Chicago Jazz
Although New Orleans is the acknowledged birthplace of jazz, Chicago is regarded as the first place outside of the South where jazz was heard, and New Orleans-style jazz was first recorded in Chicago. Popular in the 1920s, "Chicago Jazz" refers to a white style of music, closely related to New Orleans Jazz, in which soloists were more prominent than the ensemble. The music is also tighter or less rhythmically realized than the New Orleans style.
When World War I increased employment opportunities for African Americans outside the South, Chicago became a center of the black community. Jazz moved to Chicago to fill the need for familiar entertainment. From the black neighborhoods, jazz moved into the white areas of Chicago, where young Chicago kids were fascinated with the new sounds.
The Original Dixieland Jazz Band, a group of white New Orleans musicians who were the first band to record jazz, included Chicago musicians for their famous appearance at the Friar's Inn. That appearance and their 1917 jazz recording increased its visibility and attracted a large following for the new music. The New Orleans Rhythm Kings, an influence on the great Bix Beiderbecke, followed in 1922 but were no match for King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, which Oliver had formed in New Orleans and taken to Chicago in 1918, where Louis Armstrong joined in 1922. The Creole Jazz Band recorded the most significant examples of New Orleans-style jazz.
King Oliver's band brought African-American jazz to Chicago and soon attracted a following comparable to that of rock stars today.Armstrong often played at more than one club in a night. Other New Orleans greats who came to Chicago in the 1920s included Sidney Bechet, both Johnny and Baby Dodds, Jimmy Noone, and Freddie Keppard.
Banjoist Eddie Condon (1905-1973) is considered the leader of the Chicago School, carrying on battles against the boppers, whom he considered to have spoiled jazz. His musicians included cornetist Jimmy McPartland (1907-1991), Bud Freeman, Frankie Teschemacher, and Red McKenzie. This was the core of the Austin High Gang, the core of the Chicago Jazz movement. The first recording of the Chicago style was on December 10, 1927. But Condon says that they were just a bunch of guys who happened to be from Chicago. Condon pioneered multi-racial recordings, getting many of the New Orleans musicians together with white musicians.
Jimmy McPartland (1907-1991), the other link in the Chicago Jazz School, was the center of the Austin High Gang. He learned the solos note for note of the New Orleans Rhythm Kings and then copied Bix Beiderbecke's work. He even replaced Bix in the Wolverines. McPartland carried the message of classic Dixieland cornet around the world and remained associated with the Chicago Jazz style until his death.
Further Reading:
Ian Carr, et al. Jazz: The Rough Guide. London, Rough Guides, 1995.
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