Jazz Gumbo

Gumbo was the portrait of New Orleans; it was the birth place of Jazz in the 1800’s. It was an improvisational art form that people created because it celebrates human life and dealt with it and it became powerful. People from all over the world came to New Orleans because it was known to be the “Musical City” in America. Jazz bands played to entertain the rich folks. Slaves had to improvise to survive. African Americans were the only slaves and became introduced to the entertainment industry. In 1817 slaves were allowed to dance every Sunday in a place called “Congo Square”. New Orleans theatre that had minstrel shows and played plantation songs written by black and white song writers. Minstrel shows were the biggest way to spread music and whites painted their faces black to portray slaves. Dadty Rice was the first white man that write and performed a minstrel however, he originally he heard it from a black man named Jim Crow and named the song after him. New Orleans was forced to surrender slavery in 1862. In 1980 there were two styles of music which Jazz reach in New Orleans which were Ragtime pioneered by Scott Joplin and the Blues call and response. Ragtime and the Blues combined together made Jazz music. The Blues was could be about anything and it use to make the listener feel better not worse. This is how Gumbo can along because everyone came together and performed to tell stories. Wynton Marsalis Burns quoted “Blues was the roux in the musical gumbo that produced jazz and every other form of American popular music. People sang out their feelings. Some were hurt and this was a way they could express their feelings when they felt no one could understand or had no answers. The blues was also played on horns to deepen meaning. Then along Creole and blacks came together changing music. Jazz became an American thing from the influence all