How Did Jazz Influence American Culture

Blues, work songs, ragtime, spirituals, and minstrel songs were, in their own ways, all part of the great "Africanization of American music" that was originated by enslaved Africans in the southern United States. But the greatest of the musical forms developed in this process was jazz--one of the major American contributions to world culture. Each of these forms of music made essential contributions to the development of jazz itself but each, more or less, retained its own integrity and none could be said to have been transformed into jazz. What differentiated Jazz from these earlier styles was the widespread use of improvisation, often by more than one player at a time. Jazz represented a break from Western musical traditions, where the composer …show more content…
Later that same year, Tom Turpin became the first black composer to publish a ragtime composition with his work "Harlem Rag." Both are well crafted and suggest that the ragtime style had been in incubation for some time prior to their appearance.
By the turn of the century, the ragtime craze was in full swing, so much so that highbrow critics felt compelled to attack it. "Ragtime's days are numbered," declared Metronome magazine. "We are sorry to think that anyone should imagine that ragtime was of the least musical importance. It was a popular wave in the wrong direction." That same year, the American Federation of Musicians ordered its members to desist from playing ragtime, declaring that "the musicians know what is good, and if the people don't, we will have to teach them." …show more content…
Just as the rural blues blossomed in the atmosphere of the Mississippi Delta, and as early jazz would later flourish in the environs of New Orleans, so early ragtime reached its zenith in turn-of-the-century Missouri. The cities of Sedalia, Carthage, and St. Louis, among others, boasted a glittering array of rag composers, as well as an ambitious group of music publishers who recognized the extraordinary body of talent at hand. In Sedalia, a booming railroad town that almost became the state capital, Scott Joplin gathered a cadre of promising rag composers around him, including his students Scott Hayden and Arthur Marshall. Sedalia music publisher John Stark, a major advocate for ragtime in general and Joplin in particular, proved to be an important catalyst in bringing the work of these local composers to the attention of the broader public. Stark, Joplin, and Hayden eventually moved to St. Louis, another major center of rag activity during these glory years. The local composers here included Louis Chauvin, an exceptionally talented native of the city who left behind all too few compositions, as well as Tom Turpin and Artie Matthews. In Carthage, Missouri, James Scott created a number of outstanding ragtime pieces, many of which were published by the local Dumars music store where Scott worked. With the exception of Joseph Lamb, a white composer from