The Effects of Jazz Music on Society

Jazz was created by Afro American communities in New Orleans in United States of America and became popular during the Late 19th and Early 20th Century. Despite, limited rights and opportunities African Americans began to learn the instruments that once, back when they were slaves, they weren’t allowed to touch. They learned to play trumpets, saxophones and pianos on their own. According to Dan Hoffman, who was appointed the twenty-second Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1973, African Americans only knew to play African music  with instruments such as the banjo and xylophone,  and they learned to play the western instruments without any classical instructions (113). “Jazz is a direct lineal descendent of Negro Folk music” because African Americans were familiarizing the tunes of  western instruments with their heritage (Hoffman, 1). They began to harmonize  the melodies of western instruments to their views of music by combining the different musical cultures.  As a result, it attracted a large audience of  different race and they merged together on a single platform to enjoy jazz music. Hence, the Jazz Age is one of the building blocks in the bridging of seeming disparities of black culture and white culture.