How Black is the Cool Black?

Jazz, like many new art forms, became a symbol of rebellion and the new social ere. It may have taken till the 1930’s for the US to fully embrace Jazz, but once it did Jazz artists became celebrities. What do American’s love more than creating drama involving their celebrities? Race was a hot button topic then, it had been ever present in American culture and had been a common theme in the development in Jazz. Jazz was strongly identified as “Black” music, even when white bands played the music. Despite being labeled as “black” music Jazz created fluidity between racial boundaries creating a sliding scale of blackness. Black artists who played Jazz more similarly to how white bands played it and displayed themselves as less colorful of characters where ridiculed for not being black enough. Black artists who sang songs about black history, and who played in the more “black” style, where ridiculed for being too black. The public focus on Jazz was made more prominent by the Depression and Nazi scare.

John Hammond was one of the main forces driving the debate of blackness in Jazz. Hammond dominated the industry of Jazz critics. He promoted artists, demolished them, and even talent scouted bringing new artists to fame. “Hammond’s opinions, expressed with the frankness of a man who has nothing to lose by an reaction his words may arouse, are conned eagerly by jazz ‘critics’ and college boys from coast to coast, thereafter to reappear almost verbatim in their own periodicals when they review records or discuss jazz performers to be heard on the air.” Hammond’s writing brought extra attention to the racial debate bringing it to the minds of all Americans.

The political turmoil of the 1930’s combined with Jazz’s continuing rise in popularity made Jazz perfect for racial debates. What was an underlying fact in American culture became commonly discussed ideas for the first time. Writers wrote about race as they couldn’t before and the ever-growing popularity of Jazz made American’s hungry for the opinions of the writers.  
Commented on Ethan Reul