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"Jazz Is My Story:" A Historical Analysis of Jazz and

20th Century African-American Literature
By Anjali J. Misra
2017, VOL. 9 NO. 11 | PG. 1/1 CITE REFERENCES PRINT 21

The period of time from the Bebop era to the present—mid- IN THIS ARTICLE

1940s onwards—has been an era of great cultural evolution Black Literary Roots Originate During the
Harlem Renaissance.
in the United States, and in few groups more so than the
Jazz Poetry and Jazz Novels Gain
African American community. A factor particularly significant Prominence After World War II
in this journey, and one with which jazz music has been New Works and Youth Engagement Peak
closely tied over the past century, is African American During the Black Arts Movement
You can skip to video in 5
literature. This genre, more colloquially called black literature, Modern Jazz Writing Continues to Draw
Influence
has only been a formal notion since the Harlem Renaissance
References
(from roughly 1919 to 1939), during which prominent black
leaders sought to elevate black culture and status by KEYWORDS
producing art, leading political movements, and advancing the Jazz Jazz Literature Music Poetry

fight for civil rights. Though jazz music had already taken root African-American Literature

in American culture as an influential music style, it was Harlem Renaissance

Anjali J. Misra graduated in 2018 with a Bachelors
minimally referenced in black literature during this era.
degree in Brain and Cognitive Sciences from
Massachusetts Institute of Technology in
Cambridge, MA.
By the time jazz music had transitioned from being music for dancing to “art music” for listening after
World War II, the influence of jazz in written works had greatly increased. Jazz poems like “Jazz is My
Religion” by Ted Joans tended to be direct and specific in their references to jazz, citing specific artists
as well as justification for the style’s personal and cultural significance. Other literary expressions of
jazz, for instance jazz novels such as Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison and improvisational Beat poetry,
were more subtle in their relation to jazz, but the allusions and direct influence drawn from the music
 manifested themselves in a variety of ways, each uniquely illustrating the extent to which jazz music
FROM THE INQUIRIES JOURNAL BLOG
was a cultural driving factor in the post-bebop era.

The Black Arts Movement (also known as the Black Aesthetic Movement) in the 1960s was one of the
strongest catalysts spurring creation of literary works tied to jazz. Though the Harlem-born movement
was focused on art, the associated black poets, musicians, and writers were motivated by political ties
to the Black Power movement. Simultaneously, individuals unaffiliated with the Black Arts Movement
also contributed to the growing collection of jazz-related literary works, for instance Michael S. Harper,
whose poetry features dozens of influential jazz musicians.

As jazz has evolved over time, the demographic profile of its audience has shifted accordingly. In
modern-day America, jazz music lacks the widespread popularity and strong appeal to younger
generations it once held. However, this has not stopped the ongoing efforts of novelists and poets such
as Yusef Komunyakaa to create compelling new literary works referencing historic figures,
performances, and characteristics of jazz.

The following discussion will more closely examine the relationship between jazz music and African
American literature during the four time periods introduced above: the Harlem Renaissance (1919-
1939), post-World War II (mid-1940s to 1950s), the 1960s to 1970s, and the 1980s to present. Jazz
music has never existed in isolation: it has always impacted and been impacted by the cultural climate
and other art forms. It is difficult to enumerate every particular connection jazz has to other aspects of
society, but summarized succinctly, “In all of its modes, jazz narrates a people’s emotional reaction to
oppression, expresses the artistic abilities of African-Americans, and provides a voice for those whose
voices have been beaten into submission” (Theriault, 1).These are broad themes, all of which extend
well beyond jazz music in their influence. If one is to attempt to understand jazz music at any level, the
cultural context is critical background that cannot be ignored. Literature is a particularly powerful
avenue through which to analyze these themes in jazz music, as the work of writers and poets is often
motivated by similar societal factors as musicians. The overarching idea of art as a means of
expression and communication is one that has transcended both time and art medium, and certainly
extends into jazz music and African American literature as well.

Black Literary Roots Originate During the Harlem Renaissance.

