Author Archives: Connor Bitterman

Blues and Jazz: Popular Music or Folk Music?

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““It ain’t what it was,” the old folks say, but New Orleans jazz is still better and more boisterous than you get served and verve up to you anywhere else.”

As early as the pre-civil war days, New Orleans residents played jazz and the blues. One big contribution to this celebration of music occurred when a group called the Carpetbaggers came to town. “They were hated by the local French whites, but loved by the local jazz players because they kind of “went for” the music. Word spread about the amazing, unique sounds of the Carpetbaggers all along the Mississippi River. As time passed, and music spread further, a business-man from out of New York City came along and signed the Carpetbaggers to a contract, spreading the blues from beyond the South. And the rest is history.1

New Orleans Blues and Jazz Band (Buddy Bolden’s, back row, center left, Band), 19056

The Mississippi River played a massive role in continuing the Black American tradition of jazz and blues music. “The famous U.S. Highway 61, known as the “blues highway” rivals Route 66 as the most famous road in American music lore. Dozens of blues artists have recorded about Highway 61.” A popular theme of these songs include the “pack up and go” mindset: leave troubles behind to seek out new opportunities, which is what many musicians decided to do. The original road traveled through and/or near cities such as Baton Rouge, Cleveland, Memphis, St. Louis, and Chicago to name a few. What do these cities have in common? They all continued to spread the love of blues and jazz music.2 Music in California, Chicago, and New York, were leading contributions to the birthplace of big time band leading, where larger ensembles with more orchestration began to grow.3

As jazz and blues music grew nationwide, the question at hand was if the spread of music was in honor of the tradition, or if the spread of music was in hopes to gain popularity both in the style and its musicians, further classifying this music as “popular music.” Bruce Jackson explains The American Folksong Revival in Jeff Todd Titon’s “Reconstructing the Blues: Reflections on the 1960s Blues Revival (Page 73): “Many writers and festival fans claimed the revival provided an opportunity for millions of modern Americans to better understand their country’s musical roots, as well as an opportunity to honor the musicians who still represented those traditions. Others–often disparagingly referred to as “purists” –were certain the revival and its attendant commercialism would provide the death stroke for whatever fragile rural and ethnic traditions still survived.”4

We, as musicians, can identify that most, if not all, different styles of blues music continued the legacy of its origins in two ways: (1) with the ever-present “blues scale” and (2) with the form, commonly referred to as the “12 bar blues.”

However, “Once Southern migrants introduced the blues to urban Northern cities, the music developed into distinctive regional styles, ranging from the jazz-oriented Kansas City blues to the swing-based West Coast blues. Chicago blues musicians such as Muddy Waters were the first to electrify the blues through the use of electric guitars and to blend urban style with classic Southern blues.”5

Even though these cities were introducing new populations to the origins of jazz and blues music, by the time these tunes were heard by audiences, they were drastically different from when they arrived. Another realization that I had when researching this topic was the fact that many blues composers would create their own melodies with the 12 bar blues form, but then would simply slap a location in the title, followed by blues, and call it good. New York City Blues, West End Blues, West Coast Blues, Statesboro Blues, Chicago Blues, St. Louis Blues, to name a few. Now where these titles meant to convey symbolic meaning by the composer? Or were these titles labeled to further gain popularity by the jazz and blues listeners of these respective locations? This isn’t a question that I can necessarily answer, but it brings up a great point: As we listen or play music such as the blues, are we interacting with the intent of acknowledging the history and origin, or are we interacting because it is catchy or popular? Is blues and jazz music considered folk music or popular music? Both of these questions don’t have right or wrong answers, nor do they have only one explanation. They do, however, require perspective when being placed in these conversations, and perspective requires more focus on the intention when engaging with these music styles.

1 Battelle, Phyllis. “How Jazz Music Migrated North and Captured Broadway’s Fancy: Oldtimer Tells ‘Woes’ of Men Who Pioneered.” Daily Defender (Daily Edition) (1956-1960), May 21, 1957, https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/how-jazz-music-migrated-north-captured-broadways/docview/493656959/se-2 (accessed November 7, 2023).

2 “Highway 61 Blues.” The Mississippi Blues Trail, September 5, 2022. https://msbluestrail.org/blues-trail-markers/highway-61-north#:~:text=Some%20suggested%20that%20the%20road,journeys%20by%20continuing%20from%20St.

