The Origins of Jazz

Creation of the Jazz genre is one of the influential events in the African-American movements, and it showed the equality of Blacks and Whites by revealing the emotions and artistic nature of slaves in the early 20th century.

This genre has got originated from the inspirations of American and European classical songs and African folk music and West African traditions. Of course, by the passage of time, its style has changed by the performer's ideas, Which shows the real purpose of jazz. There are also some inspirations from the harmonic style of hymns of the church. Slaves learned and used it in their music to improve the spirituals aspects of Jazz tracks.

In 1866, the Atlantic slave trade had brought about 400 thousand Africans to North America. They were mostly from West Africa and transferred a high amount of African music traditions with them.

Some proofs from 1885 confirm the existence of strange street music played by slaves with instruments made of washtubs and jugs.

In the early 20th century, each small band was a combination of self-taught and formally educated musicians. These bands traveled in Black communities in the south of the USA to purify their art and insert more African emotions into jazz melody. Afterward, They commuted to various states of America and played in vaudeville shows, and this issue distributed jazz all over the northern and western cities of the country.

New Orleans is the place that jazz started to spread throughout the United States. New Orleans council ratified an agreement that was out of the social constructs and specified a location outside the city's original area. A place where Africans could gather around to perform Jazz music and dance. They also named this place "Congo Square" and enslaved blacks were allowed Sundays off from their work to participate in the festival.

Many famous jazz musicians started their job in bars and restaurants around Basin Street. After training and practicing in Basin Street, They could establish a marching band and play tracks in lavish funerals. The instruments of marching and dance troupes turned into the ones used by jazz bands: brass, drums, and reeds.

In New Orleans, Papa Jack Laine, an American bandleader, united blacks and whites in his marching band. He was also known as "Father of White Jazz" because of employing best performers such as George Brunies, Sharkey Bonano, and future members of the Original Dixieland Jass Band.

At the beginning of the 20th century, jazz performers could play music in black neighborhoods due to segregation laws.

Storyville caused many improvements in jazz music and led it to a higher amount of audiences by tourists who came to the city through the port of New Orleans. Many American-African musicians were hired by bars because they could reduce their expenditure by employing humiliating part of the society. Musicians like Jelly Roll Morton, Lorenzo Tio, and Buddy Bolden, whom people know them as the first jazz performers. Louis Armstrong started his career in Storyville and succeeded in this job in Chicago. Even so, Storyville was shut down by the government in 1917.

This genre of music has grown among bars and speakeasies and in an immoral community. It was instrumental and couldn't deliver its concept with no trouble. Eventually, jazz found the right way, and now many whites are famous in playing this American-African music. Even some of them say they chose the jazz genre to appreciate and apologize for the efforts and troubles that blacks' ancestors experienced until they became free.