1920 in jazz


This is a detailed summary documenting events of Jazz 'in the year 1920'.
Jazz musicians born that year included Peggy Lee, Dave Bartholomew and Dave Brubeck.

Overview of jazz in 1920

Throughout much of the 1920s, the Chicago jazz scene was developing rapidly, aided by the migration of over 40 prominent New Orleans jazz men, including the New Orleans Rhythm Kings who began playing at Friar's Inn. Additionally, following Prohibition in 1920, the cabaret business began in New York City and the growing number of speakeasies developing in cellars provided many aspiring jazz musicians with new venues. This gradually saw many musicians who had moved to Chicago ending up on the East Coast of the United States. Meanwhile, classic blues and symphonic jazz were becoming more and more prominent as additional sub genres of jazz to consider.

Culture surrounding jazz in 1920

The birth of a more urban and industrialized America was in part marked by the new style of music: jazz. Leading up to 1920, America was becoming much more industrialized which led to the decade starting off with many strikes across different fields. However, as the decade progressed, the number of those in labor unions steadily decreased. Meanwhile, just before 1920, a racial division began to emerge between black workers and the veterans they replaced during World War I. During this time, many blacks trying to get out of rural poverty moved north to big, bustling cities such as Chicago and New York City; however, racial segregation and invasions of black neighborhood by whites led to many race riots in 1919. As prohibition led to many entertainment businesses expanding to include live music performances, it opened the door for many black jazz musicians to gain a following. Allowing jazz to rise up in American culture brought many unique things to music in 1920. New instrumental, orchestral, and rhythmic techniques were introduced, as well as twelve-bar blues, emotional expressiveness, a new scale, and unique forms. In 1917, many jazz record companies began to conceal their identity because racial tension was on the rise and showed no signs of slowing down. This allowed them to overcome identity threats such as their association with illegitimate, but profitable products.

The jazz debate in 1920

"One can plausibly argue that the debate over jazz was just one of many that characterized American social discourse in the 1920s". In 1919, jazz was being described to white people as “a music originating about the turn of the twentieth century in New Orleans that featured wind instruments exploiting new timbres and performance techniques and improvisation”. On the other hand, famous jazz musician Jelly Roll Morton said jazz is centered around melody, rhythm, and harmony. While white people often saw jazz as nothing more than syncopation and technique, black jazz musicians argued that improvisation and harmony are just as important. In addition to this, although jazz has mostly black roots, most people associate it today with white musicians.

Jazz in Chicago

By 1920, the African American population in Chicago was up to 109,594 out of 2,701,705 total residents. As African American culture in Chicago grew, so did racial segregation. This resulted in many black jazz musicians in 1920 having to defend their music against people who were trying to run them out of popular music and entertainment venues. After racially motivated violence broke out in Chicago in 1919, the local government created the Chicago Commission on Race Relations to hopefully help with the animosity between white people and black people in the city. In the midst of this rising racial tension, job opportunities for the majority of the black community became limited. Because many black people had previous experience playing musical instruments as a child, playing in nightclubs and other entertainment venues was proven to be one of the only options.

Race relating to jazz in 1920

Despite the racial indifference that stemmed from jazz in the United States, white people were quickly catching onto the fact that this new music style wasn’t going anywhere and would eventually just have to be accepted and embraced. Many white critics in 1920 would often refer to black jazz musicians as "savages" instead of musical artists and put down the genre altogether by saying that jazz was "strict rhythm without melody". Because jazz had caused so much segregation and tension between people living in big, urbanized cities, Chicago soon became a city of intense disconnect.

Births

; January17 – George Handy, American pianist.22 – Bob Hames, American jazz guitarist.23 – Ray Abrams, American tenor saxophonist.24 – Jimmy Forrest, American saxophonist.27 – Helmut Zacharias, German violinist.
; February2 – Joe Mondragon, American bassist.3 – Alfred "Chico" Alvarez, American trumpeter.14 – Jack Lesberg, American upright bassist.21 – Sam Ranelli, American big band drummer.23
; March3 – Hubert Giraud, French composer and lyricist.10 – Boris Vian, French polymath: writer, poet, musician, and singer.23 – Bea Booze, American R&B and jazz singer.27 – Carl-Henrik Norin, Swedish saxophonist.
; April3 – Stan Freeman, American composer, lyricist, and musician.8 – Carmen McRae, American singer, composer, pianist, and actress.9 – Art Van Damme, American accordionist.13
; May3 – John Lewis, American pianist and composer.11 – Beryl Bryden, English jazz singer.21 – Bill Barder, American tuba player.26
; June4
; July2 – Herbie Harper, American trombonist.12 – Paul Gonsalves, American tenor saxophonist.16 – Elizete Cardoso, Brazilian singer and actress.
; August3 – Charlie Shavers, American trumpeter.7 – Harry Arnold, Swedish jazz saxophonist.8 – Jimmy Witherspoon, American blues singer.12 – Sam Ulano, American drummer and teacher.15 – Tommy Pederson, American trombonist and composer.16 – Lennie Felix, British pianist.17 – George Duvivier, American upright bassist.18 – Don Lamond, American drummer.25 – Leonard Gaskin, American bassist.28 – Rowland Greenberg, Norwegian trumpeter.29 – Charlie Parker, American alto saxophonist.
; September7 – Al Caiola, American guitarist.10 – Ken Rattenbury, English trumpeter, pianist and composer.11 – Bob Enevoldsen, American tenor saxophonist and valve trombonist.28 – Alan Davie, Scottish tenor saxophonist.
; October4 – Charlie Norman, Swedish pianist and entertainer.9 – Yusef Lateef, American saxophonist.20 – Ray Linn, American trumpeter.24 – Wendell Marshall, American upright bassist.
; December2 – Géo Voumard, Swiss jazz pianist.5 – Kay Davis, American singer.6 – Dave Brubeck, American pianist.11 – Eddie Johnson, American tenor saxophonist.14 – Clark Terry, American swing and bop trumpeter.21 – Marshall Brown, American trombonist.25 – Jerome Richardson, American saxophonist and flautist.29 – Irving Ashby, American jazz guitarist.

Books

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