Module: HST5383 Music and Social Change in Modern Britain from Ballads to Britpop
By: Jake Johnstone
This paper will develop an understanding of the continuities in the racialised discourses which were present in blackface minstrel music and the reception of jazz music. This paper will build on historian Toynbee’s theoretical framework that “through white appropriation and discourses of exoticism or authenticity, black music has sometimes been translated into a marker of fixed racial difference”.[1] Through the prism of music, blackface minstrel performers and jazz critics both purveyed the black body and intellect as: naturally primitive, hypersexual and unsophisticated, which in turn, needs to be civilised by white culture. In this sense, representations of these music forms followed two interrelating paths. First, blackface minstrel music and jazz were viewed as exotic, in which notions of the music’s primitivity led many to view the music as a source of excitement in an otherwise morally rigid culture.[2] Second, blackface minstrelsy and jazz were regarded with condemnation, as it was believed to be crude, unrefined and low.[3] This paper will use the work of historian Pickering to demonstrate how these racialised representations can be traced to British Victorian imperialist thought, which degraded the black community to the bottom of an imagined evolutionary ladder.[4] However, a further argument of this paper is that jazz, when compared to minstrel music, represented a greater cultural threat to English civilisation. This can be attributed to factors such as increased migration after the Second World War and the wide-ranging popularity of jazz which threatened traditional European music forms. This paper will end its discussion by highlighting how the paradigm of exoticism and condemnation in representations of jazz music would shift after 1970, as black musicians “increasingly [began] to make music on their terms”.[5] Consequently, this paints a picture of continuity for race and music in the nineteenth and a large proportion of the twentieth century, but a changing dynamic in the more recent past.
Victorian racial theory dictated that “the stage of 'social evolution' of any society, and its attendant industrial, technological and cultural achievements, became increasingly considered as determined by inherently racial strengths or weaknesses”.[6] Therefore, “white skin” was perceived to be the pinnacle of an evolutionary process.[7] Consequently, ethnicities who were not Anglo-Saxon were imagined at the bottom of an evolutionary ladder and labelled “primitive”.[8] This form of racism became an important stabiliser to Victorian imperial discourse.[9] The ideological degradation of the “Other” confirmed the racial superiority of the white race.[10] This, in turn, confirmed the English’s self-appointed status as the “lords of mankind”, which thereby justified the sanctity of empire.[11] Within this framework, blackface minstrelsy “conveyed forms of social behaviour and human psychology existing in antithesis to the masterful Anglo-Saxon self-image”.[12] Blackface minstrelsy, therefore, provided an ideological groundwork for imperial rule by increasing imperial sentiment.[13] Traces of the Victorian legacy of human progress theory, which separated the civilised and the primitive by means of race, can also be found in reactions to 1920’s jazz music.[14] A continuation of racialised representations can be found in blackface performances and jazz music.
