Music During the 1920s-1930s

During the 1930s music became less popular due to the Depression. Jazz also became less popular, “The Wall Street crash of 1929 and the Depression between 1930 and 1934 pushed most jazz underground” (African American Experience). It became less popular because many of its fans had other economic problems to worry about and also couldn’t pay to watch the performances. Jazz music helped change much of the culture 1920s because of its catchy rhythm and beat from mostly classical to “wild” (African American Experience).

During the 1920s and 30s Jazz spread across the U.S. and as it became popular, so did the musicians that played it. Since Jazz originated in the American South, such as New Orleans, Kansas City and Chicago, most of the musicians came from the South too, such as Louis Armstrong and Wynton Marsalis (Maur 8). Then during the Harlem Renaissance, many of the country’s top Jazz musicians came to Harlem to play. Since the Harlem Renaissance, Jazz became very popular in Harlem, “African American culture flourished in New York’s Harlem” (Pietrusza 59). Since many of the Jazz musicians were African American, most of their listeners were African Americans but that changed over time. At first, during the early times of Jazz, it was dominated by males and females were rare (Maur 8). That changed in the 1930s as popular female musicians, like Bessie Smith, came along and changed the way people view female musicians.

During the thirties Jazz music was arranged and written for big bands (Maur 8). A big band is a musical group that played Jazz music during the Swing era, which was in the 1930s and 40s. Paul Whiteman, also known as the “King of Jazz”, was one of the first to incorporate Jazz into his orchestra (Young 199). In the late 1920s through the 30s big bands became more popular as the Swing era went on (Maur 8). Jazz evolved though the 1920s and 30s and the musicians helped make it change.

Music changed dramatically in the early 20th century. The Radio changed the way many people listened to music, thus exciting many Americans. Jazz music became very popular in the late 1920s and changed the type of music many Americans listened to. Jazz musicians changed the way music was played by doing things like playing in big bands. The creation of the radio, jazz music and jazz musicians played an important role in the culture of the 1920s through the 1930s.