Reflections on Jazz

When I entered this class, I knew that jazz began as a specifically African American form of music.  Other than that, I didn't know much about jazz other than names I heard growing up as the greatest jazz players: Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk.  These names were my reference point for jazz.  What I didn't realize until after taking this course is how much jazz both musically, socially, and historically relies on collaboration.  Because jazz music has often emerged out of collaboration of different individuals and their personal styles, jazz is expressive of the community around it. But the concept that really took this concept to the next level for me was the idea of jazz as dialogue.  Before taking this class, I would have assumed that jazz music was reflexive of the culture of the environment in which it was create.  What was new for me was the other ways in which the spaces and cities developed due to the emergence and growing popularity of jazz.  Specifically, jazz had a major impact on the race relations in Chicago, New York, and Kansas City.  This dialogic aspect of jazz also greatly influenced jazz musicians and geniuses who would not have been able to flourish had they had not had both the support and diverse influences of their communities. This again emphasizes the importance of collaboration in jazz music. Jazz shaped the cities it developed in and the people who listened to it socially, culturally, economically, and historically.  Before taking this class, I hadn't realized that a form of musical expression could have such serious effects on the history of people and communities. The fact that jazz did this for so many people and had such a large social impact is due to its expressive qualities and role as the first African American produced entertainment to enter the conscious of American popular culture.