Overview
Around the turn of the twentieth century, several styles and genres of music came together, and the city of New Orleans provided the catalyst for the formation of jazz. The earliest style of jazz, and one that remained popular for decades after its inception, was called Dixieland. Dixieland, like other types of jazz, allows us the chance to look at many issues of musical, racial, and commercial issues in the first quarter of the twentieth century.
Objectives
- Examine the predecessors of jazz and the diversity of styles and genres that combine in order to create the earliest jazz
- Identify the instruments, musical form, and performance style of Dixieland jazz
- Examine how the issues of race affected the earliest commercial distributions of jazz
- Identify the key figures and songs in Dixieland jazz
Conclusion
Dixieland, the earliest type of jazz, was the result of a specific combination of music, culture, geography, and race in the city of New Orleans. Musicians such as Buddy Bolden and Kid Ory were among the first greats of the genre. As Storyville closed and New Orleans declined, jazz headed north and made a new home in Chicago. During this era, legends such as Jelly Roll Morton, King Oliver, and Louis Armstrong made names for themselves. Although African American in origin, the first commercially successful recordings of jazz music were made by white artists. Only during the 1920s did record companies begin recording black artists with any regularity, but popular black bands’ music was released in mainstream catalogues, not on race records.
