Jazz in New Orleans

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how New Orleans is known as a melting pot of culture and music and how it has played a major role in the early development of jazz. It looks at how it was full of opportunity and rich with the fine arts of music and dance, while offering a breeding ground for innovation. The paper explores how, in the back alley city streets, clubs and saloons, basements of homes and African-American dance halls, jazz was born. It focuses on the importance of New Orleans, which was home to Joe "King" Oliver and his leading student, Louis Armstrong.

From the Paper:

"Congo Square, a modest corner of the French Quarter, is considered by many scholars to be the birthplace of jazz. It was in the Nineteenth Century in Congo Square in New Orleans that observers heard the beat of the bamboulas, the wail of the banzas and saw the multitude of African dances that had survived through the years. During these antebellum times, slaves would meet here on Sundays and play traditional African songs while women slowly swayed to the rhythms. Congo Square was a weekly refuge from the drudgeries of slave life. It was a place where music created a special freedom that didn't exist elsewhere. This square was used as a gathering place for the residents of New Orleans almost since the city began and located across Rampart Street on the backside of the French Quarter."

More papers on Jazz in New Orleans:

• Essay # 70131 : "New Orleans Jazz"
• Essay # 62352 : "Jazz in the Twenties"
• Essay # 18637 : "The Development of Jazz in the U.S."

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: