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Atlanta & Jazz - A Playlist
Atlanta & Jazz - A Playlist
Despite the encroaching racial tensions and era of Jim Crow after the Civil War, the short-lived support of the Reconstruction effort allowed Atlanta to become a cultural and economic hub, one in which African Americans flourished, and were able to build parallel communities such as Summerhill and Sweet Auburn. (Hein, 1972) Part of this was the popularization and pioneering of Jazz, here in the heart of Atlanta. This playlist features classic artists such as Mary Lou Williams and Thelonious Monk, along with contemporary artists, such as, Julie Dexter and Kenny Banks Jr. Feel free to listen as you explore this page, keeping the music in mind as you read about the evolution of jazz and it's foundations.
Jazz's Anti-Colonial Roots
Jazz's Anti-Colonial Roots
Think of songs such as Strange Fruit, by Billie Holiday, with lyrics such as, "Southern trees bear a strange fruit/Blood on the leaves and blood on the root/Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze" painting a picture of terror and oppression for black people across the south, despite the promises the end of the Civil War seemed to bring. Jazz is a genre built on the foundation of anti-colonialism and liberation, with performers such as Billie Holiday and John Coltrane lending their voices to the voiceless, using the improvisation and chaotic nature of jazz to disrupt the uniformity colonialism seeks to enforce. (Blue Sky Atlanta, 2021)
Throughout the 1900s, and into the 1960s, jazz artists and the foundations of the genre itself remain staunchly anti-colonialist, with it further developing with the Free Jazz movement of the 1960s, and developing into genre that characterizes the African American struggle for identity and liberation in the United States, despite fundamental issues with the country's origin. (McClure, 2006)
Post WW2 & Genre Blending
Post WW2 & Genre Blending
Post-War eras always yield innovations in the arts, with emotions and ideology running high with the dissipation of national tension, and the oppressed left to pick up the pieces. With this in mind, jazz underwent an evolution, with the Civil Rights Movement adopting jazz as it's soundtrack, and the rise of Rhythm & Blues leading to a blending of genres, symbolic of a shift towards de-colonialism; a movement to unravel and undo the effects colonialism had on the African American population, beginning with a march for acknowledgement of their humanity, The Civil Rights Movement. (Vincent & Lindsey, 2017)
Atlanta acted as a symbol of hope, neighborhoods such as Auburn and Summerhill, figures such as John Wesley Dobbs and Coretta Scott King, showing the wider community that progress is possible, it's simply a matter of persistence. (Hein, 1972)
Musically speaking, jazz dominated Atlanta throughout the 1900s, however as Atlanta grew as a cultural hub and earned the nickname of the Black Mecca, jazz as a genre also grew, embracing peripheral genres such as Hip Hop, Soul, and Funk. Members of the AUC adopted Jazz Studies into their curriculum and added further legitimacy to the hold jazz had on the character of Atlanta. Moving into the 2000s, jazz had created and supported a storied history of liberation, and left it to the contemporaries to continue. (Blue Sky Atlanta, 2021)
Contemporaries such as Julie Dexter, Kenny Banks Jr. and Marcus Strickland not only carry on the legacy set forth by classic artists, but they iterate on it. Through incorporating other genres and methods of performance, they actively add to the character of Atlanta through multiculturalism, in the form of music. Despite the changes jazz as a genre went through, its fundamental roots lie in anti-colonial sentiment, and this is exemplified in the fusion of genre conventions in tracks today.
Contemporaries & The Legacy of Jazz on Atlanta
Contemporaries & The Legacy of Jazz on Atlanta
“A lot of times, we get so caught up trying to create something new out of the blue. I think nothing really manifests itself that way,” - Marcus Strickland
More Contemporary artists
More Contemporary artists
Kenny Banks Jr. - A jazz pianist, not dissimilar to Mary Lou Williams or Thelonious Monk; creator of the album East Atlanta Village
Rhonda Thomas - Exemplary of genre blending, using jazz arrangements with an RnB twist, leading to a fresh take on a city defining genre.
Toni Redd - Similar to Rhonda Thomas, Toni Redd opts to experiment more with funk and jazz, furthering the multiculturalist, multigenre, interpretation of jazz.
Derrick Hodge - Member of Blue Note Records, one of the larger jazz record labels, Derrick Hodge uses modern production to experiment with jazz melodies and rapid drum arrangements, possibly taking cues from 'drum n bass' and other percussion based genres.
Directory & What We can do
Directory & What We can do
As the cultural landscape continues to evolve and shift, one might wonder what can we do to keep jazz, and it's nature, at the forefront of the development of Atlanta, especially in such tumultuous times. This directory serves to connected you with Jazz Clubs and festivals across the city, as methods to integrate yourself with the community and appreciate the art form.
Sources
Sources
Rhythms of resilience: The soulful journey of jazz and blues in Atlanta. Blue Sky Atlanta Music and Entertainment. (n.d.). https://www.blueskyatlanta.com/blogs/rhythms-resilience-soulful-journey-jazz-and-blues-atlanta
Hein, V. H. (1972). The Image of “A City Too Busy to Hate”: Atlanta in the 1960’s. Phylon (1960-), 33(3), 205–221. https://doi.org/10.2307/273521
McClure, D. R. (n.d.). “New Black Music” or “anti-jazz”: Free jazz and America’s cultural de-colonization in the 1960s - ProQuest.
Vincent, J. and Lindsey, L. (2017) Jazz is African Diasporic Music: Reconfiguring the Uniquely American Definition of Jazz, Journal of Pan-African Studies . Available at: https://www.jpanafrican.org/docs/vol10no5/10.5-10-Lindsey.pdf.
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