The Harlem Renaissance was a key period for the development of a new African American identity in
the United States, and was as much about art as it was about political movements and civil rights. Jazz
music was a significant part of mainstream American culture during the “Roaring 20s” (also called the
“Jazz Age”), emblematic of the fast speed of life and post-war energy following the end of World War I
in 1918 (M. Harvey, “Midwestern Jazz—Bix Beiderbecke & The European Fascination” lecture, October
 6, 2016). For this reason, it is somewhat surprising that jazz music was minimally referenced in black
RELATED READING
literature during this time. Michael Borshuk, author of Swinging the Vernacular: Jazz and African
African-American Studies » Jazz American Modernist Literature, attributes the unpopularity of jazz music during the Renaissance,
Jazz Writing: Identity especially in the period’s literature, to two distinct attitudes amongst white and black critics:
and Multiculturalism in
Jazz Literature White critics writing during the period of the music’s birth in the 1910s and twenties proclaimed it, at
times, an abomination, a violation of refined sensibilities… Black critics avoided the scathing rhetoric of
the white commentary and abused jazz in a different way—through an undervaluing of its aesthetic
African-American Studies » Jazz importance. Jazz was suspiciously excluded from the unofficial race advancement project promoted by the
Duke Ellington's Jazz black intelligentsia in the 1920s…
Narrative of the African-
American: Black, Brown, This exclusion of jazz from the Renaissance, Borshuk further explains, can be attributed to a variety of
and Beige factors including increased class consciousness among African Americans in the 1920s and desire to
distance the revitalized culture from long-standing stereotypes. Perhaps to even a greater extent, the
Literature » African-american Literature underrepresentation of jazz in Renaissance works may be consequence of a heightened cultural focus
Literary Repetition and on European art, which came at the cost of appreciation of the African American musical tradition
Revision as Healing: (Borshuk, 22-23).
Harryette Mullen and
Suzan-Lori Parks's A notable exception to Renaissance figures keeping their distance from jazz music was 20 th century
Collective Solution...
writer Langston Hughes, informally lauded as the Father of Jazz Poetry: initially for his collection The
Weary Blues (1926), the first poetry focused on jazz music and the blues, but more so for his career-
African-American Studies » African-american Literature
How Ralph Ellison's long focus on writing poems in the blues form and others that drew deeply upon jazz and blues
Invisible Man Retold the thematically. Equally innovative among Hughes’ contributions were his later experimentation with
Story of the Black reading poetry to jazz music and his including musical annotations typical of jazz music in the margins
American Experience... of his writings, as was the case in Ask Your Mama (1961), a book dedicated to Louis Armstrong
(Feinstein, 44). In stark contrast to other Renaissance figures’ disdain for jazz music, Hughes viewed
jazz music as in line with Renaissance goals for all of its qualities, which he perceived as
transformative in their own right:

Hughes saw literary potential in jazz’s revolutionary aesthetic, in its combination of folk community
with the attention to individual consciousness that had come to characterize literature in the inchoate
century… Jazz was key to Hughes’s expression of the racial self-assertion that defined Harlem’s
developing New Negro spirit. (Borshuk, 21).

Outside the context of the Harlem Renaissance, other writers in the United States—white modernists in
particular— during the 1920s caught wind of the significance of jazz music to national culture. This
influence manifested itself in modernist poems both through specific descriptions of jazz performances
and in less direct, stylistic aspects. As contended by poet Mina Loy in her 1925 essay “Modern Poetry,”
jazz reflected “the collective spirit of the modern world.” Given the general context of contemporary
poetry in the United States, Hughes’s works seem less isolated in their focus on jazz when viewed
outside of a characterization solely within the African American tradition.

Jazz Poetry and Jazz Novels Gain Prominence After World War II
The end of World War II in 1945 marked tremendous change for the entire country. Jazz music was not
exempt: as a consequence of war-related challenges, internal music industry struggles, and a transition
to smaller performance venues, the end of World War II coincided with the end of the Swing Era and
the start of a transition from jazz as dance music instead to “art music” for listening. Simultaneously, the
influence of jazz in other art forms—particularly written works— increased. Ted Joans’ jazz poem, “Jazz
is My Religion,” is a key example from this time period. Jazz poetry is a loosely defined term, one on
which Feinstein elaborated on in A Bibliographic Guide to Jazz Poetry (Feinstein, Introduction):

Poets and scholars have tossed around the phrase [jazz poetry] ever since Vachel Lindsay used the word
“jazz” in his poetry from the early 1920s. Some people emphasize literal references to musicians and jazz
music; others base their opinions on the aesthetics of jazz and poetry, particularly the relationship
between the sounds of jazz and poetry’s oral tradition. Neither point of view, however, necessarily
excludes the other.

Partly due to this amorphous definition of jazz poetry, it is difficult to compile an exhaustive list of works
from this era. “Jazz is My Religion,” however, is a clear example of poetry with literal references to jazz
music— Joans cites specific artists and the style’s personal and cultural significance. The second half
of the second stanza of “Jazz is My Religion” is particularly illustrative of this:

… but jazz

is still my religion because I know and feel the message

it brings

like reverend Dizzy Gillespie/Brother Bird and

Basie/Uncle

Armstrong/Minister Monk/ Deacon Miles Davis/ Rector

Rollins/
 Priest Ellington/ His funkiness Horace Silver/ and the great

Pope

John, John COLTRANE and Cecil Taylor They

Preach A Sermon

That Always Swings!!

