The Role of Radio in the Development of Jazz Music Essay

Introduction

Different types of music have different histories of development. For jazz music there are a number of factors which contributed to its development. This paper will evaluate the role that radio played in the development of jazz music. In showing the role played by the radio a special reference will be given to the success achieved by Benny Goodman Orchestra.

Background Information

Overview

To best bring out the role that the radio played in developing jazz music there is a need to examine the circumstances surrounding the golden age for the radio. Early development of jazz was started around the 1920s to late 1930s. It is worth noting that this was a time when North America was struck by the great depression. During this time there were no work and money making it hard for the jazz bands to continue operating as they used to. People could no longer afford to watch live jazz bands. It was at this time that the radio took over to popularize jazz music and ended up exposing it to the public eye more than before.¹

How jazz music started

Jazz music is reported to have started its development in New Orleans in the early 1900s. It is further reported that steam boats were used to further the music as musicians performed on boats to entertain people. In the 1920s jazz music started to move in the direction of forming big bands. The likes of Benny Goodman, John Kirby, and Benny Carter among others were part of these bands. In the 1920s these bands obtained their revenue from hotel and ballroom dance crowds. As the band size grew there was more arrangement within the bands which led to the formation of a style referred to as swing. The band arrangement and structure made bands more popular. In 1926 the Savoy Ballroom which was located in Harlem became a hotbed after opening its doors in 1926. For the bands to continue performing there was a need for revenue to sustain the ballroom and hotel dances. This needed money which unfortunately became hard to get with the dawn of the depression in 1929.²

The Radio Age

The emergence of the great depression

The radio age became popular with the emergence of the depression. The depression is reported to have brought an end to the prosperity of the 1920s. It became extremely hard for people to find work and the jazz band performances would no longer be sustained. At this time the entertainment shifted to the world of radio entertainment. It has been reported that radio became a household appliance in the 1930s with nearly 23 million home owners. The total audience was approximately 91 million. Musicians made revenue as background instrumentalists for commercials and radio shows. Though it has been noted that in the years preceding 1934 music shows were very popular, it has also been noted that the general public was dimly aware of the great jazz orchestras.³

Radio takes over

The radio helped to popularize jazz music within the wider public setting a stage for its development. For instance it is recorded that Let’s Dance was aired regularly on a weekly basis by Benny Goodman. This did a great deal of publicising jazz music and made it very popular with the public. Through radio broadcasts it was possible for jazz music to serve a greater audience than the live performances carried out in ballrooms and hotels. The period between 1935 and 1945 has been described as an age of the big band. It has been noted to be the only time in history that jazz music received full attention from the American public. Benny Goodman’s performance with his band in Palomar in 1935 has often been quoted as the time when the great Swing era began.⁴ It is worth noting that the radio broadcasts made it possible for jazz to spread further to the general public and popularized it.

Inventions which made jazz clearer

It was reported that during 1930s, there were surprising inventions in recording technologies that made it possible for music to be recorded audibly. Improved microphones were manufactured which improved the quality of sound that was broadcasted. For instance the ribbon microphone introduced in 1931 was widely used in recording vocals. Another invention was made making it possible for the introduction of 77A type of microphone which made it possible for clear recording to be carried out.⁵ There were more advances made in the music discs which were used to carry out music recording. By the late 1930s vinly resin discs were invented replacing the shellac discs. The vinly resin was reported to have quieter recordings. Another disc (lacquer-coated aluminium) invented later proved to be very significant. Lacquer coated aluminium had quieter surface and made it possible for playback to be carried out on studios for the purpose of auditioning. Playback made it possible for fine tuning to be carried and other adjustments so as to improve the quality of recorded music. The high quality of music which was broadcasted from the radios popularised jazz music.⁶ As noted above radio listeners constituted a huge portion of the public and by the fact that the inventions which were made on the recording facilities made it possible for the public to be entertained by high quality jazz music. This helped a great deal to popularize jazz music in the public arena.

