The Birth of Jazz in New Orleans

Around the turn of the 19th century, New Orleans was unlike any other city in the world. It’s unique combination of people created a strong fusion of many different cultures. New Orleans was founded as a French colony before being ceded to Spain less than fifty years later. Another forty years found New Orleans back in French hands before finally being obtained by the United States in the Louisiana Purchase. In addition to these strong French, Spanish, and English influences, there was also a widely diverse black population. Many had been brought from various parts of Africa in the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, still others came from islands in the Caribbean. Jazz came out of a mixture of many different musical traditions and styles from vastly different cultures and this “cultural gumbo,” as Gioia put it, was unlike any other in the world and it is therefore unsurprising that it facilitated such a strong revolution in music (Gioia 7). 

Because of the incredibly diverse nature of the city, there was a tolerance unmatched almost anywhere for the time period. Nowhere is this more evident than in the city council’s decision to make Congo Square an official area where slaves could sing and dance. This contrasted to most other areas of the country where slaves were, at best, discouraged from any musical inclinations. This area allowed for all the different African subcultures to interact and mix. Additionally, the creation of the red-light district or Storyville was an integral aspect of the emergence of the jazz tradition. This area of New Orleans was set up to contain all the “uglier” sides of society including gambling, prostitution, and drinking. Known as The District, this side of town attracted musicians, especially the newly freed slaves, who could earn a living playing music. Because of Storyville’s obvious popularity, it proved to be a breeding ground for competitive and talented musicians.

Perhaps the most important aspect of New Orleans that allowed it to harbor such unique musicianship was the Creoles. The Creole society was very separated from the black society. Many of the Creoles had been freed thanks to the Code Noir in 1724 and as such they generally thought of themselves as part of a high class, European tradition rather than acknowledge their slave roots. Jelly Roll Morton, one of the more important innovators and self-proclaimed creator of jazz, was a Creole who as Gioia puts it: “would have been horrified to see himself lauded by posterity as a major black musician” (40). Many Creole were relatively well educated and had training or lessons in the European musical tradition and for one were able to read music. However, once the Civil War ended, there was no longer a difference between the Creoles and the blacks. As these cultures were thrust together, and Creoles were dropped down the social hierarchy to the level of blacks, the raw and emotional African musical traditions became intertwined with the structured European classical music and the result was a brand new sound that became the roots of jazz.