Mid-20th Century Transitions in Jazz

By Douglas Henry Daniels, Ph.D.

Context and History

In the mid-20th century, numerous styles were popular, including hard bop, soul jazz, and cool. Some compositions marked a return to the blues, gospel, and soul roots of jazz, such as Bobby Timmons’s “Moanin’” and Horace Silver’s compositions (including “The Preacher”). At the same time, stylists such as Erroll Garner, Hazel Scott, and Ahmad Jamal popularized the music, treating popular songs as jazz compositions with subtle variations on the melody and extended improvisations at the core. The accomplished Trinidadian pianist Scott, furthermore, was known for “swinging the classics.”

"Misty" - Erroll Garner

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Specific attributes: Improvisation, Instrumentals, Melody, Form, Vocals, Saxophone, Piano, Travel, Cultural Influences

Notably, whites such as the English pianists Marian McPartland and George Shearing, tenor saxophonists Stan Getz and John “Zoot” Sims, and the most successful of the time, pianist Dave Brubeck, popularized the music and enriched and broadened the range of choice. The advent of white-American, Canadian, West Indian, and Japanese musicians indicated the extent to which the music had become internationally famous, attracting artists from throughout the world. The US State Department capitalized on the music’s popularity by sending jazz bands to foreign capitals of Europe and Asia to promote US culture and to advertise the nation’s democratic values.

WLIB-FM First Annual Jazz Concert, May 16, 1966Courtesy of Carnegie Hall Rose Archives

Douglas Henry Daniels, Ph.D.

is a Professor Emeritus in the Departments of Black Studies and History, and former Chair of Black Studies and Asian American Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He received his BA in Political Science from the University of Chicago and an M.A. and Ph. D. in History from the University of California, Berkeley. Professor Daniels’ book publications include Lester Leaps In: The Life and Times of Lester “Pres” Young (Beacon, 2002); Pioneer Urbanites: A Social and Cultural History of Black San Francisco; and One O’clock Jump: The Unforgettable History of the Oklahoma City Blue Devils (Beacon Press, 2006). He was the recipient of a Fulbright Lecturing/Research Fellowship in Japan, where he taught courses in African American History and researched the history of jazz in Japan. Other research interests include African popular music and the use of oral history and photography in the study of culture.

1958—1975

Mid-20th Century Transitions in Jazz

Context and History

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