Joans speaks of jazz artists reverently, with a sense of closeness and devotion characteristic to many
of his famous works. Though Joans was particularly fixated on Charlie Parker (the musician most often
featured in his writing), another one of his poems, “Jazz Must Be a Woman,” lists more names of jazz
musicians than any other published poem— an appropriate distinction for a writer as focused on jazz
as Joans was.

No discussion of jazz-related literature from this era would be complete without inclusion of Ralph
Ellison’s Invisible Man (1952), winner of the National Book Award and lauded as one of the most
successful jazz novels ever penned. Invisible Man demonstrates a style of jazz literature quite unlike
the direct references to jazz found in “Jazz is My Religion,” instead replete with allusions and more
subtle examples of the music style’s influence. Ellison’s novel has been compared to Langston Hughes’
poetry for its stylistic innovation and Hughes’ prowess at “emphasizing musical sound as a meaningful
signifier of black identity, and perhaps more importantly, further investigating the possibilities of bebop’s
‘politics of style’.” (Borshuk, 91).

Of all the jazz music subtypes to which jazz literature can be likened, bebop is perhaps the most
complex source of inspiration. Bebop, a jazz style characterized by its complex harmonies and chord
changes, rapid rhythm, and virtuosic display of harmonic and melodic creativity, burst into the musical
scene in 1945 (M. Harvey, “Bebop—The First Revolution, Diz, Bird & Afro-Cuban Music” lecture,
November 1, 2016). One aspect of bebop’s experimental nature was a frequent repurposing of old
tunes with new harmony, as heard in the bebop classic “Shaw Nuff” performed by Charlie Parker and
Dizzy Gillespie. The piece features a new melody based on the Gershwin classic “I Got Rhythm,” which
in the Collectible Records edition is quintessentially bebop-like with modified chords and an impossibly
quick pace (Gillespie, “Shaw Nuff”). Unlike the largely predictable percussive style of Swing Era rhythm
sections, the drummer’s sporadic interjections (“dropping bombs”) and pianist’s comping heighten the
rhythmic complexity of the piece. Coupled with its dissonances, virtuosic solos, and the overall energy
of the piece, “Shaw Nuff” contains essentially all of the key characteristics of the bebop style.
Those who have analyzed the thematic content in Invisible Man recognize a number of ways in which
the complex design of the novel parallels characteristics of bebop compositions like “Shaw Nuff.” A
general sense of uneasiness is pervasive in Ellison’s writing, both in the narrator’s descriptions of
certain African American performances and of black characters throughout the novel, as the narrative
straddles complex social issues involving artistic expression and what it means to be African American.
A more subtle jazz-like characteristic of Invisible Man is its experimental structure and the narrator’s
emphasis on freedom and self-expression (Borshuk, 107-111). Such a thoughtful combination of
stylistic elements drawn from jazz music is a reflection of Ellison’s uniquely informed academic
background in music, which lent him a technical knowledge and an understanding of black music for
more than just its superficial qualities. Following from this personal connection, it comes as little
surprise that Ellison’s landmark novel explores the centrality of music in culture and in the development
of self-identity.

Improvisational Beat poetry, a style of writing vastly different from the styles examined above, was also
influenced by jazz music during this time period. Bob Kaufman, a poet known for his improvised poetry
performances (the words to which were rarely penned), drew a significant influence from alto
saxophonist Charlie Parker. Kaufman’s poetry is characterized by its pieced-together imagery, a literary
imagination of the collage of sounds made by a jazz ensemble. One of Kaufman’s most famous poems,
“Crootey Songo,” is reminiscent of scatting, as would have been heard in performances by vocalists
including Ella Fitzgerald, one of the masters of scat singing post-Swing Era (M. Harvey, “End of an Era
—Stars, Small Groups” lecture, October 25, 2016). With lines such as the opening “Derrat slegelations,
flo goof baber,” Kaufman constructs an evocative string of syllables that suggests a meaning, or at
least a level of higher-level organization than random syllables—not unlike a soloist’s improvisation in a
jazz piece.