The Juke box and disc jockeys

The jukebox has been pointed out as an important tool used to popularise jazz music in the public. The jukebox made it possible for the public to access big band swing music. Another invention made which popularised jazz music was the disc jockey. The disc jockey made a significant contribution towards getting jazz music to the public. It was reported that large U.S. radio network was opposed to the idea of using records in broadcasts. As time went by some programs such as that aired by Al Jarvis referred to as “The World’s Largest Make Believe Ballroom”⁷ popularised jazz music a great deal. Al Jarvis aired the program from Los Angeles.⁸ Similar programs cropped up in different states, for instance Martin Block took up the idea and implemented it in New York. The use of disc jockeys was viewed controversially by musicians, jazz writers, musician’s union, and the listeners. Despite the controversy which was associated with the disc jockeys, it grew to become a major source of entertainment through the radio medium.⁹

Jazz music and the youth

It has been noted that the radio made it possible for the jazz music to reach new listeners. The radio made jazz particularly significantly popular among the youth. It was possible for music to reach youth in colleges such as Yale College. It is reported that the Casa Loma Orchestra was popularised among the Yale college kids through the radio. The publicity that the radio gave to jazz music made it possible for successes which were seen in ballrooms. New dances such as the Lindy Hop became popular among the youth and were popular in ballrooms like the Renaissance, the Alhambra, and the Savoy. It is recorded that these ballrooms saw some of the most significant changes made on jazz music. It is claimed that the kids from the new generation were searching for something they could identify with. It is said that jazz music gave the new generation kids an identity especially with the invention of the new different type of jazz music which included swing and the energetic dances that it offered. It is noted that the spreading of the swing phenomena was quite slow but fortunately the radio medium came to its assistance and made its spreading to be quite fast.¹⁰

Let’s dance

A classic example of the effect of radio on the youth was seen through the program aired by Benny Goodman. Let’s Dance was broadcasted by Benny Goodman and went into air first in 1934. The program is said to have made jazz music quite popular. The program also made it possible for Benny Goodman to carry out a tour with his band around America. The popularity of the program made it possible for Benny Goodman and his band to be readily acceptable around America. It made it possible for the band to reach new regions. It was observed that the broadcasts which were made early made it possible for the band to enjoy much popularity among the youth.¹¹

Conclusion

The radio was a powerful means used to make jazz music popular. The golden age of the radio made it possible for jazz music to reach a wider portion of the public. It is worth noting that at first jazz music was done through steam boats. With time it advanced to ballroom and hotels. It should be noted that only a small portion of the public could be reached by the means of ballroom and hotel dances. It is also worth noting that hotel and ballroom dancers had to be maintained by money. When the depression came in, the hotel and ballroom experiences were cut short. The radio instead took over and helped to make jazz music more popular. Through music broadcasts which were aired such as those Benny Goodman it became possible for the general public to know jazz music. The radio made it possible for a large portion of the public to hear jazz music. Inventions which were made on the microphone and recording systems made it possible for jazz music to be heard clearly. In general the radio prepared the public for a general acceptance of jazz music. This was the case for the youth who helped a great deal to popularise the swing type of jazz music. The radio played a very important role in advancing jazz music at a time it could have died off.

References

Parker, J, The History of Jazz Music – the world overview, Swingmusic.net, 2007, Web.

Shepherd, J, Continuum encyclopaedia of popular music of the world: Volume II: Performance and production, Volume 11, Continuum International Publishing Group, New York, 2003.

Yanow, S, Jazz: a regional exploration, Greenwood Publishing Group, New York, 2005.

Footnotes

1. Parker, J, The History of Jazz Music – the world overview, Swingmusic.net, 2007, Web.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Yanow, S, Jazz: a regional exploration, Greenwood Publishing Group, New York, 2005, p. 59.
5. Shepherd, J, Continuum encyclopaedia of popular music of the world: Volume II: Performance and production, Volume 11, Continuum International Publishing Group, New York, 2003, P. 246.
6. Parker, J, The History of Jazz Music – the world overview, Swingmusic.net, 2007, Web.
7. Shepherd, J, Continuum encyclopaedia of popular music of the world: Volume II: Performance and production, Volume 11, Continuum International Publishing Group, New York, 2003, p. 446.
8. Ibid.
9. Parker, J, The History of Jazz Music – the world overview, Swingmusic.net, 2007, Web.
10. Parker, J, The History of Jazz Music – the world overview, Swingmusic.net, 2007, Web.
11. Yanow, S, Jazz: a regional exploration, Greenwood Publishing Group, New York, 2005, p. 59.