3 Roy, Rob. “Old Tymer Discovers Bop and Jazz Rooted at Base of Current ‘Raves’: Dixie Artists Hit N. Y. and Chicago Combining Styles.” The Chicago Defender (National Edition) (1921-1967), Jun 11, 1955, https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/old-tymer-discovers-bop-jazz-rooted-at-base/docview/492899440/se-2 (accessed November 7, 2023).

4 Rosenberg, Neil V. “The Folksong Revival: Bruce Jackson.” Essay. In Transforming Tradition: Folk Music Revivals Examined. Urbana u.a.: Univ. of Illinois Press, 1993.

5 [Author removed at request of original publisher]. “6.2 the Evolution of Popular Music.” Understanding Media and Culture, March 22, 2016. https://open.lib.umn.edu/mediaandculture/chapter/6-2-the-evolution-of-popular-music/.

6 “A New Orleans Jazz History, 1895-1927.” National Parks Service. Accessed November 7, 2023. https://www.nps.gov/jazz/learn/historyculture/jazz_history.htm.

Duke Ellington “Got It Bad”

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Samuel A. Floyd Jr. ‘s “Black Music in the Harlem Renaissance” quotes that “The white show world of downtown New York, where a few black musicians performed and where black shows were also presented, was active, but after hours everyone, white and black, went to Harlem to hear black music.”1

Duke Ellington began his claim to fame starting in 1923, when he moved from Washington D.C. to New York to build his musical career. Within just one year, Ellington became the leader of his own band, which regularly performed at the Cotton Club. By 1930, Ellington and his band were playing all over the country and the world, winning countless awards, including 13 grammy’s and the Pulitzer Prize Special Citation in 1999.2

George Redd’s observations imply that it was the more educated jazz musicians who helped to bring the two camps (white and black musicians) together. He points out that Duke Ellington, Fletcher Henderson, and others presented an image that was acceptable to the intellectuals. Ellington’s dignified bearing, his aristocratic flair, and his self-assurance in any company exemplified the New Negro, in and outside the jazz world.”1

And that is exactly what Ellington did. By the mid 1920s, Duke Ellington already established himself and his jazz orchestra as highly successful contributors to black music. But how could black composers further expand their brand while continuing to experience the inequalities of living compared to white people? One way that Ellington did so was by composing for a predominantly white profession: symphony orchestras, operas, and theatrical productions.
“Ellington and his peers used jazz not only to satirize white culture but also increasingly to parody the music itself thus shifting its direction from swing to bop.
Ellington reflected through his music the social and cultural changes that occurred as more African Americans were able to gain greater personal autonomy free from interference by white society.3

Ellington’s three-movement suite titled Black, Brown and Beige“ presents historical narratives of the nation. Black, Brown and Beige, a “tone parallel” to black history as Ellington describes, “uses sounds and themes associated with jungle style but recontextualizes their musical and racial meanings in ways that transform the style’s primitivist codes. The work’s three movements represent the monumental moments and movements in African American historical memory: slavery, emancipation, and urbanization in the northern metropole.4

During the same time period, a man by the name of Harry T. Burleigh was also a leading contributor to bridging the gap between black society and musicians to the white society and classically-trained musicians by composing and intertwining spirituals into the classical music tradition. Burleigh’s new ideas, however, got loads of backlash, as segregation still played a major role in American society at the time.

Van Vechten often made critical comments on Burleigh’s arrangements: “White singers have been attracted to Mr. Burleigh’s arrangements, because they include many of the ‘tricks’ which make any song successful, while the accompaniments are often highly sophisticated.”

Van Vechten claimed, when discussing the arrangements of Harry Burleigh, that Harlem Renaissance musicians should base their work on the twentieth-century music of the South. If they really wanted to preserve the spirituals, they should go to the South and do their own fieldwork. Philosopher, arts patron, and friend of Van Vechten also made strong jabs at people like Ellington and Burleigh, claiming that “the proper idiom of Negro folk song calls for choral treatment” and that Black musicians who were “in vital touch with the folk traditions of Negro music” were “in commercial slavery to Tin Pan Alley and subject to the corruption and tyranny of the ready cash of our dance halls and the vaudeville stage.” On the other hand, musicians (like Burleigh and Ellington), who had formal training, were in his opinion “divorced from the people and their vital inspiration by the cloister-walls of the conservatory and the taboos of musical respectability.”5

Regardless of the critics of the 1930-1940s, what Burleigh and Ellington did was create strides for racial equality through music. Ellington and his Orchestra will go down as one of the most influential musical groups in American history, not entirely for their catchy compositions, but for the impact they had on giving minorities a voice to make careers in whatever field they want, even with the backlash they often received from a predominantly white nation.

