1. Ch. 23 Section III
A Creative Era

2. Music 1920’s Period of Creativity Known as Jazz Age
Originates with African American Musicians in South
New Orleans is Center of Jazz Music
Musicians Incorporated different Music Styles
West African Rhythms
African Spirituals
Ragtime
European Harmonies
Jazz Emerges in part of New Orleans
Known as Storyville
Style of Music
Ragged or Improvised

3. Music Jazz Popularity Encourages different Musicians to Incorporate it
White Musicians
Incorporating Jazz into Music
Composers & Pianist are using Jazz Rhythms in Music
George Gershwin
Rhapsody in Blue displayed Jazz in Symphonic Form
Big Band Music Introduces Jazz to a New Audience
Music was Dance Music
Clubs are Bringing in Famous Jazz Musicians…
Only Admitting White Customers

4. Music Musicians Experimenting Different Forms of Music
Known as the Blues
Grew out of
Slave Music
Religious Spirituals
Songs Featured
Heartfelt Lyrics
Altered or Slurred Notes
Bessie Smith
Brings Blues to Broader Audience
Down Hearted Blues

5. Jazz Movement Great Migration: African Americans Moving North
Jazz Musicians doing the Same
Moving to Big Cities:
Chicago & New York
Joseph “King” Oliver:
Was a Jazz Cornet Player
Style of Play “Hot Jazz”
Improvisation
Blind in One Eye
Played while Sitting
Famous for using
Mutes/Devices to Alter Sound

6. Jazz Movement Joseph “King” Oliver: (Cont.)
Started playing in New Orleans
1908
1919 Moves to Chicago
1922 Starts King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band
Sends Telegram to Louis Armstrong in 1922
Come to Chicago Join Band

7. Jazz Movement Louis Armstrong Mentor was Joe “King” Oliver
Called him Papa Joe
Learned to Play Cornet
Boys Reform School
Helps Shift Jazz Music
Collective Improvisation to Solo
Has Distinctive “Gravelly” Voice
Nickname was Satchmo
Famous Songs:
What a Wonderful World
When the Saints go Marching In

8. Jazz Movement Harlem Renaissance (New Negro Movement) Harlem N. Y.
Major Cultural Center of African Americans
African American Cultures
Writing
Musicians
Artists
Celebrated
Black Dignity & Creativity
Redefines
View of the African-American Population
Theatre:
Black Theatre Gains Critical Acclaim & Popularity
Paul Robeson
Actor & Accomplished Singer
1924: First African American Actor with
Leading Role Opposite a White Actress

9. Harlem Renaissance Literature Langston Hughes
African American Novelists and Poets are producing work describing Bitterness and Defiance but also Joy and Hope.
Harlem Poets celebrated their ethnic identity and acknowledged the struggles faced by African Americans
Langston Hughes
Addressed Poems to African Am readers
Focused on everyday experiences of Africans
Used language and themes familiar to his readers
First published Poem was in The Crisis

10. Harlem Renaissance The Lost Generation Ernest Hemingway
Term used to describe a group of American writers rebelling against what America had become in the 1900’s
Ernest Hemingway
Was seriously wounded during the war on the Italian Front
Expresses his anger at the uselessness of war
1929 Novel, A Farewell to Arms, he depicts the devastation of war
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Wrote about the Jazz Age
Sinclair Lewis
Focused on the emptiness and conformity of middle-class life

11. Harlem Renaissance
Artists in the 1920’s are showing the impact of growing cities and the increasing use of machinery on American Life
Photography is becoming an art in the 1900’s
Alfred Stieglitz
Helps popularize photography
Photographed: People, airplanes, skyscrapers, and crowded streets
Murals
Piece of artwork painted directly on the wall, ceiling, or other large permanent surfaces

12. Harlem Renaissance Architecture Frank Lloyd Wright
Develops the “prairie style” of domestic architecture
Used rectangular shapes and clean, horizontal lines
New York City experiences a boom in skyscraper construction during the 1920’s
Two landmarks:
The Chrysler Building and Empire State Building