New Works and Youth Engagement Peak During the Black Arts
Movement
Following the momentum built during the preceding decades, the 1960s were as much a time when
diverse works of literature were created in homage to jazz. The Black Arts Movement, a pivotal point in
the development of African American culture in the United States, was an opportunity for many young
black writers to emerge on the literary scene. Among these were poets who often drew upon jazz
music for influence in manners similar to their literary predecessors: writing poems specifically for
particular jazz artists or imitating musical qualities of jazz from its shape to its flow or a particular
combination of instruments. Arguably as important as the literary works created during this time period
is the significance of the younger population’s engagement with jazz at the time— for its association
with a larger artistic and intellectual movement, jazz music was enticing and important to young adults
in a way it has not felt in recent decades. One individual key in introducing younger Americans to jazz
music through his writing was Amiri Baraka, whose famous works include a collection of essays entitled
Black Music, which focused on experimental jazz.

Highlighting the influence of the Black Arts Movement is not to say unaffiliated artists were unimportant
during the 1960s and 1970s— for instance, poet Michael S. Harper remains one of the best-read jazz
writers even today. Commenting on Harper’s influence, Feinstein wrote: “Harper became the dominant
jazz poet of the 1970s, and Dear John, Dear Coltrane remains one of the most engaging books of
poetry with a thematic emphasis on jazz… his overall importance in the history of jazz poetry cannot be
overstated.” (Feinstein, 39). “Dear John, Dear Coltrane,” the poem, illustrates Harper’s fascination with
John Coltrane and includes repetition of the refrain “a love supreme, a love supreme”—a line from
Coltrane’s 1965 landmark album of the same name. In this poem, Harper ties Coltrane’s life history
closely to the development of jazz in 20 th century urban life, an indication of Coltrane’s centrality
during this time period. Such is observed in lines 19-24 of the poem (Harper, 25):

You plod up into the electric city—

your song new crystal and

the blues. You pick up the horn

with some will and blow

into the freezing night:

a love supreme, a love supreme

Harper’s poetry is influential both in its lyrical style, and in that it builds upon African American literature
from earlier days: in particular, that of Langston Hughes and Ralph Ellison discussed above. As
summarized by Borshuk, “Harper’s poetry fuses his predecessor’s signal developments—Ellison’s
dialogic narration of history, Hughes’s stylistic play—and argues for jazz music’s enduring essential
place in American culture.” (Borshuk, 121). Yet another parallel to jazz music emerges here: Harper
borrowing from older writers’ toolkits is strongly reminiscent of jazz musicians adopting their stylistic
qualities of their musical predecessors.

Modern Jazz Writing Continues to Draw Influence

 Though the presence of jazz in the modern musical landscape has continued to decline, even today
there are black writers who continue to incorporate jazz music into literary works. Pulitzer Prize winner
Yusef Komunyakaa, known for his original jazz poems and his work on The Jazz Poetry Anthology
(1991) and The Second Set: The Jazz Poetry Anthology (1996), is considered one of the key figures in
modern jazz writing. The wide array of jazz musicians referenced in his works—from Charles Mingus in
Copacetic to Mary Lou Williams in “My Father’s Love Letters” (Magic City) and Duke Ellington in
“Twilight Seduction” (The Second Set) (Feinstein, 53)—is illustrative of these figures’ enduring
importance in American history despite the declining popularity of jazz music from the 1980s to present
day.

The relationship between jazz music and African American literature has not been static over the past
century, but each example of interaction between the two is an illustration of the close ties jazz music
has held to the cultural climate and societal landscape—both in the past and present. Analyzing the
relationship between post-bebop jazz music and African American literature, and drawing comparisons
between two fundamentally different art forms, demands an analysis beyond the superficial
characteristics of each in order to identify the larger-scale similarities. Though the historical context and
popularity of jazz music evolved over the four time periods explored above, the literary works
referenced draw upon jazz music in similar ways: either directly describing or quoting it, or
incorporating its qualities into the structure or style of the writing. Both approaches are equally
impactful in the writing— as much a credit to the authors as it is to jazz music being a dynamic topic to
write about.

Analyzing jazz music through the lens of African American music lends a stronger understanding of the
cultural context that surrounded art in the 20 th century African American community. Such an analysis
motivates an appreciation for how fundamentally transformative jazz music has been in shaping
aspects of American culture. A study of the relationship between jazz music and visual art would likely
reveal similarly connected works, as most any medium of art has the capacity to evocatively express a
concept or emotion. While jazz is not mainstream popular music in America today, its enduring
representation in African American literature is a direct manifestation of its timeless quality and vast
cultural significance.

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 Feinstein, S. (1998). A Bibliographic Guide to Jazz Poetry. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. [Recorded
by D. Gillespie]. (2006).Shaw Nuff[CD]. Collectables Records.

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