African American Jazz In The 1920s

Ever since the greats, such as Beethoven and Mozart, classical music has been a staple in society as “real music”, but some like Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews prefer a different beat of the drum, or in this case blow of the horn. Some art historians say that jazz had its start with Buddy Bolden and his first band in 1895. Others think it was the more well-known Nick LaRocca with his Dixieland Jazz band, and their premier record Lively Stable Blues. Either way jazz started near the 20th century and has been an influential stylistic form of music ever since. Jazz really began flaring up in the early or roaring twenties. Some of the biggest names that arose during the twenties were King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, and Duke Ellington. These are …show more content…
Mamie was a big encourager of what became known as “race records,” and the same label where she recorded her first blues arrangements became one of the first label companies to target the urban African American working-class individuals. Shortly after this happened bigger recording companies such as Columbia and Paramount began to seek out talent in the African American community as well. This was really a big step not only in civil rights, but also paved the way for players such as Troy Andrews to make it big on his own style …show more content…
This allowed Batiste to evolve into a “jazz virtuoso,” he even still plays with a band there with his classmates called Stay Human. While this was happening Andrews did “the New Orleans thing” which included touring with the Lenny Kravitz for a couple of years. This really showed Andrews how to play on a grand scale. When asked about his friendship with Batiste and the temporary split Andrews said, “Johnny went to Juilliard, and I went to the school of rock.”(The Talk of Town) Years later when the two are now around their late twenties both are some of the most prominent jazz musicians in the New Orleans scene. “I didn’t know what the word ‘genre’ meant till I was twenty years old,” (The Talk of Town) stated Andrews in a recent interview. This was around the time that Andrews released his first full album, Backatown which features vocals from the legendary guitar and vocalist himself, Lenny Kravitz. This was the first of now three albums that Andrews has released since his start, the others in sequential order include For True, with vocals and additions from Kid Rock among others, and Say That to Say This, which is an album all on his own, with his backup band of course. Contributing to his success, Andrews’ style has a name just as unique as his