We Publish Jazz Music

All throughout the “Roaring Twenties” there were many changes that had huge impacts on the music industry of the world. Jazz was a type of music that seemed to have blown up in the 1920s for the music was perfect to dance to which was important to America at the time. Back when racism was a major problem, many whites would refuse to listen to any music written by an African American, but the refusing stopped once they heard the sweet sound of Edward Ellington.

Born on April 29th, 1899, Edward grew up in Washington D.C with a loving family that supported his music career (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica) He began playing piano at age seven and got into performing in NYC professionally at age twenty-seven.

Going by the name Duke Ellington in the music industry, he sure changed the American culture for good but if it was not for the Cotton Club he would not be as much as an impactor as he turned out to be.

The Cotton Club was an NYC nightclub located in Harlem and was one of the only clubs open for business during the prohibition era that allowed African Americans to freely play their music for the public ear. If it was not for the Cotton Club, Duke Ellington’s start of his career would not have been as successful, he would not have gotten his unique orchestra together, and due to his race, his music may have not been heard. Jazz is a style of music that was influenced by blues and ragtime with its smooth tone and synced rhythms.

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Duke Ellington went to the Cotton Club for the first time in 1923 with his new band and began the start of his career at speakeasies like the Cotton Club (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica). Ellington came to these clubs and came into the business wanting to be an African American jazz musician and he wanted his sound to be heard. The more he listened to jazz at these speakeasies the more he believed the word “jazz” was not the right word for this type of music, for it put limits on the improvised sound many jazz musicians worked with. Even though Ellington believed the sounds him and his orchestra created produced a more sophisticated and different mood. Even though Duke once said, ‘By and large, jazz always has been like the kind of man you wouldn’t want your daughter to associate with.

The word ‘jazz’ has been part of the problem. The word never lost its association with those New Orleans bordellos. In the 1920s I used to try to convince Fletcher Henderson that we ought to call what we were doing ‘Negro music.’ But it’s too late for that now. This music has become so integrated you can’t tell one part from the other so far as color is concerned” the word “jazz” seemed to stick anyway (Musing). Duke even said Though still considered jazz, Ellington and his band’s unique style of this genre were introduced to the music industry through the songs “Mood Indigo” and “Sophisticated Lady”. (Britannica website) Years after Duke started this career at the Cotton Club he said, “Everything, and I repeat, everything had to had swing. And that was just it, those cats really had it, they had that soul. And you know you can’t just play some of this music without soul. Soul is very important”.

By Duke Ellington saying this it showed that the Cotton Club had a huge impact in the beginning years of his career. If it wasn’t for him playing at and attending these speakeasies, Duke may have not obtained such a unique style and outlook on not only his music but music in general. He wouldn’t have put in as much soul and character into his music and he wouldn’t have gotten his band together to create such a known sound. In the 1920s, African Americans were judged every day by their skin color and looks. This part of the era had a huge impact on Ellington’s start of his career but The Cotton Club sure helped him succeed regardless of this discrimination. During the years he spent at the speakeasy, he learned how to go from a natty-dressed man to a more social, sophisticated man. If it was not for the help of two white men who did not discriminate against these African Americans, Duke’s voice, as well as many other African American jazz musician voices, might not have been heard (Shaw 62).

Resulting from Ellington learning manners and experiencing this new way of living at the Cotton Club, Duke was recognized by many white men who enjoyed his music and stuck with listening to him perform until he left the Cotton Club (Shaw 62). For the reason that his music produced more of a “jungle style” jazz, it lead to the audience being drawn into Ellington’s way of performing which led to him getting discovered and becoming admired more and more as his career took off (Newton-Matza 100). The Cotton Club not only helped Duke find his unique sound but because of that led him to being one of the many famous African American jazz musicians that were admired in the 1920s.