Jazz Music Essay (Essay Sample)

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Jazz children Books
Introduction
The genre of music, today know as jazz, did develop in the earlier twentieth century in the urban areas of United States of America. Jazz music has acted as a social leveller and unifying agent among the diverse cultures that it is listened in. Jazz music has over the years influenced the creation of great children literature based on the jazz genre of music (Schuller 27). The great jazz musicians that their works have been incorporated into great children reads are, Louis Armstrong, Art Tatum, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald and Charlie Parker; this though, doesn't make the list of musicians conclusive (Hennessey 22).Taking a look at a book centred on the creation of Charlie Parker played Be-pop by Chris Raschka. The author of the book employs rhythm and words that give children a sense of Be-pop music when reading the book. This book is can be equated and compared to a good tune of jazz music. Charlie Parker played Be-pop book is a written presentation for the children. The literary use of words by Chris Raschka, like Bopp itty, bib bitty echoes in the background as the rather darker hue of the pictures do justice in representing the sombre mood ambiance of jazz (Peretti 67). Using of rhythmic and simple words makes the whole experience of reading the book equivalent to listening to music. The overall composition of the book has an intonation just found in music. More than a mere study of onomatopoeia or rhyming and word structure the book is all musical in nature.Delving deeper into the impact of jazz music on literature for the children; Chris Rascka in the book Mysterious Thelonious, Chris matches the notes of the chromatic scale to the 12 colour values of the colour wheel. The words are placed each within a coded square (Atkins 11). Thelonious the Monk is all over the pages of the book decked in a hip blue shades and a checked cap thus making the books so entertaining to children. The dressing of Thelonious in the book Mysterious Thelonious as depicted by Chris impacts directly on the readers of jazz literature as they will seek to dress like the great Thelonious Monk. The nature that Thelonious Monk is dressed in this book isn't too far from the way musicians wear today. The dressing alone can be concluded to show the nature of music in the book The Mysterious Thelonious (Atkins 11).
The books Mysterious Thelonious and Charlie Parker Played Be-pop portray rich artistry aimed at the young children. The language used in the narration and the pictures in there is a great show of concern that Chris Rascka wants to communicate jazz to the children. The reading of the books creates the musical rhythm in the reader if at all the reader doesn't start singing to the words of the books. The reading of the book by the young inspires in them the urge to look and acts like the Mysterious Thelonious (Gerard 41). The wish and urge of the children to do as it is portrayed in the book tends to pull the actions of the children to act African. The inherent improvisational character of jazz music is evident in the two books of, The Mysterious Thelonious and Charlie Parker Played Be-pop. There is the assumption that the children will act African since the inception of jazz music came about as a result of Africans wanting to express themselves through music. The initial proponents of the idea of developing jazz music were not purely Africans but Black Americans.
The black culture in jazz music
The music of jazz first emerged in New Orleans in the United States of America among the black arts. From the place of origin, jazz music has been described to portray black culture. The naming of the music genre as ‘Jazz' is derived from a Creole word that means an African dance and copulation. The earlier years of the inception of Jazz music, it was associated with dancing and nightlife. From New Orleans Jazz did spread like a bushfire in the state of Chicago and Kansas City. With musicians who were dominant in the jazz destinations adopted the music genre and it became an American national phenomenon. The spread of jazz music was fast since it appealed to the young the old and trendsetters of the society (Porter 47).The spread of jazz did also concurrently lead to the development of jazz by cropping up of various jazz sub-genres. There developed the hot jazz brought about by Louis Armstrong and symphonic jazz developed by Paul Whiteman. Paul Whiteman was a white who had decided to do jazz (Gioia 49). Paul Whiteman chose to traverse the waters of the music industry to cross to the other side of ‘black music’. Today the genre of jazz music is distantly associated with Africans or rather blacks. The young generation get mixed up with who were the pioneers and founders of the jazz genre. Although, Africans musicians performing jazz are not as many as they were during the inception the jazz genre of music; they helped shape the literature world through jazz music.At the height of the influence brought about by jazz music, the music was not just music. At the height of jazz influence jazz became a cultural movement (Stearns 15). The young got influenced on how they dressed. The language of the listeners of Jazz music was altered and their attitude too. These changes brought about by jazz music led to the sprout of hatred by the bourgeois and the musical establishment of the day against the jazz artists. Jazz developed to be associated with interracial sex and illegal drugs; this is as a result of the acceptance of all races into the clubs that played jazz music. Jazz was seen and regarded as portraying modernity in it thus a favourite for many who loved to see the new dawn brought about by jazz music.
The impact of jazz literature on the society
The development of jazz saw the exploitation of black jazz musicians by their white counterparts during the spread of jazz music from New Orleans. Many black jazz musicians didn't benefit from their works. The claims by blacks and whites are attributed to the rebellious nature of jazz music that came to be after its spread to other states of the United States of America. The revolutionary nature if Jazz music just came before the world war. After the world war prototypes of jazz music such as Be pop, cool jazz and progressive jazz did develop. These prototypes of jazz music became less dance-oriented and more experimental.There exists the tension between black and white jazz musicians. The blacks feel betrayal while the whites claim non-recognition of their contribution to the music genre of Jazz. The feud was much high pitched during the 1950s and 1960s (Townsend 20). During that is the period that racial discord in the United States of America was so great due to the social rights movement of the time. Jazz too broke on the scene the same time that the New Negro Renaissance also known as the Harlem Renaissance. Although, since the mid-twentieth century, jazz music is dominated by white musicians there is much to the music that literary shouts black culture in it.
The urban culture shaped jazz music and literature
The roots of jazz music were spread in the cities of the United States of America. The towns of Chicago, New Orleans, New York, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Detroit have been attributed at various times to be the incubators of jazz music. The vices of the city life have too been associated with jazz music. Although, there is no exception to the genre of jazz music, all that music associated with blacks has been in one way or the other been seen to incorporate the vices of the city.During the peak of jazz music, the attempted prohibition of the music just made night life more appealing to the levellers and club addicts. Prohibition of playing of jazz music and performance in clubs could not be borne by the urban jazz performers and artists. ...