Harlem - Home of Jazz?

[Admin]

Was Harlem the home of Jazz as we know it.

[astrid]

Jan 4, 2013 10:55:20 GMT -5 Admin said:

Was Harlem the home of Jazz as we know it.

There are many theories of how jazz started, but there is only one real answer to where jazz was started.....

Some people say that jazz was created because some people wanted a different flavor of music and just started making it up. Other people say that jazz began with the African Americans who were brought over by slave ships. They brought their homeland music over to America. People then took the African-Americans’ music and changed it to form jazz. Other people say that jazz came from other possible places, like New Orleans.
The people who think jazz started in New Orleans are right.

Jazz was started in New Orleans round 1895....

[Admin]

Jan 5, 2013 17:18:18 GMT -5 astrid said:

Jan 4, 2013 10:55:20 GMT -5 Admin said:

Was Harlem the home of Jazz as we know it.

There are many theories of how jazz started, but there is only one real answer to where jazz was started.....

Some people say that jazz was created because some people wanted a different flavor of music and just started making it up. Other people say that jazz began with the African Americans who were brought over by slave ships. They brought their homeland music over to America. People then took the African-Americans’ music and changed it to form jazz. Other people say that jazz came from other possible places, like New Orleans.
The people who think jazz started in New Orleans are right.

Jazz was started in New Orleans round 1895....

I have a theory that there were two origins of jazz - New Orleans jazz and Harlem Jazz. The migration of African-Americans during the post civil-war era was in two different areas. Some ventured south to New Orleans and became part of the "creole" culture, others migrated north to Chicago (Blues) and New York - Harlem (Jazz). It's interesting that the fingerstyle of blues and jazz closely resembles the fingerstyle of the Piedmont Blues (and the appalachian music as well).

So the answer might just be yes to New Orleans and Yes to Harlem.

Just thinkin

[astrid]

There's is also east and west coast jazz...

But the question was: "Was Harlem the home of Jazz as we know it"

And the answer is "Jazz started in New Orleans"




See also: Birthplace of Jazz (below):

www.neworleansonline.com/neworleans/music/musichistory/jazzbirthplace.html

Jazz wasn't born on a particular day, it was created over a period of time. It wasn't just one person or one race that was responsible for creating it. It was a meeting, and mixing, of the essences and emotions of many people, of many cultures. When circumstances are right and a variety of influences come together to create something special, when many flavors combine to make a new taste that is greater than the sum of its spices, we have a name for it down here: we call it gumbo. And just like Jazz, nobody makes gumbo like we make it in New Orleans.

That doesn't mean Harlem wasn't important for jazz (the Duke, Billie, and other great names).

www.greatmodernpictures.com/pictures.htm

[Admin]

Nice references Astrid. But it's like the Blues, country or just about any genre of music. There's always room for debate because from open discussion and debate comes enlightenment.

[astrid]

Here's a very interesting site: jass.com/

[muddylives]

This is an interesting discussion. Let me add a few thoughts.

I think that New York City (not just Harlem, but New York City more generally) did become the primary home of jazz in the 1930s and remained so for decades. Today, jazz today might have many homes around the world, but NYC is still the capital, still the place where young jazz musicians come to cut their teeth from all over the world.

The question of the origins of jazz is a different one. Jazz was not first created in New York. I agree that there is strong evidence that the New Orleans area should be considered the birthplace of jazz. But New Orleans didn't remain the primary home of jazz for long. True, it has arguably remained the home of traditional jazz, but the main subsequent innovations occurred elsewhere. Many of the greatest early New Orleans musicians migrated to Chicago. Chicago became the primary home of jazz by 1920, and remained so at least through the first half of the decade. NYC came to prominence as a great jazz home in the latter half of the 20s, and achieved its primary status as such realtive to Chicago in the 1930s, although strong competition also came from Kansas City.

It is interesting that, while NYC is the jazz capital, it is not the original source of most of the primary elements of the "blues and swing," so to speak, that we associate with jazz. It became the jazz home primarily through the migration to NYC of artists that embodied local traditions from many other places. By contrast, New Orleans, Chicago, and Kansas City have jazz traditions that are rooted in more home grown elements. Of course, for the case of Chicago and Kansas City, some of these elements came from migrants from the deep South (Chicago) and South-West (Kansas City). For example, there is really no distinctive home growth New York blues tradition. In New Orleans, Chicago, and Kansas City, there are quite distinctive and profound such traditions.

Muddy

[Admin]

Muddy, I see you got the essence of my initial question. That's why I included the words "as we know it". I believe we all agree that New Orleans was the "birthplace of Jazz". I've read several sources that credit the Creole culture with giving the African Americans formal musical training leading to the ability to write and arrange music. As I see it, the African Americans brought their rhymic blues to New Orleans, married it with the instrumentation of the Creole culture and begin to express their music as Jass.

Having said that, I agree totally with your other points - Chicago, Kansas City, and New Orleans having their own Jazz cultures, but New York became and remains the "Capital" of Jazz.

Thanks for your input.