi shipping industry. Soon people were coming to New Orleans not just for the sights, but for the debauchery. "Storyville, a red light district in New Orleans," offered a safe-haven for sin, and a stage for Jazz. Most importantly, New Orleans was more socially tolerant of "Creoles of Color," which resulted from the numerous master-slave relationships. This was imperative to the evolution of Jazz in New Orleans because Black Creoles, like Buddy Bolden and Jellyroll Morton, spliced classical forms, like quadrilles, into blues charts and rhythms to form the roots of ragtime. Other cities only offered bits and pieces of what New Orleans had to offer. Going into the twentieth century, New Orleans gave African-Americans a distinct outlet to express their social condition, and an affluent audience that would fund the evolution of an American art form.
       By the 1920's, New Orleans was an antiquated nineteenth century city, and all but the physical center of Jazz. However, New Orleans continued to produce all of the big names. New Orleans rapidly transplanted jazz from Black culture to a public cultural icon. Unfortunately, much of New Orleans' musical history went unrecorded, obscuring the true "New Orleans sound." However, there is no question that in the early twentieth century, New Orleans continued to evolve jazz. Joe "King" Oliver, a New Orleans cornetist, formed the King Oliver Creole Band in an effort to find the perfect ensemble sound. But Louis Armstrong, another cornetist in the band rivaled the collective aesthetic that Oliver so longed for. In this way, New Orleans catalyzed the stereotypical duality between the soloist and the ensemble, characteristic of later Jazz styles.Once again, because phonographic recording was in it's infancy, and because New Orleans had dried up as an economic center, the Creole Band had to travel to survive. Thus, New Orleans' own dilapidation and disrepair contributed to the rapid movement of Jazz to the northern cities. Ultimately, it was the New Orleans sound that spread to other cultural centers, giving Jazz a direction about which it could further evolve.