Representations of Black minstrel music focused on the music’s primitive and exotic nature. Pickering argues the trope of “primitive” served to juxtapose those “alien” to British society as a natural counterpart to the bourgeois self-image.[15] This idea is demonstrated in William Mahar’s account of minstrel bands: “The minstrels praised laziness in an era that valued industry, lauded irresponsibility in a period which value integrity.”.[16] Here Mahar is critical of minstrel music’s anti-bourgeois characteristics. Therefore, the minstrel performer was portrayed as a “happy-go-lucky, work-shy buffoon” that opposed the moral and institutional order of a protestant work ethic.[17] This notion of black minstrels “primitive” characteristics can also be found in a Leisure Hour article which charts the ingratiation of blackface minstrel performers into British society. An illustration adjoined to the text depicts a blackface performer joyfully kicking his legs in the air while playing the banjo. The banjo was closely associated with black musicians, from minstrels to jazz, as it represented a lack of sophistication.[18]
Representations of black jazz musicians followed similar discourses which emphasised their primitivism. An article by commentator Anthony Clyne argues jazz is indistinguishable “from the mad medley the rude rhythm of savages beating sonorous grounds in an African forest”.[19] Here, Clyne conjures notions of an untamed and threatening noise performed by savages in the midst of a rainforest. Throughout the article, Clyne continually links jazz to the rainforest to emphasise its animalistic, uncivilised and primitive tendencies. For example, he describes the sound of jazz as a “howling trombone and moaning saxophones”.[20] Within this phrase, Clyne uses personification to liken the trombone’s noise to a monkey’s howl, or the saxophone to a sexualised moan. This can also be found in a reaction to a Louis Armstrong performance in 1933, where journalist Hannen Swaffer wrote: “He looks, and behaves, like an untrained gorilla. He might have come straight from some African jungle.”[21] A further component of the discourse of primitivism is the contention that the black body has an innate rhythmic ability. For example, Clyne argues, “the n**** race possesses a musical sense, an instinct for rhythmic flexibility.”[22] This is further supported by music commentator Alan Bott, who suggests jazz is symbolised by “the entirely instinctive dance-movements of their slavery freed n*****s.”[23] However, what seems to be an advertisement of the black musical ability, only reinforces Victorian ideas of the unequal progress of human development, as the rhythm of the black body can be explained by its primitivism.
However, broad perceptions of black minstrel music’s primitive and simplistic nature can also explain its wide-ranging popularity. Pickering argues, “The blackface mode allowed white men and women of all social classes an indulgence in fun - fun consisting of elements not otherwise countenanced within polite culture.”.[24] In this sense, blackface attributes a set of characteristics onto the “Other” which was lost in an effort to “civilise”.[25] Blackface minstrel music allowed individuals to loosen the shackles of civilisation in a socially safe framework.[26] The mask legitimised feelings of fun and acts of physicality, which had to be suppressed in everyday forms of life.[27] Similarly, jazz music appealed to those who wanted to escape from the stringent moral order of Victorian society.[28] This idea emerges in Stanley Nelson’s description of post-war dance: “The War shattered many of our illusions …. That is why the artificiality of the Victorians in their dance music was superseded by a dance music [jazz] which was unashamedly proud of showing its crude emotional stress”.[29] However, like blackface minstrel music, the perceived freedom of jazz music was based on assumptions of its primitive and simplistic characteristics.[30]
Notions of the primitive black male jazz figure and the black minstrel artist emerged in discourses of African hyper-sexuality. George Chergwin was a successful blackface performer at the end of the 19th Century.[31] Figure 1 is an Illustration advertising Chergwin’s blackface performances and draws upon notions of black sexuality. This poster focuses on his muscular, naked body. His torso is positioned facing towards the viewer which alludes to the sexually suggestive nature of his performance, his body is accompanied by a large and peculiar instrument which is phallic in shape.[32] However, his portrait of black sexuality is conflicted with other elements of his performance. As shown in Figure 2, Chergwin was depicted as an “ordinary balding Englishman, with a thin moustache and an ingratiating smile.”.[33] Furthermore, his cockney roots are exposed in his comical backchat with the audience. This juxtaposes against his interpretation of a hypersexual black male.[34] He also celebrates a “genuine cockney’ girl” and refutes his attraction to “a coon that hails from Carolina” in the song “A Good Old London Town Girl”.[35] Chergwin’s blackface character’s attraction to a white woman may unearth ideas of the sexual threat of miscegenation.[36] However, when combined with the English nature of his cockney voice and body, the dangers of miscegenation are domesticated and fears are diminished.[37]
Figure 1: Chergwin advertisement, in, Chirpin’s Chimp
Figure 2: Chergwin advertisement
Racialised tropes of black hypersexuality are also prevalent in representations of jazz musicians. However, when compared to blackface minstrel music, fears of miscegenation were not domesticated but instead represented a real threat to British civility. Figure 3 shows a painting by John B. Souter titled, “The Breakdown”. The painting depicts a naked white woman dancing as if she is entranced by the black jazz musician, who is playing the saxophone and wearing a formal tuxedo. The belief that a white woman could be hypnotised by jazz music corresponds with notions of a natural sexual power emanating from black men.[38] Fears of relationships between a white woman and a black man rapidly increased after the First World War, the black population in Britain grew by 50,000, most of whom were men searching for job opportunities.[39] Therefore, outcry against racial mixing was inflamed by preconceived notions of the hyper-sexual predatory male.[40] This was a contributing factor to the race riots during the summer of 1919.[41] “The breakdown” also depicts the black jazz musician sitting on a shattered Greek statue. The statue seems to represent a disintegration of an old-world order, unable to cope under the strain of a new cultural force.[42] The use of a classical statue ascribes to the view that the collapse of the Greek and Roman empires can be attributed to immoral decadence.[43] Therefore, Souter represents jazz music as a dangerous culture phenomenon which is attacking European civilisation and white womanhood.[44] Consequently, the fears of black sexuality and cultural degradation were fully realised in the jazz age, as the black community was now viewed as an internal threat to European civility.
