{"id":15271,"date":"2019-02-07T02:54:24","date_gmt":"2019-02-07T02:54:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=15271"},"modified":"2019-02-08T14:53:39","modified_gmt":"2019-02-08T14:53:39","slug":"did-academia-kill-jazz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/did-academia-kill-jazz\/","title":{"rendered":"Did academia kill jazz?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Adam Gustafson<\/a>, Pennsylvania State University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Jazz seems to be experiencing a bit of a renaissance among movie directors \u2013 look no further than documentaries such as \u201cMiles Davis: Birth of the Cool<\/a>,\u201d which just premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, biopics such as \u201cBorn to Be Blue<\/a>,\u201d and recent Oscar winners like \u201cWhiplash<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

While films about jazz are everywhere, evidence suggests that fewer people are actually consuming the music, putting the genre more on par with classical music<\/a> than with today\u2019s pop artists.<\/p>\n

There are a host of reasons for the decline of jazz as a popular music, but the one that interests me as a music historian<\/a> is the role that academics played.<\/p>\n

In our attempt to elevate jazz to the ivory tower, we may have inadvertently helped to kill it as a popular style.<\/p>\n

However, all is not lost. While the genre might seem destined for academic obscurity, jazz continues to kick around in popular music \u2013 just in subtler ways.<\/p>\n

Jazz captivates the country<\/h2>\n

In the 1920s, during the early years of the Great Migration<\/a>, waves of black Americans migrated from the South into the industrial cities of the North. Black jazz musicians, particularly those from New Orleans, brought their sound with them. They moved to neighborhoods such as The Stroll in Chicago<\/a>, Black Bottom in Detroit<\/a>, 12th Street and Vine<\/a> in Kansas City and, of course, Harlem. This occurred just as the record industry blossomed and radios became mainstays in American homes.<\/p>\n

Jazz was well-positioned to become the most popular genre of music in the nation.<\/p>\n

Over the next decade, the genre underwent a transformation. Artists began to amass larger ensembles, fusing the energy of jazz with the volume of dance bands. The Swing Era<\/a> was born, and jazz orchestras dominated pop charts.<\/p>\n

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During the Swing Era, the Lindy Hop was a popular dance.<\/span>
\nUCLA<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

These developments led to a new set of issues. Larger bands meant less freedom to improvise, the cornerstone of jazz. During the 1940s, music recordings became increasingly important, and jazz musicians found themselves frustrated with how little they were being paid, resulting in a series of strikes<\/a> by the American Federation of Musicians.<\/p>\n

By the time these problems were resolved, America\u2019s youth had already begun gravitating toward new styles of R&B and country, which would eventually morph into rock \u2018n\u2019 roll:<\/p>\n

After that, jazz never really recovered.<\/p>\n

From the club to the classroom<\/h2>\n

Jazz underwent another, more subtle, shift during that same time period: It left the club and went to college.<\/p>\n

After World War II, jazz genres fractured and the music became more complex. It also became popular among college students. Dave Brubeck Quartet released several albums in the early 1950s that acknowledged the group\u2019s popularity with the college crowd, including \u201cJazz at Oberlin\u201d and \u201cJazz at the College of the Pacific.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps university administrators wanted to elevate a distinctly American genre to a status of \u201chigh art.\u201d Or, maybe they just wanted to capitalize on jazz\u2019s popularity among college students. Either way, universities started to create curriculums geared towards the genre, and by the end of the 1950s, several institutions, such as the University of North Texas<\/a> and the Berklee College of Music,<\/a> had jazz programs up and running.<\/p>\n

In the classroom, jazz was explored in a new way. Rather than hearing jazz played while grinding on a dance floor, it became something to dissect. In one of the earliest jazz histories, \u201cThe Story of Jazz<\/a>,\u201d musicologist Marshall Stearns captures this shift. He begins his book by explaining how difficult it is to categorize the spirit of jazz. He then spends over 300 pages trying to do just that.<\/p>\n

Popular culture began to reflect jazz\u2019s shifting identity as the music of educated people. The 1953 film \u201cThe Wild One<\/a>\u201d features a bouncing big band soundtrack that underscores the shenanigans of a motorcycle gang led by Marlon Brando.<\/p>\n

Just two years later, \u201cBlackboard Jungle<\/a>,\u201d also features delinquent kids \u2013 except this time, they prefer the sound of Bill Haley<\/a>. In one scene, their math teacher tries to get the kids to appreciate his collection of jazz records. The scene ends with the kids beating the teacher and breaking his records.<\/p>\n