The Rise of Jazz Music• In 1922 the first

commercial radio station in the USA opened in Pittsburgh

• The number of radio stations grew at a rapid rate, and with them, spread the popularity of jazz music

• The rise was also helped by the growing production and use of the gramophone

• In fact, jazz became the most popular music of the 1920’s!

• Jazz provided an opportunity for black musicians such as Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington

• They made big money from nightclub and radio performances

• This was the first time white people had been exposed to black music – and millions loved it

• Jazz originated in the black neighbourhood of Harlem, New York

• The rise of Jazz music also led to new popular dances such as The Charleston, the Jitterbug and the Tango

• These high-energy dances were a welcome relief to old ballroom dancing and waltzes of America before World War One

But Not Everyone Was So Happy!

• “Jazz music causes drunkenness. All sense is lost and animal passions take over in its presence”

• “Jazz lyrics, written in Negro brothels, are an offence to women”

• “Jazz has a demoralising effect on the human brain, which has been demonstrated by scientists. Jazz stimulates people to do extreme deeds; it is harmful and dangerous”

But these feelings and comments only seemed to make jazz music even more popular, particularly among women!

Jazz and the Speakeasy Culture

• Prohibition jump-started the Jazz Age

• During Prohibition, "The parties were bigger…the pace was faster…and the morals were looser." (Novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald)

• Mob bosses opened plush nightclubs with exotic floor shows and the hottest bands…At Small's Paradise in Harlem, waiters danced the Charleston, carrying trays loaded down with cocktails

• Out in rural America, on Midwestern college campuses, kids drank "bathtub gin" and danced to the hot jazz of ‘Bix and the Wolverines’

• Jazz took the blame for being “an influence for evil in society”