Figure 3: John B. Souter, “The Breakdown”, 1926.
Along-side notions of primitivism, both music forms were regarded with condemnation. A key feature of early British musical critique on jazz and black minstrelsy is the use of traditional classical music as a norm to which both would be evaluated. At the centre of these comparisons was the belief that classical music was a superior, more civilised art form. The racialised stereotypes which were attached to jazz music and black minstrelsy were important dimensions to the defence of classical music. Comparisons to classical music highlighted the simplistic, underdeveloped, uncivilised nature of “black” music.[45] Jazz and black minstrelsy would represent a threat to British morality for the upper class, who themselves felt responsible for the moral standards of the nation.[46] Sir Dyce Duckworth would describe jazz music as a “wild dance—amid noises only fit for West African savages.”[47] Blackface minstrels are also compared to classical musicians in a Leisure Hour article. The author argues “thanks greatly to Novello …. we have entirely recreated our psalmody, which is now really rich in melody as well as harmony.”.[48] This description of classical music is juxtaposed to references to minstrel music as “novel importations” and an “odd mixture of humour and simplicity”.[49] However, jazz music is represented as a greater threat to classical music forms. An article was written by H.S Gordon titled “The Jazz myth” arguing, “masses of people are being persuaded that a brass band was a more attractive thing than an orchestra”.[50] Here, he believes the emergence of jazz marked the end of classical music.
The belief that black music needed to be “civilised” or re-engineered, is an important continuation which can be found in blackface minstrel music and jazz music. From the 1840s, black entertainment which portrayed a realistic culture was significantly less popular than white performers who donned the mask of blackface.[51] Realistic portrayals of black culture were believed to be too threatening for public consumption.[52] The example of Sam Hague’s all-black troupe is the most prominent example of the disempowerment of black performers. Hague was forced to replace his black troupe with white men in blackface, as in his words, “the public seemed to prefer the imitation n****r”.[53] Even if an all-black troupe could survive, they were forced to conform to stereotypical ideas of the black body and intellect, which was presented in the blackface minstrel shows to gain an audience.[54] One commentator describes the fear of realistic portrayals of black culture perfectly: “When the nigger-minstrel can wash his race off after office hours he is harmless; but the true n**** singer is often a dangerous fellow to be let loose in a hall—we dare not be so familiar with him”.[55]
Similarly, jazz music was reconstructed to move away from its “black” origins. A new stylistic approach emerged to compete with jazz and its black aesthetic.[56] The “whiter” style, known as Symphonic syncopation, received greater acclaim in the 1920s and was widely held as a civilised improvement of jazz’s black roots.[57] However, musicians could cross the boundary of each stylistic form, black musicians were encouraged to become civilised and perform the white style of jazz.[58] Therefore, “colour as symbol, then, became separable from the colour of one’s skin, in a paradigm which places blackness on the sinful underbelly of humanity, whiteness as its civilised counterpart”.[59] An article within Melody Maker clearly states perceptions of both stylistic approaches: “ We demand that the habit of associating our music with the primitive and barbarous N**** derivations shall cease forthwith, in justice to the obvious fact that we have outgrown such comparisons”.[60]
