Names: Alexis Raybon ALL-ILLINOIS HISTORY EXPOSITION SUMMARY STATEMENT FORM 1.

In the space provided, explain the main theme of your entry.

Chicago was instrumental in the development of jazz in the 1920s and early 1930s.

Although jazz was created in New Orleans, Chicago provided an opportunity for jazz to develop into various sub-genres and to reach to other audiences. Along with the
other 75,000 southern blacks, jazz musicians were not only attracted to the citys south side to escape the racial injustice of the South but also because of the popularity of Ragtime there after the 1893 Worlds Columbian Exposition and the large working population that could pay to have a good time. Some of the Hot Jazz greats who moved here was Joe King Oliver and his protg Louis Armstrong. Joes recordings here helped establish Chicago as the center of authentic Jazz recordings which helped the rest of the world for the first time to experience jazz. Louis recordings introduced scat singing, and emphasized the improvisation of the soloist. These black artists and others helped influence Caucasian musicians from the North side such as Benny Goodman. Goodman helped form Chicago style jazz that ushered in the new Big Band, danceable jazz called Swing and desegregate jazz at the pinnacle of its success in the 1930s.

2. In the space provided, briefly explain why you became interested in researching your subject. What is your favorite part of the project? My interest in jazz started when my Godfather used to read books about famous blacks to me as a child. My favorite book was about Ella Fitzgerald which was famous for her ability to sing and scat well. Because of that I started to listen to other jazz artists music and began to really like the genre a lot. Last year my godfather died, and as a way to heal from that, I used my history fair project to honor him. He always loved to see me perform, and I knew he would be proud of me researching more about something that interested both of us. I also wanted to research this topic because I wanted to know more about how jazz expand from New Orleans. I never knew how important Chicagos culture helped make this type of music so popular. My favorite part of the project was learning about scat singing because of how it became known to the public and influenced other genres. Scat singing is the improvised singing of nonsense syllables to mimic the sound of an instrument. Louis Armstrong was the first one to introduce this type of singing to world on the recording of Hebbies Jeebies. It only ended up on the record because he was encouraged to keep singing after dropping his lyrics during the recording session. It was originally skill he picked up on the streets of New Orleans. Although scat singing is one of the things that distinguish jazz from other genres of music, it is actually the one thing that is common in a lot of genres. In other genres, artist sing these non-sense syllables in between chorus words usually

starting midway through a song to enhance its sound rather than to mimic an instrument. Today, artist know them as ad-libs. 3. Explain the stages involved in creating your entry.
The first historical question considered was about the impact of African Americans on Chicago style jazz. This changed into the present question as more research was found about the diversity of jazz musicians. From the initial research, the information acquired showed that although Blacks were the creators of jazz and remained a prominent force within its development, Caucasians also held some important roles in its development as well. From here, I found a map of famous Chicago jazz clubs that developed from 1915-1930. The map also listed the performers at each of these clubs. I researched the different performers and their contributions to jazz. Based on this info and prior knowledge, I narrowed my performers down to the ones who were the most influential in developing other forms of jazz and the elements within them. I then researched why and how these musicians chose to move Chicago. This led me to information about the great migration and why the citys south side started to boom as an important jazz scene. I then found that north side Caucasian musicians learned from the musicians of the south side. Lastly, I researched how jazz expanded to other audiences outside of Chicago. I learned that jazz expanded from the some of the first records of the famous Chicago jazz musicians. When I acquired all my info, I outlined how I was going to write my speech. After completing the speech, I completed my bibliography and started to get familiar with my speech. During that time I used to practiced, I also acquire items to wear for performance.

4. How much time did you spend working on/researching your entry? I started my research in January and was done with the project by the mid February. I did research every day after school at home for at least 4 hours a week. I went to the library on Saturdays to use its database for research for at least 2 hours every two weeks. At every stage that I advance I put more work into adding more information to the speech, make it flow better, and practicing it.

5. What did you learn from your research? Did you find any conflicting information about your topic while you were researching? If so, please explain. I learned a lot from this project. Although I am very familiar with jazz, I didnt know that Chicago provided an environment for southern black musicians to create this new radical music. Chicago had a big population that already enjoyed ragtime, could afford to listen to the musicians, and had a lot small records labels open to record these jazz musicians. As this southern musician move to the north their music started to change from the original News Orleans style jazz to Hot Jazz, and later on Swing. The reason other races in Chicago started to get involved into this music is because they saw how popular jazz was becoming due to the amount of jazz clubs on the citys south side, and the increase of jazz recordings. Jazz spread to others outside the city because of those first jazz records made by Joe Oliver and Louis Armstrong. I also

learned that jazz music made here helped to influence other musical genres and help make Chicago a recording center. 6. Please explain the projects relationship to Illinois History. Chicago and the areas around it became an even bigger and attractive city for people to migrate simply because the culture was expanding due to expansion and development of jazz. People who migrated were mostly black and helped diversify the state. Jazz also helped give the state a recording industry.

7. Attach a bibliography of the sources you used. Include any oral history interviews. Also list any libraries, museums, or other institutions you may have visited for your project.
The Carter G. Woodson library was visited for this project.

TO BE ANSWERED ONLY BY NATIONAL HISTORY DAY CONTESTANTS: 8. What is the relationship between your Illinois History entry and the theme of National History Day?

NOTE: National History Day (NHD) has separate requirements. This form is not to be used in place of NHD requirements.