The development of Blues and Jazz Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The development of Blues and Jazz - establish ExampleLike winding, the blues originated in the Deep South and had its roots in folk and ordinary culture, namely African American spirituals, gospel music or folk ballads (Culture and Change Black tale in America). Ironically while the proverbial Jazz Age celebrated the material excess and enormousness of the years of economic boom which preceded the Great Depression, jazz and the blues had their roots in the melancholy and pitiable which typified the lives of African Americans in the plantation society of the Deep South. The sadness of these musical forms, though it speaks tacitly of the distress of separation and exploitation, does not diminish its aesthetic beauty. In fact, perhaps quite paradoxically, jazz speaks of sadness compensate as it embraces an extremely life-affirming spirit. Perhaps the most classical characteristic of jazz is its emphasis on fine freedom. Improvisation is the most central facet of this musical g enre. Improvisation which is essentially the act of creating melodies and lyrics in the prevail of a performance debunks the very idea of the normative in creative expression. Improvisation is seen in the fly performances of the best known jazz artist, Louis Armstrong as well as in the free jazz styles of artists such(prenominal) as Albert Ayler, Ornette Coleman, and John Coltrane (ibid). The trajectory of jazz and the blues is many pronged. ... are many factors which imbue jazz with not merely artistic importance but withal cultural and sociopolitical importance and an analysis of these is consequential to this discussion. Jazz was brought to the fore in the American society shortly after the end of World state of war I. It celebrated, thus, freedom, happiness and the hope for peace, all things that the annihilation of war destroys. Furthermore, the Jazz Age coincided with a crucially important literary and political movement in the U.S.A.-the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Re naissance, predominantly an African American movement emphasized the literary and intellectual achievements of blacks and called for social and political equality for the colored people of the country. Jazz and the blues and their multifarious manifestations, organise a major part of the movement. It was celebrated in its most immediate form, music, but its beats and themes were also incorporated in dancing and literature. Above all, by celebrating the folk roots of jazz, the movement upheld black surcharge and the civic equality of all Americans. In terms of its beginnings, jazz is similar to the minstrels, ballads and spirituals which have existed in both society since time immemorial. These forms are what Mikhail Bakhtin characterizes as low or carnival they do not constipate to normative strictures of the high arts and seek an audience that is usually not amongst the socially and economically interior in society (Mikhail Bakhtin). Jazz is unique by the virtue of the fact th at it transcends its folk roots to interpose the popular imagination of not merely the U.S.A. but many European nations as well. In fact, in the 1940s when jazz had already enjoyed a decade of dizzy popularity, jazz musicians were willing to explore in other directions