Racial Discussion in Swing

     Following the 1920's, the “Jazz Age”, jazz music had it's breakthrough into mainstream culture. This was great for many of the starving musicians in many ways. Finally they were getting consistent gigs and acknowledged for their talents. This brought the need for music agents and also brought people of many backgrounds to the scene. These two factors contributed to the discussion of race more so than ever before. Although race has always been discussed in relation to jazz music, it was never so prominent as it was in the 1930's.
     When black musicians first began gaining popularity, they found difficulty in establishing themselves outside of mob controlled venues such as The Cotton Club. Some artists such as Duke Ellington adapted his style to what the people at these segregated clubs wanted. This lead to a spread in popularity and to him eventually hiring a white music agent, Irving Mills. By hiring a white agent, Ellington was soon able to get jobs that most black people were unable to. Mills not only put Ellington's name all around, he was a white face in front of a black musician. This was a huge step for black and white relationships (Gioia 153). Between Ellington and Mills, and Ellington and the public. Ellington was later criticized by white critic, John Hammond, for this style. He was said to have essentially turned his back on his own people and their struggles to advance his own career (Lecture 2.14.13). This was another huge step in the relationship of jazz and race. For the first time, white people were criticizing jazz musicians not for their art form but for what they were expressing with their music. These critics were primarily white, which was a sign of the extent jazz had infiltrated homes and popular culture around America (“Swing Changes,” 52).
The spread of jazz music to white people was happening for many years before the 1930's, with bands like the Austin High Gang (Lecture 1.29.13). However, in the 1930's some white musicians were considered the best jazz musicians and brought jazz to places it had never even been considered, such as Carnegie hall (Lecture 2.14.13). This increase in white musicians brought the already competitive art form into the dance halls and brought race with it. The best example takes place on May 11, 1937 in Harlem. At the Savoy, a regular named Chick Webb and his band competed against Benny Goodman's band. This brought people of all kinds to the integrated jazz club. The two battled it out, in front of many white and black fans. There was no announced winner, but the final result was bringing white people to listen to a high performing black jazz band. Competitions tend to bring out race issues, people siding with one band due to their race and not their musical abilities was very common at this time (Lecture 2.14.13).
    With the spread of jazz, came a spread of competition between races. Which race played the best swing, blues, or ballads. The white people were the agents and the critics of black musicians. For the first time, black and white people's lives intertwined through jazz. Both race's lives could completely revolve around the music. The 1930's was the beginning of the integration of jazz, which lead to an all around change in racial relationships throughout the country.