As spring continues to unfold and Jazz Appreciation Month kicks into gear, it’s time to finish our retelling of the history of jazz in America.

A changing city...

We left off in Congo Square, where slaves living in New Orleans were allowed to gather and share traditions from their homelands. The result was a historic melting pot that blended musical concepts from many West African cultures alongside the influence of European, Caribbean, and Native American people also living in New Orleans at the time. However, as the city’s demographics changed, the meetings at Congo Square came under fire.

By 1860, the Black population, which was previously the majority demographic in the city, constituted only 14% of the population. In addition to higher birth rates among white people already living there, the booming city was attracting settlers from the Northeast. Many of the newcomers brought harsher opinions of the enslaved people and more suspicion about their gathering than the previous European-minded regime. Over time, already strict regulations for slaves became even stricter, until the gatherings at Congo Square were banned outright.

Brass bands in the Civil War era:
Around the same time, a different New Orleans musical tradition was coming exceedingly to the forefront. Since before the Louisiana Purchase, parades were pivotal to the social calendar of the city. Holidays, political events, and famously funerals were accompanied by processions that were generally loud, celebratory, and community-oriented. At the heart of these parades were brass bands.

Between the Battle of New Orleans in 1815 and the start of the Civil War in 1861, marching bands and their music became more than just a way for the city to celebrate. Military units across the state took immense pride in their brass bands, which were often formed within specific cultural communities (French, Spanish, Italian, Irish, German, etc). These factors elevated brass bands beyond their typical military function in New Orleans, where individual bands represented community identity and perseverance.

Two traditions, one sound
The years after the Civil War continued to bring dramatic social change, most notably with the end of slavery and the rise of segregation. Because of the city's history, its black population was a bit more diverse than other places in America. There was a large population of free Black people who had earned their freedom under the city’s early Spanish rule. Their descendants traditionally lived downtown and enjoyed higher social status before the war, often speaking French, owning property, and receiving higher education. The English-speaking population of newly freed slaves, on the other hand, generally lived under harsher conditions with limited access to education or economic mobility. Before the Civil War, they lived fairly different lives, until segregation laws in the late 1800’s forced these communities to coexist.
Where music is concerned, you had classically trained free people of color who had enjoyed many of the social and economic privileges previously reserved for white society, including the opportunity to perform in formal, elite settings for white audiences. They were now being barred from white establishments, and only allowed to play with and for "Uptown Blacks," who didn’t share the same formal education or European musical sensibilities. The musicians from this group often came from more informal musical upbringings; they had learned to play through community gatherings, street performances, churches, and parades, where music was learned by ear, not off a page.

There was some clashing at first naturally, but over time, the two groups began to influence one another until they had created a shared Black music culture in New Orleans. European techniques met African American musical sensibilities in a continuation of the cultural exchange that began at Congo Square.

Pioneers of early jazz:
As these musical traditions merged, a new generation of performers began to define this new shared language of early jazz. These legendary musicians can sometimes still be identified as either “uptown” or “downtown”, but over time that had less to do with their drastically different styles of playing and learning music and more to do with their names. Descendants of enslaved Black Americans often had English (or American) sounding names, like Buddy Bolden or Louis Armstrong, while descendants of free Creoles of color often had French or Spanish names like Sidney Bechet, or Jelly Roll Morton’s given name, which was Ferdinand Joseph Lamothe.

These musicians helped turn jazz from a local performance style based on the city’s circumstances at that time into a more defined genre that other people could join and expound upon. Jelly Roll Morton, as the self-proclaimed inventor of jazz, is a great example. His work represents one of the earliest attempts to formalize jazz, as he blended elements from ragtime, blues, and improvisation into composed pieces that people could perform (with room for their own personal interpretation of course).

The Great Migration
By the early twentieth century, jazz was ready to leave its nest. Of course it was still an enormous part of life in New Orleans, but racial tensions and the search for new audiences allowed musicians with the opportunity to do so to leave Louisiana. The Great Migration was also happening at this time, as millions of African Americans moved from the South to cities in the North and Midwest.

They moved to cities like Chicago and New York, where jazz evolved rapidly as it found new influences and adapted to new audiences. Recording technology and radio broadcasts also accelerated its spread across the country.

Appreciating New Orleans
Even as jazz spread across continents, its roots in New Orleans remain essential. The resilient spirit of Congo Square, the proud energy of brass bands, the commitment to sharing and teaching all exist in the DNA of the genre.

If you’re interested in learning more, a trip to New Orleans is really a once in a lifetime opportunity. But of course, that’s not always in the cards, so this article from one of the city’s leading tourism companies is a great read in the meantime! It contains a brief history of African American influence on the city, from the first arrival of African people to their lasting influence on current traditions today. This article is another wonderful option that goes into more detail about the topics mentioned in this article and the previous one, with lots of direct quotes from influential jazz musicians and historians. It also includes multiple playlists to get you in the spirit!

Happy listening and happy Jazz Appreciation Month!