White Perception of Early Jazz
David Betz
Throughout reading articles from Amiri Baraka, Bessie Jones, Samuel Floyd, Jelly Roll Morten and others, the interaction between racial groups in the context of jazz has been a critical area of focus. The African-American slaves that cultivated and created this style of music, and the White’s that came to enjoy and learn how to play it often seemed to create tension in the early days of jazz. Much of this tension is born from the way that White’s tended to approach the music versus the way that Blacks who created jazz approach it. This issue was residual from the music of slaves that the White owners also tended to enjoy but not understand. The White population’s perception of early jazz was heavily influenced by their understanding — or lack thereof — of African-American culture.
White Americans’ lack of knowledge of African-American culture was pointed out by Amiri Baraka in relation to the way early jazz critics viewed the music. Amiri Baraka (originally Leroi Jones) is a name chosen by the author to take the place of his “slave name” as a way of removing White influences on his life. He penned this article for a White audience in his given name as a way to make it more readable for this target audience thus removing racial bias readers may have since his given name sounds more White. Baraka uses this advantage to point out the way White critics would focus on the way jazz sounded over attempting to understand the music, where it came from, and why it appeared that way. “Rather this music cannot be completely understood (in critical terms) without some attention to the attitudes which produced it. It is the philosophy of Negro music that is most important, and this philosophy is only partially the result of the sociological disposition of Negros in America (Baraka, 257-258).” The shallowness of these critics’ reviews of jazz highlights a larger issue where White america as a whole refuses to acknowledge the cultural underpinnings of the origins of this music as well as African-American art as a whole. However, Baraka does not directly discuss the attitudes that helped shape Jazz. He dances around the exact attitudes, perhaps as a way to create more interest or force the reader to reevaluate their understanding of the music. In any case, Baraka makes it clear that the early jazz critic’s lack of knowledge regarding the cultural origins of jazz has a large impact on their ability to critique the music.
Much of the cultural context early critics of jazz missed came from the culture that existed within communities of African-American slaves. White observers of African-American music have historically been ignorant to the true meaning of the music they heard as exemplified by the slave owners who first encountered precursors of the blues and jazz. They merely heard this music as music instead of properly considering the deeper meaning it could have to their slaves. Bessie Jones directly points this out when she described the meaning behind some common slave songs. She discusses the ways the slaves would “talk” to their White overseers and owners through the lyrics to their songs. “See they were talking to them. ‘And get over double trouble,’ that was ‘Someday I’ll get to cook my own food.’ These games were for talking to them White folks direct, because the slaves didn’t like the way they were being treated (Jones, 45).” Slaves used their music as a form of therapy in a manner that their owners would be too ignorant to notice. The White’s enjoyed the music without considering that the inhumane living and working conditions were the driving force behind creating such music. This attitude of aestheticization over understanding begins with slave owning White’s and lasts well into the institutional criticism of jazz. Baraka points out the way critics would focus on the music instead of the circumstances that forged it “Usually the critic’s commitment was first to his appreciation of the music rather than to his understanding of the attitude which produced it. This difference meant that the potential critic of jazz had only to appreciate the music… and that he did not need to understand or even be concerned with the attitudes which produced it, except perhaps as a purely sociological consideration (Baraka, 257).” From the time in which slavery was a sanctioned institution in America to the time jazz began gaining widespread popularity and acceptance, White perception of Black music did not change. White society looked at it as a unique phenomenon born of African-American innovation, rather than the result of a rich cultural history.
The cultural history White listeners missed out on was primarily from African-American slave gatherings. Slave’s ability to gather for religious and cultural purposes was highly restricted by their owners as a way to reduce the risk of escape attempts. This resulted in song being used as a form of communication and therapy as previously pointed out by Bessie Jones. Even beyond the use of song, African-American’s social gatherings during the time of slavery heavily shaped the cultural significance of dance, music, and rhythmic understanding. The significance of these concepts in Afrcan- American culture was overlooked by White America resulting in many stereotypes regarding Blacks. Baraka relates the reality of Black culture to the stereotypes regarding the manifestations of this culture that White America sees. “The disparaging ‘All you folks got rhythm,’ is no less a stereotype simply because it is proposed as a positive trait (Baraka, 257).” By complementing the results of Black culture without having any understanding of the cultural mechanisms that produce these general effects highlights the ignorance of White Americans. White’s appreciation of the rhythmic sense and thus musical talent of Blacks but ignoring the attitudes and practices that developed these skills leaves White listeners without a way to contextualize the origins of jazz. Music scholar Samuel Floyd attempts to contextualize the manifestations of Black culture through the practice of the ring shout. The ring shout was a form of social interaction involving music, dance, and storytelling. “The appreciation of Black music and its traits, elements, and practices depends on our understanding of the features… as accompaniments to and ingredients of Black dance (Floyd, 52).” Floyd relates the manifestations of Black culture that White America saw as a result of the ring shout. The “All you folks got rhythm,” comment Baraka points out is a result of the ring shout and slave songs. While slave songs were more coerced, their role in African-American culture along with the ring shout in helping shape typical rhythms, styles, and emotional approaches to music used by early jazz musicians cannot be understated. Floyd and Baraka would definitely agree that White America’s appreciation, criticism, and understanding of jazz is lacking as a whole. Their understanding, as built by early critics, ignores the cultural mechanisms that produced such music and instead focuses on the music as an isolated entity, free of the influences of the social cultural and political landscapes that helped shape it. While audiences can listen to music for music’s sake, critics must have a much deeper understanding of the history and background of the artist and individual pieces. For critics to ignore the historical precedent of the music they are supposed to criticize is a massive issue. The lack of understanding of these cultural norms ultimately made White’s perception of the music lackluster at best. Since most of the White audience would gain their understanding of the music through the reviews of critics, the critic’s poor understanding of the history of the music they criticize did a disservice to all listeners. Without having an understanding of the origins of the music, the critics are missing a key component to their understanding and criticism of jazz.
As a whole, the White perception of early jazz music was lacking cultural, social, and personal aspects that helped shape the music into what they heard. Baraka, Floyd, and Jones all give direct examples of White society misinterpreting African-American music. The ignorance of slave owners and eventually jazz critics to the music they heard African-American’s producing as a result of their social circumstances and highly policed forms of self and social expression caused them to misinterpret the sounds they were hearing. Ultimately, this is the result of White’s not having any concept of the culture the music was born of along with the shallow way they were taught to understand the music by early critics. White’s perceptions of early jazz was highly skewed and lacked the necessary understanding of Black culture to truly understand the music in which they were attempting to interact with.
