During the late 1800’s, industry and social dynamics were changing dramatically and in the sub-culture of New Orleans, jazz was used to express an era with music. Progression with music and the times go hand in hand, this is because relevance is a key contributor in the dialogue of music and how it is received amongst its listeners. The component of relevance is what keeps styles of music around for a long time or short lived, moreover, jazz has held its weight in the music industry. To this day jazz is still being played on the airways, with different variations from when it started 100 years ago. According to Wynton Marsalis, "Through his clear, warm sound, unbelievable sense of swing, perfect grasp of harmony, and supremely intelligent and melodic improvisations, he taught us all to play jazz." This quote is describing the sound of Louis Armstrong, one of the most recognized Jazz musicians that ever played. Teachers scholastic, described Mr. Armstrong in a profound manner stating “Louis Armstrong was one of the most influential artists in the history of music. Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on August 4, 1901, he began playing the cornet at the age of 13. Armstrong perfected the improvised jazz solo as we know it. Before Armstrong, Dixieland was the style of jazz that everyone was playing. This was a style that featured collective improvisation where everyone soloed at once. …show more content…
The roaring 20’s, the Harlem Renaissance, and the great depression in the 30’s are all important in shaping music and society at large. The Harlem Renaissance spanned about ten years through the 1920’s and mid 1930’s. History.com explains, “the Harlem Renaissance was a literary, artistic, and intellectual movement that kindled a new black cultural identity. Its essence was summed up by critic and teacher Alain Locke in 1926 when he declared that through art, “Negro life is seizing its first chances for group expression and self-determination.” Harlem became the center of a “spiritual coming of age” in which Locke’s “New Negro” transformed “social disillusionment to race pride.” Chiefly literary, the Renaissance included the visual arts but excluded jazz, despite its parallel emergence as a black art form.” Jazz music is its own type of artwork and started to grow prior to the “Harlem Renaissance,” some sources may exclude jazz from the artwork made throughout this period or may use the fact that it formed in the south. I disagree with the exclusion statement, music is one of the largest forms of artwork that was contributed in this era and to not include jazz in this category is absurd. I feel jazz music is what helped start the revolution in Afro-American artwork expansion, because music is one of the biggest contributions even to this