Friday, April 24, 2020

46. The history of Jazz: 2. The birth of Jazz, ACJ Music Academy


How are you?

Following the last week, I am going to start my 46th lecture.

I had conducted music lectures at Art Collage JANG in Seoul, South Korea every Saturday from March 2015 to December 2017.

I am going to introduce the lecture by the lecture’s order every Saturday.

Please refer to the following link for my previous lectures.


The second theme of “The history of Jazz” I will introduce this week is “The birth of Jazz”

It is a summary of the contents of “46th ACJ Music Academy, The history of Jazz: 2. The birth of Jazz”, which was introduced on May 7, 2016.

Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities in New Orleans, USA. The jazz, which is rated "classical music of America", was influenced by the musical features of West Africa, African-American musical features including blues and ragtime, and European military band music.

With the abolition of slavery in 1865, liberated African-Americans had new opportunities. Although racial discrimination has limited most blacks' employment opportunities, many black musicians have been able to find jobs in entertainment, such as dances, minstrel shows, and vaudeville.

Ragtime appeared as sheet music as it became popular due to the African-American musicians such as an entertainer Ernest Hogan, who produced the hit song in 1895

Ernest Hogan

In 1897, white composer William Krell published his "Mississippi Rag", which was the first written piano instrumental ragtime piece, and Tom Turpin published his "Harlem Rag", the first rag published by African-American.

Pianist Scott Joplin, trained in classical music, made his "Original Rags" in 1898, and gained international hit with "Maple Leaf Rag" a four-parts featuring repetitive themes and a bass lines with rich seventh chords in 1899. 

Scott Joplin

The jazz of New Orleans, considered the birthplace of jazz, began in the early 1910s, combining earlier brass-band marches, French quadrilles, ragtime and blues with impromptu performances.

At that time, many early jazz musicians performed at bars and brothels around Basin Street called “Storyville”. In addition to dance bands, there were marching bands that performed at lavish funerals. The instruments, used by these marching bands and dance bands such as brass and drums, became jazz instruments.

At the time, Storyville had the opportunity to spread jazz to more audiences through tourists who visited the port city of New Orleans. Many African-American jazz musicians were hired to perform at bars and brothels, and Louis Armstrong, well known to us, also started his musical career in Storyville and succeeded in Chicago. 

But in 1917, Storyville was shut down by the US government because it was a decadent place for prostitution and drugs.

You can also review this lecture from following media.


Next week, I will introduce you “New Orleans Jazz” as the third theme of “The history of Jazz” lectures.

Thank you.

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