Detractors and supporters of jazz argued on many aspects of the music and its value as a form of art, but they all agreed on one thing: its popularity tightly linked to the changes in society that had started after WWI. Whether these changes were perceived as positive or negative depended on the critic’s stance as modernist or traditionalist.
In any case, jazz was often credited as expressing a break with the past and introducing a new time and speed that took place after the Great War.
This new rhythm was the expression of life in the city as opposed to life in rural areas. It was the rhythm of machines, the sound of more modern times. The new rhythms were not simply faster. The irregularity and syncopation also gave a sense of hurry- It sounded unpredictable like this new life.
Many artists of the 1920s caught this sense of constant shifting and changing, of insecurity. Time and how it now moved differently were central to the 1920s sensibility, particularly in the arts. This ‘lost’ generation of artists despaired about their fate. They felt confused in the transition from valued already fixed to values that had to be created, uncertain in that diffuse insecurity.
Jazz was already firmly placed in this feeling. It expressed the transition from rural to urban life, from slow to faster times, from before to after, and so it provided a potent symbol for that transition to new values. Jazz became not just a language of music but also a language of visual arts and storytelling. In the Jazz Age, it was a pervasive presence.
Jazz was the language of this generation. It was an experience that conveyed change – not merely an aspect of a culture affected by change. In its syncopated, entirely new rhythms, the lost generation began to found itself.
RESORCES
Ogren, Kathy J., The Jazz Revolution. Twenties America and the Meaning of Jazz. Oxford University Press, New York, 1989
11 Comments
Tasha
Now that’s a clever use of X 🙂 I can only imagine what effect the two world wars had on people’s psyche – especially when WWI was supposed to be the war to end all wars.
Tasha
Tasha’s Thinkings | Wittegen Press | FB3X (AC)
jazzfeathers
They were two terrible wars, if for different reasons. WWI (The Great War as it was known back then) is considered by many historians to be the true beginning of the XX century. And for good reasons.
Anabel
Oh clever! I wondered how you were going to deal with X.
jazzfeathers
It was a challenge all of its own. And it fact one of the last letters I placed.
Sophie Duncan
The XX Century was certainly a turbulent time, interesting how such rapid, uncertain change can generate art and be inspiration.
Sophie
Sophie’s Thoughts & Fumbles | Wittegen Press | FB3X
jazzfeathers
I actually think that art thrives better in difficult times. Difficulties push fears and uncertainties to come out and the same fears and uncertainties bring people together, to share and try to find some kind of answer.
The Twenties were certainly such times.
Kathleen Valentine
That was tricky but good. I think I should have been around during the Jazz Age. I think I would have it right in.
@Kathleen01930
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jazzfeathers
LOL! But then I always think I like the Twenties because they sound so much like our own times. Only they sound a lot more charming when they’re over. Not so much when you’re living them 😉
Roland Clarke
Neat use of the X.
In many ways Jazz grew following WWI, while we got Rock n’Roll after WWII although with other musical forms appearing in their wake. Or is that too simplistic. Was it Korea or Vietnam?
https://rolandclarke.com/2016/04/28/x-for-xenagogue-atozchallenge/
jazzfeathers
I think you have a point, Roland. As I mentioned before, I do think that 1920s jazz and 1950s rock ‘n roll had a lot in common in terms of relating to society and their change. Coming after a big, terrible, global war probably was a factor.