“In America, music was the first sphere of social interaction in which racial barriers were challenged and overturned. And the challenge went both ways: by the mid-1920s, white bands were playing for all-black audiences at Lincoln Theater and elsewhere. These intermediate steps between segregation and integration represented, for all their problems, progress of sorts.”
― Ted Gioia, The History of Jazz
The Roaring Twenties was a rebellious time for young adults in America as they faded away from the previous generation’s culture. The African American musicians at the time rebelled against the stigma that only white people could create quality music. These rebellions followed suit with fads such as fashion statements of flappers and the live concerts of radios. Both of the rebellions taking place created barriers in the social climate of the United States.
African American flappers
In the 1920’s jazz’s popularity skyrocketed as the prohibition era began and speakeasies, an illicit liquor store or nightclub, became common locations to ‘hang out’ in. Places such as Apollo Theater and the Cotton Club rose to fame as they hired stars of the era such as Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, and Chick Webb.
Before the modern technological inventions of the radio and gramophone, early Jazz musicians relied heavily on live shows and sheet music to entertain fans.
Grebe CR-12 Radio, 1920s.
Radio broadcasting was introduced in 1922 and allowed Americans to discover Jazz and other unique cultures of music without having to physically set foot in a jazz club.
Along with the invention of the modern radio came other prejudices against African Americans, who often received less air time than white jazz artists.
Racist groups such as the Klu Klux Klan, influenced by segregation and Jim Crow Laws, ostracized African-Americans daily. This active persecution created a demand for an escape, Jazz. The segregation and discrimination African American Jazz artists faced help to foster more connections between one another as well as build larger communities based on the unity of one another.
Another influential invention that led to the popularity of Jazz was the gramophone. Although invented in the late 1880s, it did not become popular until the beginning of the twentieth century, and especially the 1920s, pushing the phonograph out of style. The change in how music was recorded shaped how fans interacted with jazz, music was now much more clear and natural.
The Gramophone
Joe (“King”) Oliver's Creole Jazz Band performing in Chicago, 1923.Pictorial Press/Alamy