Swing-A-Ling

            Race has always been an issue throughout the context of American history. Even through jazz, racial hardships persisted. After the Jazz Age, America was approaching the 1930’s, dubbed the “Swing Era.” At this time in America, the Great Depression hit, starting with the infamous stock market crash. Americans were suddenly poor and panic-stricken. The 1920’s speakeasies and flappers eventually delved down and even jazz-wise, “a staggering decline of over 90 percent of records was sold by 1932” (Gioia, 135). But, jazz still persisted as the mainstream music of America. Thus, in the 1930s, racial tensions slowly crumbled because of the power and efficiency of the radio.

            The radio was important for any musician. “A single band could now entertain countless listeners through the magic of radio” (Gioia, 136). Radio made it possible for any musician regardless of talent to shine simply because “radio evolved from a novelty to a necessity for most American households” (Gioia, 137). But the only way to become a star on the radio was through a specific person, the talent agent, who specialized in reaching to the mass audience by promoting musicians in a form of business. Thus, there exists a “symbiotic relationship between Louis Armstrong and Joe Glaser; Duke Ellington and Irving Mills; Benny Goodman and John Hammond” (Gioia, 137). Race-wise, radio allowed for any race (Black or white) to emerge with relatively few racial backlashes, simply because Americans couldn’t tell whether the band that the radio was playing was black or white.  

Even Benny Goodman, an acclaimed white star of the Swing Era, used swing music “to break through the many barriers of racial prejudice, of class distinctions, of snobbery and close-mindedness which served only to stultify and compartmentalize the creative spirit” (Gioia, 138). Goodman was in it for the jazz. From his roots, Goodman believed that “music was a godsend as a way out of the ghetto” (Gioia, 138). Even after Goodman hired arranger Fletcher Henderson, one could only assume that Goodman being white was more easily accepted into mainstream jazz and not suffer the consequences of racial prejudice. Fortunately for him, “Swing music would remain the paradigm for popular music in America. If jazz ever enjoyed a golden age, this would be it” (Gioia, 145).

            History tells us about New Orleans, Chicago, and New York, but forgets to mention the impact of Kansas City during the 1930s. Because of the Great Depression, “economic necessity brought many of these musicians to Kansas City” (Gioia, 159), mostly because of the leisure, alcohol, and other illicit drugs/activities. Kansas City became a mesh of the blues from Southwest Texas and big band jazz from the Northeast, collectively giving “Kansas City a looser feeling, allowing informality of spirit, but more than anything, presented a dominating rhythmic essence” (Gioia, 160).  “This loose-and-easy Kansas City ambience mirrored the freewheeling linear movements of the local improvisational style” (Gioia, 161), even bringing up soon-to-be star Count Basie. In essence, Kansas City was the perfect place to escape the hardships of the Depression while diverting away from racial prejudice through their style of jazz.

Ultimately, despite racial barriers, the Swing Era eased tensions between white and Black musicians. It became more mixed and together. People paid good money to see both white and Black musicians even such as the ferocious battle between Benny Goodman and Chick Webb. Swing music became the mainstream popular music of America and truly helped shape the social atmosphere. As Benny Goodman would say, or rather play, “Sing, sing, sing…”

The Impact of New York Jazz

The era known as the Roaring 20s was an important cornerstone of American culture. Jazz was increasing in popularity and so were the metropolitan cities that supported the music. Chicago jazz was known for its “rough, segregated, and competitive style where those talented enough thrived” (Lecture, 1/31/2013). On the other hand, New York jazz was known for the Harlem Renaissance, “an era symbolized for black cultural and intellectual life that reflected community pride for all African Americans” (Gioia, 93). Thus, New York was more essential to jazz than Chicago was because of the existence of two Harlems and the introduction and impact of stride piano.

New York surely brought the Harlem Renaissance which experimented African culture with “a full range of human expression of poetry, fiction, visual arts, music, history, sociology, and various other disciplines in which creative thought flourished” (Gioia, 94). Yet, another Harlem existed, the “slums of Harlem which reflected a crueler reality and less promising future where one meted out daily in the cost of food and shelter” (Gioia, 94). The Harlem slums flourished with rent parties, which were fully musical and thrown for a small fee in order to pay for the month’s rent.  However, because there were two Harlems, social classes existed even within Blacks. In fact, “middle-class and upper-class black families were ambivalent about embracing vernacular elements of African-American culture,” (Gioia, 95) even banning blues to be played in homes. Yet, Harlem was a centerpiece of all African cultures including Northern ragtimers and Southern bluesy, folksy Blacks that collectively meshed together.

But the fact that African Americans from the North and South developed syncretism in Harlem produced some social tensions between Blacks. One solution to assuage this problem was stride piano. Stride piano was a style of ragtime jazz that included “an oom-pah left hand coupled with syncopated right hand figures” (Gioia, 100). This style was a “pathway that assimilated traditional highbrow culture, lowbrow nightlife, and became the symbol of middle-class prosperity” (Gioia, 96). Therefore, stride piano “attempted to bridge the gulf between highbrow and lowbrow, compromising in finding a fertile middle ground” (Gioia, 96). In addition, stride piano allowed improvisation in ragtime for creativity and imagination to flourish. Improvisation allowed “taking what is around and what has gone before, which as a result, created a new art and community out of it” (Lecture, 2/5/2013). Improvisation also emphasized jazz as a dialogue between performer and community, similar to M.M. Bahktin’s Theory of the Novel which describes the “intrinsic connection of temporal and spatial relationships that are artistically expressed, in this case, jazz between the musician and his/her community” (Lecture, 2/5/2013). This new type of jazz incorporated the diversity of different musical styles including ragtime, blues, Chicago, and stride, making New York the “crucible in which the fusion of styles took place” (Gioia, 106). Thus, stride allowed Harlem rent parties to emerge effectively, and introduced Harlem Cotton Clubs that shined on Black performance, while separating the "hot" and "cold" styles of jazz.

Because of the existence of the two Harlems and stride piano, New York was the integral highlight of 1920's jazz. In fact, influential musicians such as James P. Johnson, Fats Waller, and Art Tatum thrived. They represented New York jazz at its best because of their superb abilities to play stride piano. They created a Harlem stride tradition that continuously flourished throughout New York and ultimately paved a pathway for big band jazz and swing jazz styles to form.