Emmylou Harris - The Road

Jazz music has created a sense of integration between blacks and whites in the industry. Discrimination still existed, but in the jazz community, musicians were somehow considered as equals. Whites were hired to perform in several black bands... jazz music created black white contact where a black musician received full acceptance as an equal and was often admired as superior, without condescension. Jazz music has not only integrated people in the United States, but also brought them together internationally. It has been influenced by third world countries such as Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and India. Great jazz musicians integrated international ideas into their music, for instance, Duke Ellington has an album named Far East Suite, and two of Coltrane’s albums are named Africa and India.

Today, jazz music is progressing in many ways. Despite its economic decline and struggle to survive because of the developed wealth of rock and pop, there have been many opportunities for the survival of jazz. Jazz began to penetrate the music programs of high schools, colleges and universities right after World War II, and in 1968, the International Association of Jazz Education was formed... African American children won’t experience jazz culture as music programs decrease in schools around the country. Jazz has also gotten much recognition in the United States and around the world through jazz festivals. Overseas festivals have been more successful than festivals in the United States, in places like Switzerland, the Netherlands and Italy, jazz festivals have all broken records for attendance.

Now that the positive social effects of jazz have been clarified, I will present the negative effects. The recording industry has played a major role in the commercialization of jazz music, which has led to uniformity. Jazz music would not have been widely distributed to the general public without the recording industry, and it provided a perfect opportunity for making the music more marketable... swing music lacked improvisation, and the soloist’s creativity was not relied upon as much because of the commercialization of the music. Jazz became so commercialized that the industry was less dependent on black innovation, but rather produced a music that was lacking the essence of jazz, its improvisation... Swing music basically lacked creativity and distinction and as a result, swing bands sounded alike.

Source: The Social Effects of Jazz by Zola Philipp

Emmylou Harris - The Road

• Released on: Hard Bargain album 
• Released in: 2011
• Genre: Country

"Emmylou Harris is considered one of the leading music artists behind the country rock genre in the 1970s and the Americana genre in the 1990s. Her characteristic voice, musical style and songwriting have been acclaimed by critics and fellow recording artists."

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