It’s 1920, and the Jazz Age has begun. First sprouting in New Orleans, jazz music quickly spread as thousands of African Americans migrated from the Deep South to new opportunities in the North. Jazz found fertile ground in Harlem, where it became an integral element in the new social, cultural, and artistic movement taking root.
Jazz and the Harlem Renaissance co-existed beautifully. Jazz represented a new art form, the first new art form that was completely American, and, most importantly, that originated in the Black community. It was only natural that the young musicians, writers, poets, and artists of this new Renaissance would embrace the music that so represented their own ideals.
Jazz music embodied improvisation, a break from traditions, a sense of freedom, a blurring of traditional boundaries. As historian Jack Rutland described, “the music was at the center, blurring lines.” Harlem became the capitol of the Jazz Age. Cab Calloway, Fletcher Henderson, Duke Ellington, and hundreds more changed forever the way we listen, from their bandstands all over the neighborhood.
“Walls of class, race, and gender were coming down,” said Rutland. “There were Black schoolteachers, Black entrepreneurs, Black police officers,” and Black artists in all disciplines. These artists “would gather in salons and cafes and read and show their work and collaborate with each other,” and the art borne from this era of cooperation still affects society today. The art was the heart of the Harlem Renaissance, and Jazz was at its core.
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