Chicago: Jazz Center of 1920's

           1920’s Chicago had a unique mix of social, racial, and economic climates that made it a very influential city in the history of jazz, I believe more so than New York.  Many artists, such as Louis Armstrong, played stints in both cities, but Chicago proved to be the most persuasive in the perpetuation and evolution of the jazz style, brought about by the economic, social, and racial attitudes of the Windy City.

            This influence began after World War I when a huge migration of blacks from the south occurred. The boom of mass production plants in Chicago catalyzed this exodus. The sheer volume of this relocation allowed for the proliferation of black culture in the north. Nightclubs like Royal Gardens and the Elite Club allowed black musicians like Armstrong, and Jelly Roll Morton to practice, hone, and display the craft that they learned in the New Orleans style. New York, on the other hand, did not share Chicago’s lenient racial policies. “Classy nightclubs on Chicago’s South Side never had a “for whites only” policy as Harlem’s Cotton Club did.” (An Autobiography of Black Jazz, p. 41)

            “It was in the small, ‘gutbucket’ cabarets in Harlem that the young musicians were able to exercise the skills in jazz-making which they were rapidly acquiring.” (The Best of Jazz, p. 102). The opposite was happening in Chicago. Jazz was spreading among and outside of the black community. The white musicians in Chicago, whether by imitation, appropriation or both, aided in the spread of jazz throughout American culture; “white musicians by the dozen would come out nightly, after they finished their one a.m. gigs at the big downtown clubs and hotels, to hear the new jazz being played at the Lincoln Gardens.” (An Autobiography of Black Jazz, p. 66).

            Chicago also influenced jazz in a negative way. The same clubs that allowed the spread and proliferation on jazz throughout Chicago inhibited the spread beyond its borders. The mobsters who ran these clubs, like Al Capone, did not take kindly to these jazz musicians taking employment elsewhere. “’My brother Al [Capone] and I decided we’re going to keep you boys working regularly, but you can’t work for nobody but us’”(An Autobiography of Jazz, p. 39) was a familiar contract to the jazz musicians of 1920’s Chicago.  

            Along with Louis Armstrong, Chicago jazz had many other notable alumni, namely King Oliver, Bix Beiderbecke (although his mature years were spent in New York), and the Austin High Gang, These artists, while different in background, training, and disposition, all spent formative artistic years in Chicago.

            Arguably the epitome of Chicago Jazz, Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings, were “very much in the mold of the earlier New Orleans’ ensemble.” “Surely no other body of work in the jazz idiom has been so loved and admired as the results of those celebrated sessions” (Gioia, The History of Jazz, p. 58, 57). While there are notable differences between early New Orleans jazz and this Chicago productions, the similarities in structure and style are too many to say that Chicago represents a clear, distinct new style of jazz.

            As influential as Chicago was, I argue that the “Chicago Style” of jazz is merely an evolution or extension of the New Orleans style. The features that were seen in the jazz coming out of Chicago, a prominent soloist and complex ensemble, are strikingly similar to the characteristics of New Orleans Jazz (Stewart).  The maturation of the musicians, as well as the influence of Chicago’s culture, lead to a slight stylistic change that some interpret as a completely new style. This is merely a progression of the relatively young New Orleans jazz.

Comment: Dalton Klock