The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-10-21
Class Content of Jazz Music

BECAUSE believe that the conclu-
- sions on jazz music published in
Michael Colds column recently have
not been as clear-cut as possible I
have been permitted to contribute a
brief outline on the subject. Jazz is
not widely understood, especially in
sofar as concerns the class relations
on which it is based.
In his column Comrade Gold stat
ed that tunes like st. Louis Blues
were of the quality" and con-
tinued, But that's not jazz; that's
the African nation; and if there we're
way to separate African art from
American commercialism I'd be glad
to say anywhere that I liked Afri-
can music, because I greatly do"
There is such way-it is the way
Of MARKHAM analysis. 1t is important,
first of all, to emphasize Dale Cur
rams remark published in the Daily
Worker) that "jaZz grew out of the
Negro reaction to white chauvinism. I"
This reflects an historically correct
analysis: jazz is American and COM
positions such as st. Louis Blues are
American and not of "the African
nation" Comrade Gold has only to
perceive that African and American
folk music represent different bases
of production to see that an African
label cannot be slapped onto an
American product. A MARKHAM analy-
sis begins with an examination of
class relations.
jazz has its roots in the oppressive
measures of southern plantation
owners against the Negro masses. 1t
is specifically folk music in deriva-
ton. The Negro brought his own folk
music from Africa. 1t was this folk
music, modified by English folk
songs, hymns, and early American
tunes, that gave birth to the Negro
Spirituals,-not the emaciated YER
sions recorded by harmony quartets
but the spirituals as sung in the
South, with their African heritage OF
polyphonous harmonies and complex
rhythmS. With the passing of the
14th amendment the status of the
/ ANC5AO Ia GliC oOuOlt CltdllSCot 1IholCdO
of a slave in the eyes of the world
he became an enslaved serf and pro-
letarian. (cf. Resolution on the Negro
Question in the United States) What
was the music Of the serf Share
cropper) and worker2 Again, the
spirituals. Next the work songs, the
first songs in America to have a pro-
letar.an content, expressing clearly
and with profound sincerity the state
of oppression of the American Negro
From the beginning the music OF
the American Negro influenced pop
ular music. Turkey In the Straw
derives from a piece called "OP Jim
Crow" Both in melody and rhythm
its source is the folk music of the
American Negro. 1t was only in this
century, however, simultaneously
with the exploitation of spirituals and
work songs, that the term jazz came
into being. Thus it was as recently as
$1,000 that Negro folk music was
welded with popular music and-the
blues were bornl
THE blues brought with them from
American Negro music not only
the musically famous blue" notes
but also the distinctive word-quality
OF folk music, as a comparison OF
spirituals and blues will show. Han
dy's Beale st. Blues exhibits very
nicely the transition from spirituals
and work songs to blues and Jazz
(Few of those who dance to this tune
realize that 1t is an anti-prohibition
| song)
Hardly were the blues introduced
by men Of diverse racial origins
Handy, Clarence and Spencer Will
liamS, Russell Robinson, Rapollo, Cal
lahan, La Rocca, Biederbecke, etc.