“What we could not say openly, we expressed in music, and what we know as ‘jazz’ is something more than just dance music.” – Duke Ellington3

Music of the Menominee Indian Tribe

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The Menominee Indian Tribe is the only present-day tribe in Wisconsin whose origin story indicates they have always lived in Wisconsin.1 The Menominee tribe originated in the eastern side of Wisconsin in 1634. The tribe also originally occupied property in Illinois and Upper Peninsula Michigan. “The word “Menominee” is derived from their name for themselves, Mamaceqtaw, meaning “the people.”2

One aspect, when researching the Menominee Indian Tribe, that I admired was the fact that the Menominee were tough people. The ongoing trend of relocating Indian tribes and the minimization of native lands in the United States fully because of the westward expansion of the United States Government affected every native tribe. However, some tribes, including the Menominee, did everything in their power to push back on these treaties. “As European American settlements surrounded them, the Menominee sold much of their lands through treaties with the United States government.”2

Image of a Treaty with the Menomonie at Cedar Point on Fox River near Green Bay in the Territory of Wisconsin, September 3, 1836. The Treaty further cut the land of the Menominee Indian Reservation.4

When the government yet again pressured the Indians to migrate farther west, the Menominee people refused. The US government terminated the recognition of the tribe as retaliation in 1961, but Menominee weren’t done there: they took matters to court, and in 1977 won a landmark decision that restored their lands and tribal status.23

Another aspect that is quite fascinating about the Menominee tribe of Wisconsin is the unique sound they make in their music. One instrument in particular that stands out is the water drum.The water drum is tall, with a removable top in order for the water to be filled one quarter full before playing. Drums in all tribes signify as a spiritual guardian that protects the tribe during ceremonial services. The water drum serves as a similar purpose, but creates a completely different sound, and “is often used in healing and festive ceremonies.”2

“Water Drum Music”5

“Menominee Vietnam Veterans Song, composed in 1973 by Myron Pyawasit6

The relentless spirit of the Menominee tribe can also be recognized in their music. “Menominee Vietnam Veterans Song” was composed in 1973, by Myron Pyawasit and his drum group, the Smokeytown Singers. The song, as the title suggests, pays homage to the veterans of the Vietnam War. I find this contribution very interesting, as the Menominee people were fighting to protect their land from the military and the United States government not that long ago, but then Pyawasit decides to write a song with the lyrics “brave warriors from Vietnam are dancing, we are proud of you, thank you.” I believe that this song is specifically highlighting the Native American veterans of the Vietnam War more exclusively than the entirety of Vietnam War veterans. Regardless, the music is not only touching, but also still holds the characteristics of the Menominee tribe.

1“Menominee History.” Milwaukee Public Museum. Accessed October 23, 2023. https://www.mpm.edu/content/wirp/ICW-153.

2 Menominee Song. Web.. https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200215397/.

3 Ayer, Edward Everett (1841-1927). “U.S. Board of Indian Commissioners Files [Manuscript]: 1912-1922 [ Box 6, Folders 40 to 42].” American Indian Histories and Cultures – Adam Matthew Digital. Accessed October 23, 2023. https://www.aihc.amdigital.co.uk/Documents/Images/Ayer_MS_911_BX06_2/175?searchId=3193cae1-b557-46c2-900d-ab19cd7c6bee.

4 “Page 39 US, Ratified Indian Treaties, 1722-1869.” Fold3. Accessed October 23, 2023. https://www.fold3.com/image/6593870/6593907.

5 Daniel Vandever, “The Water Drum,” May 1st, 2012, :38-:48

Black AND White Spirituals

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We all know what a spiritual is, or at least have heard a spiritual being sung. That is because spirituals are identified in many different contexts; religious songs, folk songs, traditional songs, to name a few. When reading George Cullen Jackson’s article titled “White and Negro Spirituals (1943),”1 I was amazed to discover that “the white people once sang spirituals, and still sing them-some of the very same songs as those sung by the black folk (page 1)” at nearly the same time as each other. 

