Race and Swing

By the 1930s, an era referred to as “The Swing Era,” jazz had reached a peak in popularity. Swing music, the newest amalgamation of jazz, was sweeping the nation. It was a fun, lively, danceable style of music with universal appeal, yet beneath this façade of joy and happiness were deep racial tensions, embedded into jazz culture. The newfound acceptance and establishment of jazz as a major entertainment form created a new market for jazz related media. Jazz publications such as Down Beat and Metronome provided a forum for musicians, critics and enthusiasts to voice opinions and ideas on the current state of jazz. And with controversial, racially charged events like The Scottsboro Case of 1931 and the emerging Popular Front movement, racial tensions were brought to the forefront of Americans’ consciousness. A certain tension between race and jazz had always existed, but events of the 1930s reignited the issues and conflicts between race and jazz.

Blacks in the 1930s experienced a new kind of unity with whites. Industrialization required a large labor force, yet working conditions were dismal. White workers would strike, protesting the abysmal conditions and black workers would be brought in to fill the white workers’ positions. However, with the union movement, in which blacks and whites united to fight American corporations, the Popular Front gained traction as a reprieve from the overbearing racial and social discrimination in America. The Popular Front movement and swing music were complementary entities, each becoming relevant in the 1930s. The Popular Front movement, with a community ethos and emphasis on unity, was a response to fascism, and swing music “moved its audience to liberating self-expression…free of hierarchical distinctions (Swing Changes).” The popularity of swing music and the increasingly powerful Popular Front brought race issues to the forefront of the American psyche. As a result, a number of media outlets weighed in on the issue.

One of the prominent voices of The Swing Era was John Hammond, an ardent proponent of jazz and civil rights. Coming from the Vanderbilt family and endowed with an annual trust fund, Hammond seemed an unlikely jazz advocate. A testament to the popularity of swing, Hammond managed and promoted the biggest stars in jazz such as Fletcher Henderson, Benny Goodman and Billie Holiday. Additionally, he was deeply involved in the Popular Front, so much so that he was under investigation by J. Edgar Hoover in the 1940s (Swing Changes). Further, Hammond held a concert that raised funds to defend the nine Scottsboro boys accused of raping two white women. Hammond represented a newly emerging, socially conscious, jazz aficionado.

Such political and musical affiliations put Hammond in a unique position of journalistic power. Writing for Down Beat, Hammond had a means of expression in the “journal that did the most to shape critical and popular opinion on jazz” (Swing Changes). Through Down Beat, Hammond criticized Duke Ellington for “shut[ting] his eyes to the abuses being heaped upon his race and his original class (Down Beat).” Ellington performed nightly at the Cotton Club in which blacks were prohibited. Hammond’s comments were indicative of his perceived role with respect to race and jazz. Ironically, he felt that he had transcended racism and was in a position to criticize Ellington although he believed that and blacks were innately superior jazz musicians (Swing Changes).

Hammond’s polarizing opinions were important, not so much in their veracity, but in their very expression. They forced thought and internalization of the complexity of race. The events of the time brought race to the forefront of the public eye, and critics like Hammond were able to express their opinions through various media outlets. After all, equality can only progress if injustices and inconsistencies are on the minds of the people.

It is interesting to note that there were varying degrees of racial engagement between black and white musicians. Benny Goodman, for example, played in one of the most popular racially integrated bands, yet he was more motivated by “zeal for musical excellence than any desire to be a social crusader (Gioia p. 144).” Whereas Ellington, chided for his racial apathy, confronted this tension in works such as “Black and Tan Fantasy” and “Harlem Speaks.” These examples shine light on the complexity of race, and indicate that not all jazz musicians were united under one front.