So far, this paper has demonstrated continuity in the history of music and race based on the paradigm of exoticism and condemnation. However, Toynbee argues in the latter half of the twentieth century, this dynamic shifted. Toynbee suggests “Increasingly, and with a gathering sense of their powers, black musicians have come increasingly to make music on their terms. Jazz is an apt vehicle for this work of cultural becoming”.[61] The most important instigator to this change was a new wave of racialisation in the 1970s.[62] A crisis within the capitalist system reignited racist tendencies in certain subsections of the population due to economic competition.[63] Furthermore, Sociologist Stuart Hall’s ground-breaking research highlights a moral panic was created around the violence of black youth culture, to distract from the country’s economic inequalities.[64] It was within this context that one can locate a new wave of black jazz music, but also black popular music on a mass scale.[65] The spearhead of this new jazz movement was the Jazz Warriors.[66] The band members personal circumstance did not vary: they were working-class, second-generation Afro-Caribbean immigrants, and inspired by black nationalism.[67] However, it is their legacy which is most important; they created a new generation of jazz fans and “a discursive space and market for jazz made by black people in Britain”.[68]
In conclusion, this paper has traced a continuity in racialised discourses presented by blackface minstrelsy and in the reception of jazz music in Britain. These representations followed two important strands: primitivism and condemnation. In reference to primitivism, blackface musicians presented a happy-go-lucky, naïve, work-shy attitude. Similarly, black jazz was racialised through comparisons to the sound of the rainforest and other uncivilised noises. Discourses on the hypersexual black male were also purveyed through blackface minstrelsy and the jazz musician. Consequently, ideas of primitivism fed into their wider popularity, as it was perceived as a space of freedom in an otherwise morally rigid society. In reference to condemnation, both jazz and black minstrelsy underwent “civilisation” efforts from the dominant white population. Therefore, a continuity of racialised representation can be found. However, one nuanced detail emerges at a close examination of the sources; jazz was seen to be a greater threat to British society. This paradigm of primitivism and condemnation was prevalent until the latter stages of the twentieth century.
Footnotes
[1] Jason Toynbee, “Race, History, and Black British Jazz”, in, Black Music Research Journal, Vol. 33, No. 1 (University of Illinois Press: 2013), p.3.
[2] Ibid., p.6.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Michael Pickering, “John Bull in Blackface”, in, Popular Music 16:2 (1997), p.192.
[5] Toynbee, “Race, History and black British jazz”, p.21.
[6] Pickering, “John Bull in Blackface”, p.192.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Ibid.
[11] Michael Pickering, “Mock Blacks and Racial Mockery: The “N*****” Minstrel and British Imperialism”, in, J. S. Bratton et al (eds), Acts of Supremacy: The British Empire and the Stage, 1790–1930 (Manchester, 1991), p.192.
[12] Pickering, “John Bull in Blackface”, p.192.
[13] Ibid.
[14] Ibid., p.198.
[15] Pickering, “Mock Blacks and Racial Mockery”, p.213
[16] Ibid.
[17] Ibid.
[18] Catherine Parsonage, “Fascination and Fear: Responses to Early Jazz in Britain”, in, Neil A. Wynn, Cross the Water Blues: African American Music in Europe (Jackson, Mississippi, 2007), p.3.
[19] Anthony Clyne, “Jazz”, The Sackbut (Aug.1925), p.12.
[20] Ibid., p.13.
[21] Parsonage, “Fascination and Fear”, p.9.
[22] Clyne, “Jazz”, p.13.