“Traced the white man’s tunes back to a still more remote emergence, in the British Isles where possible and in a secular song environment. For I have felt sure that singers in the Old World would be fairly free, in those early times, from the suspicion of having been influenced by the singing of American slaves (page 265).”2

These “Old World” tunes, as he calls them, were transferred from the British Isles to America. However, many of these tunes also transformed into new spirituals with different meanings as before.

“Swing low, sweet chariot” Spiritual. This composition was arranged by H.T. Burleigh3

Take “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”3 for example. Jackson’s studies discover that the ‘Bailiff’s Daughter” pattern linked from the British Isle can be heard in this Black American spiritual. Now this doesn’t mean that anyone is at fault for “copying” the work’s of other races with context to this scenario. I state this because even though these two tunes have similar structures and characteristics, they also have completely different sounds and meanings.

After listening to the recording of “Swing Low Sweet Chariot,”4 the first thing I realized is how different this sounds compared to a European religious spiritual. Where a catholic spiritual would likely be arranged in SATB singing structured chords resulting in a timed cadence, this recording not only consists of a male vocal group, but also elongates each chord as long as they felt was needed. The harmonies blend well into each other, and create a sort of African smoothness from their style. There seems to be no western classical notation instructed, because this spiritual wasn’t meant to be strict in the harmony or structure of religion in European context – regardless of the many different interpretations of the origins of this composition, all fall into the central theme of slaves being hopeful for days of freedom, whether that be freedom from slavery, or freedom into heaven.5

Over the centuries that this American tune has been circulating, many arrangements have been presented, like this video of The Tabernacle Choir singing the same spiritual.6 Over the centuries that this American tune has been circulating, many arrangements have been presented, like this video of The Tabernacle Choir. Notice how it is sung in a completely different style. This alteration gives light to different experiences of the vocalists, those who simply did not sing this spiritual out of hope for better days. This does not discredit any performance of this piece, but rather circles back to the original point being made that different races and backgrounds have and continue to sing the spirituals of other races and backgrounds to this day. Think of this as sampling: artists take old songs and material to shed new light on it, and create a whole new perspective. We can apply the same ideas to that of spirituals, instead of playing a constant “this versus that” when it comes to the music we listen to and perform.

Black Music Revolt: Growth and Preservation

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The development of the first two centuries of The United States proposed lots of new ideas, new morals, new plans, and of course new art. However, not all of this material, especially art, was considered “new,” but rather stolen, and a big target of this thievery was towards slaves. Slaves often expressed religious yearning, which slowly transformed into gospel, soul, blues, and then even jazz music and beyond. The preservation of this music is astonishing, as we continue to praise these styles of music today, but this preservation must not have been easy, especially with a world of inequality at the time. 

“According to the Senior Pastor of Canaan Baptist Church in Harlem, Blacks who lost faith in God following the Civil War began to sing the blues instead of spirituals. The same beat that the Black folks dance to on Saturday night is the same beat they shout to on Sunday morning.”1

This gathering and celebrating of black spirituals became a time where Black Americans could feel appreciated and grew into bigger gatherings quickly. “They gathered periodically for huge festivals where they danced in the African way to the music of homemade instruments and African songs.” However, white, often slave owners, picked up on the musical talents of black folk and realized that they could profit even further off of their slaves. “In many places black men were given music instruction so that they could serve their masters professionally: by playing classical music in the home for the personal entertainment of the slave-masters’ households.”2

“The Dance in Congo Place, New Orleans, accompanied by musical instruments and songs in various African tongues. Drawing by E.W. Kemble in 1885-1886”2

 

They would be taught popular classical instruments like violins, basses, flutes, and trumpets, to name a few. Sure, many Black Americans might have enjoyed the music of Western European tradition they were forced to perform (that is something I cannot assume, but rather can ponder), but it was not music they could call their own. The preservation of African music in America began with the reluctance of giving up African culture.

