Jazz: More Than Just Background Music?

     My assumptions about the history of jazz were relatively simple compared to what I know now having taken this course. Before this class, I assumed jazz was only the smooth, cool, modern jazz that we usually hear on the radio today, and I suspect it is a common misconception that others have who did not grow up with much exposure to or appreciation for jazz.

     Growing up, my parents would have the radio permanently turned to the local jazz station; this was not because they were particularly fond of jazz, but because the music (at least on that station) was mellow and calm enough for their sensitive temperaments. My parents did not tolerate noise, so to me, jazz seemed like the most subdued and unobtrusive kind of genre, purely background music and not something you really had to pay attention to. I would be a lazy and oblivious student if I said that this course did not change my perception about jazz. I have learned that the history of jazz was a series of movements that began in New Orleans with traditional African influences as well as original, American creations, like the blues. Jazz then molded and transformed into new styles as it travelled from New Orleans to Chicago, Kansas City, and New York, where the environments of the cities would stimulate innovation. Now that I have taken the course, my previous assumption that jazz was homogeneously “cool” and “smooth” has been proven false; the different genres of jazz, like swing, ragtime, stride, and bebop are distinct and diverse.

     Even though I was exposed to jazz through the radio, I was unaware at how fundamental it was for popularizing jazz, especially in the Swing Era. According to Gioia, “The creation of a truly nationwide mass medium in the form of radio catapulted a few jazz players to a level of celebrity that would have been unheard of only a few years before” (136). Jazz broadcasts over the radio were also an important early step towards desegregation; music played by black artists was being broadcast in white homes, exploring a new audience that perhaps did not even know they were listening to black musicians.

     My previous presumption of the radio was that of something universally accessible, or at least in the US, so it was different to think that it was a new technology and that the radio actually played a big role in the popularity of the artist. In fact, it became the main marketing tool and source of advertising in the entertainment industry during the Great Depression (Stewart, lecture 2/12). Of course, the radio is still prominent, but I would argue it has declined in use. Personally, I only listen to the radio in the car and use my iPod or computer to play music, and I would say that record sales, tours, music video views on YouTube, and social media are better methods to assess the popularity of an artist than the radio. Honestly, I do not think jazz is as popular a genre today; although you can see jazz influences in pop songs (take the swing effect in Justin Timberlake’s “Suit and Tie” for example), it is not played on pop radio or Hot 100 stations, but rather seems reserved for high culture tastes or, in my parents’ case, background music. However, it was interesting to learn about the Swing Era in which it was the height of American entertainment and was widely broadcasted on the radio.