[23] Alan Bott, “The passing of the Jazz Age”, The Sphere (2 Aug 1924), p.134.
[24] Pickering, “John Bull in Blackface”, p.196.
[25] Ibid.
[26] Ibid., p.197.
[27] Ibid., p.197.
[28] Parsonage, “Fascination and Fear”, p.2.
[29] Ibid.
[30] Ibid.
[31] Simon Featherstone, “The Blackface Atlantic: Interpreting British Minstrelsy”, in, Journal of Victorian Culture 3 (1998), p.243
[32] Ibid.
[33] Ibid.
[34] Ibid.
[35] Ibid.
[36] Ibid.
[37] Ibid.
[38] Marc A. Weiner, “Urwaldmusik and the Borders of German Identity: Jazz in Literature of the Weimar Republic”, ‘in’ The German Quarterly, Vol. 64, No. 4, (New York: Wiley, 1991), p.480.
[39] Hilary Moore, “Inside British Jazz: Crossing Borders of Race, Nation and Class”, (Aldershot, 2007), p.7
[40] Ibid.
[41] Ibid.
[42] Ibid.
[43] Ibid.
[44] Ibid.
[45] Parsonage, “Fascination and Fear”, p.3
[46] Ibid., p.3.
[47] Ibid., p.3.
[48] ‘Wandering N**** Minstrels’, The leisure hour: A family journal of instruction and recreation (23 Sept, 1871), p.602.
[49] Ibid., p.602.
[50] H.S. Gordon, “The Jazz myth”, The Sackbut (Nov, 1925), p.117.
[51] Parsonage, “Fascination and Fear”, p.2.
[52] Ibid.
[53] Ibid.
[54] Ibid.
[55] Ibid.
[56] Hilary Moore, “Inside British Jazz”, p.7
[57] Ibid.
[58] Ibid.
[59] Ibid.
[60] Ibid.
[61] Toynbee, “Race, History and black British jazz”, p.21.
[62] Ibid., p.16.
[63] Ibid.
[64] Ibid.
[65] Ibid., p.17.
[66] Ibid., p.18.
[67] Ibid.
[68] Ibid.
Bibliography
Secondary Sources
Jason Toynbee, “Race, History, and Black British Jazz”, in, Black Music Research Journal, Vol. 33, No. 1 (University of Illinois Press: 2013).
Michael Pickering, “John Bull in Blackface”, in, Popular Music 16:2 (1997).
Michael Pickering, “Mock Blacks and Racial Mockery: The “N*****” Minstrel and British
Imperialism”, in, J. S. Bratton et al (eds), Acts of Supremacy: The British Empire and the Stage, 1790–1930 (Manchester, 1991).
Catherine Parsonage, “Fascination and Fear: Responses to Early Jazz in Britain”, in, Neil A. Wynn, Cross the Water Blues: African American Music in Europe (Jackson, Mississippi, 2007).
Simon Featherstone, “The Blackface Atlantic: Interpreting British Minstrelsy”, in, Journal of Victorian Culture 3 (1998).
Marc A. Weiner, “Urwaldmusik and the Borders of German Identity: Jazz in Literature of the
Weimar Republic”, ‘in’ The German Quarterly, Vol. 64, No. 4, (New York: Wiley, 1991).
Hilary Moore, “Inside British Jazz: Crossing Borders of Race, Nation and Class”, (Aldershot, 2007).
Primary Sources
Anthony Clyne, “Jazz”, The Sackbut (Aug.1925).
Alan Bott, “The passing of the Jazz Age”, The Sphere (2 Aug 1924).
‘Wandering N**** Minstrels’, The leisure hour: A family journal of instruction and recreation (23 Sept, 1871).
H.S. Gordon, “The Jazz myth”, The Sackbut (Nov, 1925).
John B. Souter, “The Breakdown”, 1926.
Cherwig advertisement, in, Chirpin’s Chimp.
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