Clovis Sanders’ newspaper article from June 7th, 1969 states the following: “Let’s go over some records, such as: “We Got More Soul,””Don’t Let The Jones’ Get You Down,””Why I Sing The Blues,””Nobody To Give Me Nothin,” and “Choice of Colors.” The Impressions are truly trying to get a point across, and this point simply is to be proud. They do this by asking “if you had a choice of colors, which one would you choose my brother?”3

The pridefulness many African Americans had during the late 1800s and early 1900s was evident in their art. Their spirituals were heard in different lights, from different instruments to new harmonic ideas, to even new developments of African origin within various American cities. 

“If we speak of music, the features such as basic rhythmic, harmonic, and melodic devices were transplanted almost intact rather than isolated songs, dances, or instruments,”4 says Amiri Baraka, an American writer, in Blues People. African Americans adapted from their tradition and cultural values to the values of Western European culture, to blending the two to tie back into African culture through the implementation of new instruments (trumpets, basses, violins) that were often accessible to them because of slavery.

Samuel Floyd suggested that “black music was expressive of cultural memory, and black-music making was the translation of the memory into sound and the sound into memory. Cultural memory, as a reference to vaguely “known” musical and cultural processes and procedures, is a valid and meaningful way of accounting for the subjective, spiritual, quality of the music and aesthetic behaviors of a culture.”5 Generations after generations will continue to expand off of their differences in memory from one to another. However, visualizing the roots of African music into the United States helps us unload the deeper meaning the progression of styles of African music has on American culture.

1 “Tony Brown’s Journal. Music Tree.” Chicago Metro News (Chicago, Illinois) XX, no. 51, October 26, 1985: 14. Readex: African American Newspapers. https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/readex/doc?p=EANAAA&docref=image/v2%3A12912DF42BF1884F%40EANAAA-12B9C92AC10C95D0%402446365-12B9C92BA06814E0%4013-12B9C92F46B3C648%40Tony%2BBrown%2527s%2BJournal.%2BMusic%2BTree.

2 “Black Music in the United States.” Chicago Metro News (Chicago, Illinois) 11, no. 5, December 18, 1976: Supplement [5]. Readex: African American Newspapers. https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/readex/doc?p=EANAAA&docref=image/v2%3A12912DF42BF1884F%40EANAAA-12B88AC46A817070%402443131-12B88AC4B18F7448%4010-12B88AC6512AFD30%40Black%2BMusic%2Bin%2Bthe%2BUnited%2BStates.

3 “Black Music Revolt by Clovious Sanders.” Milwaukee Star (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) VIII, no. 88, June 7, 1969: Page 15. Readex: African American Newspapers. https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/readex/doc?p=EANAAA&docref=image/v2%3A12A7AE31A7B3CA6B%40EANAAA-12BE2051F16416B8%402440380-12BE20522ECC9358%4014-12BE205321328900%40Black%2BMusic%2BRevolt%2Bby%2BClovious%2BSanders.

4 Baraka, Amiri. “‘Introduction’ and ‘African Slaves/American Slaves: Their Music.’” Essay. In Blues People. Stockholm: Rabén & Sjögren, 1974. https://drive.google.com/file/d/19gMgfO42AlJ9CR_S66WrDiDDd1qDv2Ww/view

5 Floyd, Samuel A. “Pages 3-13.” Essay. In The Power of Black Music Interpreting Its History from Africa to the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PxqS4c6Yeud_Au04ZVbcst1g_o0yxSag/view

Whiteness portrayed in JP Sousa’s Sousa Band

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John Philip Sousa,1 commonly referred to as the “American March King” was a pivotal figure in not only conducting “American Music” starting from the end of the 19th century, but also spreading the term “American Music” outwards to countries outside of North America. Branching out the new style of music certainly gained popularity as other countries began to include styles such as ragtime, blues, and jazz into their musical framework. Little did these countries know that the composed and performed music of John Philip Sousa and the Sousa Band weren’t authentically composed from his ideas, but rather that of stereotypes and thievery of cultures appreciating this music long before “Americans.”

The stigma of whiteness in music is carried by the “broadly conceived European conceptualisation of music as a non-verbal symbolic system which becomes an object of verbal discourse, interpretations, and assessment in all human cultures. Talking about music allows people to organize sensed meanings, and further objectivise them,”2 says Professor of Musicology at University of Warsaw, Sławomira Żerańska-Kominek.

