Why did the authorities rage against jazz music so much?

[Os Cangaceiros]

I mean, the easiest explanation I suppose is that jazz was associated with minority populations during the time it was being raged against (not just blacks, but also Italians, Jews, etc.) But authorities in eastern Europe during the Cold War also raged against jazz and jazz culture (and rock music, of course, one Soviet paper refered to rock as "mud music" from an "ape culture", other sources were even less implicit with their racism).

Perhaps everyone was just terrified that the boogie-woogie was going to demolish their precious social conservative ideals...just think of their reaction when disco came around!

[Fawkes]

Perhaps everyone was just terrified that the boogie-woogie was going to demolish their precious social conservative ideals...
I think it was pretty much this.


It largely originated in speakeasies during Prohibition.

Songs would often explicitly encourage "erotic" dancing.

Both the music and dance were rooted in improvisation. Not only is there an inherent sense of freedom in improvising, it's also largely absent from the Western European classical music tradition.

It made very heavy use of syncopation, something largely uncommon in the rhythmically bland W.E. classical music tradition.

Given that jazz was the amalgamation of African, European, and Caribbean music styles, there was an inherent sense of breaking down boundaries and communicating with one another.


And lastly, and most importantly, jazz was largely music by and for black people.

[Per Levy]

probally because they were racist and were scared that the black population was doing something the athorities couldnt controll.


But authorities in eastern Europe during the Cold War also raged against jazz and jazz culture

sad thing is that even people on here defend this racist bs, because soviet union, albania were good and all that stuff. i remember that ismael defended the racial slur of "jungle music" because hoxha used it to describe jazz.

[Zanthorus]

Jazz is one of those genres I just can't seem to find a way into. Probably a product of my white european male superiority complex, or something.


Both the music and dance were rooted in improvisation. Not only is there an inherent sense of freedom in improvising, it's also largely absent from the Western European classical music tradition.

It made very heavy use of syncopation, something largely uncommon in the rhythmically bland W.E. classical music tradition.

Both of these statements are false. Improvisation played an important role in performances of western art music until the latter half of the 19th/early 20th century. All the major composers from Bach to Beethoven and beyond were renowned in their own times as skilled improvisers. Bach was kicked out of his first job as a Church organist because the flourishes he added to the hymns made them unrecognisable for the congregation, and he famously successfully improvised three and six voice fugues at the request of Frederick the Great. The idea that western art music is 'rhythmically bland' is laughable, unless you think anything that doesn't have a snare on the backbeat is automatically dull.

[Yuppie Grinder]

Jazz is one of those genres I just can't seem to find a way into. Probably a product of my white european male superiority complex, or something.



Both of these statements are false. Improvisation played an important role in performances of western art music until the latter half of the 19th/early 20th century. All the major composers from Bach to Beethoven and beyond were renowned in their own times as skilled improvisers. Bach was kicked out of his first job as a Church organist because the flourishes he added to the hymns made them unrecognisable for the congregation, and he famously successfully improvised three and six voice fugues at the request of Frederick the Great. The idea that western art music is 'rhythmically bland' is laughable, unless you think anything that doesn't have a snare on the backbeat is automatically dull.

Interpretation =/= improvisation

[Red Commissar]

There were different angles that Jazz was attacked from.

As you mentioned OC, there was social angle with the music. Aside from some of the "intellectuals" who declared that Jazz could never be seen as "real" music on the level of classical composers, there were those who were frightened of the atmosphere Jazz was encouraging in the clubs where you could listen to it. It was not uncommon- and infact some got a considerable amount of their profit this way- for rich, white residents from mid-town or Manhattan in NYC to go up to clubs in Harlem where they could listen to Jazz. While some of these whites that went to the clubs just went there because they found the whole idea of black people dancing amusing, you still had white and black patrons mingling together. And indeed some of said white patrons would dance with the rest of the patrons, and as the dancing that went along with Jazz was much more "touchy", that got the people going on about the "purity" of white women raging. On top of that some of the white patrons went further and engaged in extramarital affairs because they wanted something "exotic", so you had miscegenation thrown on top of this.

Besides the power structure that police represented and the anger some of the affluent, white establishments had for the success of (typically) Black-owned jazz joints, police had seen Jazz clubs as a hotden for illicit activity. Among other things, many Jazz clubs acted as speakeasies during prohibition in the 20s and 30s, which was in itself a draw for patrons from more affluent parts of town since they could get "real" alcohol at much more cheaper prices than the legal joints that sold typically imported alcohol that was usually much more expensive. Jazz clubs also played host to various gambling operations and other rackets like the big, affluent establishments elsewhere in town.

Malcolm X also relates another angle of this in his autobiography, when he first takes up work in a Boston club as a low-level worker. He learns later that most if not all of the employees like him at the club made more money off selling things to the patrons, such as drugs and condoms, than solely just from their wages. Malcolm X later describes how he expanded on those activities when he got to NYC, and indeed a lot of the focus of his activities was through the big jazz clubs.

So in general Jazz clubs were very liberal (in the sense of what you could do and expect in the club) compared to the more traditional and respectable establishments, and that meant it stepped on a lot of toes in the progress. But like with a lot of music, it became a part of popular music in time and heralded the rise of the "big band" era which was filled with white musicians and more accepted by the "general" public. Unfortunately by the time it did become popular, the 50s came along and its popularity began to decline, though as we know elements of Jazz was adopted by other music forms.

[Fawkes]

Jazz is one of those genres I just can't seem to find a way into. Probably a product of my white european male superiority complex, or something.
I'm not really that into jazz either, nice try though




Both of these statements are false. Improvisation played an important role in performances of western art music until the latter half of the 19th/early 20th century. All the major composers from Bach to Beethoven and beyond were renowned in their own times as skilled improvisers. Bach was kicked out of his first job as a Church organist because the flourishes he added to the hymns made them unrecognisable for the congregation, and he famously successfully improvised three and six voice fugues at the request of Frederick the Great.
Improvisation dropped out of the classical repertoire pretty heavily towards the end of the 19th-century. I can see how "tradition" may have been the wrong word, but improvisation was certainly not something that was encouraged or praised in classical music during the decades immediately preceding the advent of jazz.


The idea that western art music is 'rhythmically bland' is laughable, unless you think anything that doesn't have a snare on the backbeat is automatically dull.
I meant rhythmically bland relative to most jazz and the music from which it's derived.

[Jimmie Higgins]

It was "race music" and many jazz scenes had an integrated (maybe too strong of a word to be applied in all cases) or at least "mixed" atmosphere if it was all white audiences listening to black musicians.

So it represented a threat to a country which was actually becoming more segregated and more oppressive after WWI. It's obviously a culture/society dynamic which repeated itself several more times in the 20th century with blues/rock r&b and hip hop.