In this film, African-Americans, Creoles and Whites are mostly depicted in this film. It is about how Jazz came to be. A motif that is often said in the film is that Jazz is a improvisational art. The people that are depicted are very resilient because they often faced degrading circumstances.

The music sounds soulful. The music is often a saving grace for those who were enslaved. On Sundays, they were allowed to sing and dance. Sometimes, the slave owners would come and watch the singing and dancing. Because of this, minstrelsy came to be. This was were white people would paint their faces black and put on “comedy” shows that make fun of a people and culture.

I enjoy how there are periodic parallels drawn between music and gumbo. One parallel is the roux of a gumbo to the blues. You need blues in order to have jazz. Jazz is mostly found in New Orleans, but did travel up to Chicago. These songs were played anywhere and everywhere.

The songs changed over time between what was happening to the culture of a people and their situation. Jazz wasn’t really a possibility until abolition happened. The music culture shifted from field songs, to spirituals, there was a tangent of minstrelsy, Jazz came around along with the blues and ragtime.

I never considered that Jazz was an improvisational art. It is beautiful that one could start playing, and others would join and you could create something so unique and special together. You didn’t have to know a certain number of songs, you just had to know your instrument well and what song was in your soul. I enjoyed this movie and look forward to my next post.

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed and I will see you next time!.