When new treatments of American Music were discovered during the late 1800s into the 1900s, white composers and musicians tried desperately to get their hands on it and make it their claim. JP Sousa was one of the many to do so, and was successful while doing it. Sure, many of his marches were authentically composed out of the musicality in his head, but many other compositions and performances were created out of stereotypes of traditions of non-white Americans. 

First, take a listen to Sousa’s Band perform “Indian war dance,” written by Herman Bellstedt (1902)3. The 2:31 recording features an array of band members making sounds with their mouths, in an attempt to represent native indian songs. Not only are the sounds utterly racist to native indian songs, but the concept of the song itself proposes red flags to the “whiteness” of native indian music. Notating when band members should scream, while a band plays assorted notes based on traditions the Europeans passed down to American music theory creates an “us” vs. “them” feel. When diving into the composition itself, the song is all white interpretation based on non-lived experiences of the “others,” being native indians.

Another example of “whiteness” immersed into non-white originating music can be heard in Oscar Gardner’s “Chinese blues” (1915)4 performed by Sousa’s Band once again. The 3:55 song highlights a stereotypical idea that Chinese music is different because it is light and dainty. The entirety of the song features trills and bouncy melodies. News flash: not all Chinese music is light and dainty, but the misconception of white, American composers writing Chinese music completely misses this point. And to make matters even worse, the composer decides to throw on the term “blues” at the end of the song title. American writer Amiri Baraka describes The blues as being what was “conceived by freedmen and ex-slaves – if not as the result of a personal or intellectual experience, at least as an emotional confirmation of, and reaction to, the way in which most Negroes were still forced to exist in the United States.”5

What is the problem with the blues, in Chinese blues, you may ask? There is no element of blues in the song! Instead of implementing notes of dissonance to signify the pain and struggle the blues originally conveyed, the song sounds of joy, happiness, and music that would get crowds of people on their feet. Sounds a lot more like ragtime to me.

Although song titles are no longer extremely racist or stereotypical, this doesn’t take away from the past of American music, and how horrible acts could be seen as ways of entertainment to white populations. This is why it is important to reflect on our pasts. The past can never fully be forgotten, and Sousa’s take on “whiteness” in non-white originated music is one prime example of this statement.

 

Out with the old, in with the old: Jazz with respect to Classical Music

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Illustration 26 (Feb. 26, 1920): The Composer Gets Inspiration For Some Jazz Music0

 

What is jazz? In order to discover what it is, we must discover where it came from. Jazz originated on the West coast of Africa, and was transported to America by slave labor in the late 1800s. In the few holidays that slaves were given when working on plantations, Africans from the west coast would sing spirituals, and songs of celebration. The term “Jaz” was a cry for means of celebration, and would cue high speed music the accentuate the excitement of their holidays off of tedious work.1 

Jazz isn’t a specific form of music, but rather a treatment applied to different aspects of music. Jazz was a detail of music so different from the rest, to the point where communities wished it was banned from being listened to. From the usages of new syncopations to the idea of improvisation, Jazz created such a different outlook on what music would sound like, but this certainly isn’t the first time the world has heard of such drastic changes.

Take Beethoven, Wagner, Debussy, and Stravinsky, to name a few, for example. What did all of these composers have in common? They all changed musical conventions to what they felt music should feel and sound like, further “distorting what before them had been accepted as conventionally correct.”2 Just like in the origins of jazz, many were disgusted in the new ideas of such prolific composers. However, if we zoom out of their roles with respect to their creative ideas, we can see the impacts they each had on the effects of music today.

These composers created new emotions that the music brings forth to its audience and to its musicians. This is comparable to that of the experiences between indigenous people and European settlers in “Music In The USA” edited by Judith Tick.3

The European settlers were exposed to new sources of tradition and music. Meanwhile, this same music of the indigenous people had been celebrated for centuries prior to the Europeans settling. Experiencing these new characteristics of music make it difficult for indigenous and jazz genres of music to be boxed into a set category of music – improvisation and restriction of theory skills are not extremely important in these two treatments of music compared to its European Classical counterpoints of music.4 If they are two completely different types of music that come from different backgrounds, then why do we continue to push them together as a whole?

Jazz created a new outlook on music, and thus created a new outlook on life, one that served great prominence in American culture, and continues to do so today.