New Orleans was the Harlem of the
South, a melting point for various different cultures and ways of
life. Jazz was influenced by many musical traditions, chief among
them the European and African styles (Gioia, 9). The boom and bust in
steam-powered transportation in the mid 19th century
helped set the stage for the creation of jazz. Blues attained
popularity in New Orleans prior to jazz.
Jazz is closely tied to the Red Light
District of New Orleans. Many of the african american jazz artists
had to work in the red light district, as upper class white
establishments considered them, and in some classes their music, to
be low-class and not respectable. Jazz flourished there, until
eventually emigration to the North and the promise of greater success
pushed and pulled jazz artists to entertain in Northern cities.(Gioia
48)
Mexican immigrants had a profound
effect on Jazz.Mexico sent the 8th Regimental band to the
1884 Centennial exposition in New Orleans. Many of theses musicians
elected to stay in the United States, influencing American musicians
in the formation of jazz (Johnson, 225). They also popularized
woodwind intruments, including the saxophone and clarinet. Among them
was the writer of Sobre Las Olas, Juventino
Solas.
New Orleans Jazz was distinctive for
the artists and performers who made it what it was, and for their
personalities. Jelly Roll Morton, the self-proclaimed inventor of
jazz, was one such personality. He was the first to deal with jazz in
abstract terms, and his historical accounts and writings are still
held in high regard, despite his reputation as a loudmouth. Louis
Armstrong, arguably the inventor of the Jazz solo, brought a
personality into his improvisation and performance that noone had
before. He was more than just an artist or performer, he became one
of the first American entertainers. (Stewart)
