Blog #3 The debate of race heightened during the Swing Era

Although race and the origin of jazz music has been a heated subject throughout the study of the history of jazz, in the swing era during the 1930s there were several factors that increased tensions between black and white musicians, and led to greater controversy and conversation over race.  While many people mostly attribute the increased tensions to the economic pressures of the Great Depression, there are many more aspects to consider.  First, politics were beginning to align with jazz in a way that had previously not occurred, which naturally increased media coverage of music.  Second, commercialization of jazz also increased coverage, and many journalists began to ask the question: are African American musicians better at jazz than white musicians?  Third, integration of bands in this time polarized the economic opportunities for black musicians. 

            During the swing era, several demographics in America began to align themselves with jazz music in a way that had not occurred previously.  White American youth began to connect to jazz music (Stowe, 54).  Additionally, the communist party in America became associated with swing and other black styles of music (Stowe, 64-65).   Naturally, as swing music became associated with off beat or rebellious groups, media coverage of jazz increased.

            Still more media coverage of jazz occurred as swing became a popular and commercial form of music.  This popularization can largely be attributed to radio broadcasts of swing, creating celebrities in the jazz world (Gioia, 154).  Swing musicians were branching out of the music industry and into television appearances and other celebrity activities (Stowe, 106.)  These two sources of increased media attention created a large demand for journalists and magazines, which in turn led to more and more questions about jazz being asked (Stowe, 74).  As mentioned above, one question that was commonly asked was whether black or white musicians were more talented at playing swing music.  According to white jazz critic John Hammond, black musicians were superior to white musicians (Stowe, 60).  This was the generally accepted notion among jazz critics (Stowe, 78-79), although other critics were outraged that such a question was even asked (Stowe, 78).  The magazine Down Beat even went so far as to say that there were no color lines in music (however, they also discouraged the idea of integrated big swing bands) (Stowe, 75-76).  Regardless of what the critics claimed, as swing became more and more popular, the disparity between the opportunities for black and white musicians only increased (Stowe, 122). 

            It may seem counterintuitive, but even the integration of black musicians into white bands did not necessarily decrease this gap.  It can be argued that within swing, the depression-era segregation lines were permeated more than anywhere else (Stowe, 73).  In the early 1940s, there were several integrated swing bands, for example that led by Benny Goodman (Stowe, 78).  One issue that occurred as a result of integration is that black musicians in black bands left these bands to join higher paying integrated bands which had access to larger and nicer venues, causing increased turnover and high stress for the black bands (Stowe, 129).  Additionally, this integration decreased the demand for the "exoticness" of all black bands, which only made it more difficult for these bands to book gigs.  Black bands often had a much harder time touring because they did not have access to basic facilities, such as bathrooms and hotels (Stowe, 126).  There were some critics who posited the idea that black bands should stick to “blues” and “hot stuff” and leave other styles to white musicians (Stowe, 125).  While clearly integration of black musicians into white bands was an important step in the history of jazz music, it was not necessarily a smooth or easy transition for the black musicians at the time. 

            Clearly, there are many factors that led to an increase in the amount of conversation surrounding race in the history of jazz music during the swing era of the 1930s.  Increased media coverage was partially a result of political attachment to swing music, and partially to the general commercialization of swing.  Integration of black and white musicians was a hot topic of debate, and did not always lend itself to favor the black musicians in the way you might assume.  As claimed by Stowe (123), relationships revolving around the influence of race are always more complex than we assume.

Commented on Colleen McGee