Vicky wrote:
"then how do you account for the '20s being known as the
"Jazz Age"? I know that's, to some degree, a label that's
been stuck on that decade after the fact, but there are quite
a few contemporary references to jazz in mainstream art and
lit. Or are you distinguishing between types of jazz here,
or. . . ?"
I think this perfectly accounts for the '20s being called the
"Jazz Age." As I said, it was popular enough that it had
crossed over and was listened to by many, especially
sophisticates in the cities, but was still very tied in the
minds of many to illegal drinking and the mob-owned
speakeasies in which it was often played. Which made it the
perfect tag for the decadence of a decade also called the
Roaring Twenties.
Many still heard Jazz as an attack on mainstream American
values -- Ladies Home Journal ran a series of 5 long articles
in 1921 and 1922, beginning with "Does Jazz Put the Sin in
Syncopation?" In 1925, Etude, a journal for professional
musicians, held a two-issue forum on "Where Is Jazz Leading
America?" Few of those polled defended it, most ruing its
influence. Throughout the decade, the New York Times
regularly printed articles and editorials agains the
music.
In the early '40s there was uproar about, first Benny
Goodman, then Harry James, but by then the early jazz had
become respectable enough to be held up as the "good music"
being violated by Swing Jazz. In the
'50s, numerous jazz musicians like Louis Armstrong and Dizzy
Gillespie were taking State-sponsored tours of the world to
spread the American Way of Life. However, as late as 1956,
the Senate Appropriations Committee was trying to stop
funding for these tours, to replace them with "choral groups
and miscellaneous sports projects," because they still
believed jazz reflected poorly on the US.
Which is probably why jazz is featured in so much hardboiled.
It became the perfect indicator of a hint of corruption, not
sticking to the narrow path, just a hint of danger, but not
too much.
At the time, Mob-owned clubs were actually a very safe place
to be, as there were rules even for gangsters, who considered
their play areas free zones. For all of mob violence of the
'20s, that was one thing that was rarely blamed on jazz --
however, it was blamed for leading people, especially young
people, especialy young women, down the road to degradation
through alcohol and uninhibited dance, which combined led to
sex. And there were fears of mixing with lower classes and
other races.
Mark
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