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• 1 2016-04-14T10:44:38-07:00 Cross Analysis: North vs. South 26 plain 2016-05-14T12:27:01-07:00 Our primary goal with this project was the cross analysis of female jazz from the northern and southern United States, examining each area’s different cultural and social influences on the music. To do this, we listened to various pieces produced by our chosen women, and attempted to analyze them tonally, thematically, and lyrically, looking for potential evidence of these influences in their musical styles. In theory, we expected that music from New Orleans would potentially contain some more racially-fueled lyrics due to the nature and history of racial tensions in the southern US, and that the styles of each woman’s music would likely mimic the sounds and tone characteristic of their respective locales. What follows are our findings.

  Lyrics

  Surprisingly enough, our primary lyrical analysis yielded few references to race or struggle directly deriving from racial strife. Instead, much of what we found simply made reference to hardships these women may have faced during their careers, or situations in which they were at odds with the musical environment surrounding them. For instance, in her song entitled “My Mother’s Eyes,” Etta Jones references how she felt alone, a “lonely soul...walk[ing] the straight and narrow to reach [her] goals.” Also, in her rendition of "A Foggy Day," Germaine Bazzle laments how she is "a stranger in the city" who "had that feeling of self-pity" with a "decidedly blue" outlook. Yet despite these hardships and constant references to feelings of loneliness, there is just as much discussion of staying positive with regard to their life’s outlook. Though quick to call herself a "lonely soul," Etta Jones is just as ready to "look for the silver lining, whenever skies are blue" (Look for the Silver Lining). In addition, we find countless references to love and the desire, or even need, for their "love" to return to them, some going as far as to say that they feel that they can accomplish more with his help. This could have been influenced by, or at the very least further perpetuate, the ideas of the time that a woman needs a man to reach their potential or achieve great things, rather than celebrating their independence and individual abilities.
  
  Furthermore, we made use of the textual analysis tools available at Voyant and conducted analysis on a sampling of our selected women's music, to see if any new connections or information would be brought to light through these methods. Sampling the "top" lyrical selections for Etta Jones, we found several mentions of the word "bye," perhaps a result of a history of having to say goodbye to love ones, yet few mentions of negative lyrical connotations, such as "strife," "couldn't," "hard," or "grieving." The same process for Germaine Bazzle's lyrics found the most prominent lyric to be "blue," which was closely correlated with the words "you" and "ain't," implying the connection of external factors or individuals on her "blue" or melancholic lyrical decisions. We selected Etta Jones and Germaine Bazzle for textual analysis as a result of their high volume of archived lyrics, while Jackie Harris and Cain had a much more depleted selection. Despite the small sample size, we find few, if any, references to race in the sampled music; much more emphasis has clearly been placed on love and its subsequent heartbreaks or joys, as well as the shockwaves felt after their relationships have ended. The cirruses for these two artists can be found to the right; the larger the word, the more it appears in the lyrics.

  
  Music

  New Orleans

  Turning from the lyrical analysis to a more tone-based one, we examine the music produced and performed by our selected women from New Orleans. Although we found certain instances in which their music demonstrated strong ties to early roots of traditional New Orleans Dixieland style, more often than not, it is clearly shown that the music of our chosen women has clearly evolved with time. Germaine Bazzle’s music saw a similar makeup of instrumentation to these styles; however, she put her own unique twist on much of her music, with many songs much faster-paced and upbeat. One such example is her song, “Almost Like Being In Love,” which can be found below. Note the upbeat tone and relatively faster tempo.

  Other songs of hers shared certain characteristics with bebop, a harmonically and rhythmically complex style, while also incorporating scatting as a vocal medium. This can clearly be heard in her song “I Mean You” and her rendition of “Everyday I Have the Blues.”

   

  Shifting our focus now to the music of Jackie Harris, we noticed that some of her music shared some of these same innovations Germaine Bazzle developed in her music. Such examples are her songs “Do It To It” and “Work Your Flapper:”

   

  New York

  Moving north to New York, we observed far less deviation from traditional styles than we found in our New Orlean’s women’s music. This is likely due to the potential difference in cultures that exist between the two areas: New Orleans perpetuating this freedom of expression to innovate with New York more concerned with general popularity of music, resulting in artists taking significantly less liberty in their work. This competition for public approval and stage/radio play further exemplifies the divides inherent in jazz’s history, and has likely come about from the technological revolution that has occurred over the last few generations. Consider Etta Jones’ music. Her style is much more reflective of the jazz of the 40s and 50s, usually only incorporating the bass-piano combo behind slower, melancholic melodies to convey the emotions of her song, such as in her songs entitled “My Mother’s Eyes” or “Laughing at Life.” Though “Laughing at Life” has the addition of a drum kit in the background, the more traditional styles are still obvious.
  Jackie Cain, in her work with Roy Krall, also demonstrates a similar return to the conventional, with much of her work resembling the funkier, bossa nova jazz styles of the 1960s and 70s. This can be viewed most directly in their works “Samba Triste” and “Love Sweeping the Country,” among others.
  
   

  To conclude, it seems that regional jazz or gender influences had more effect on these women’s musical styles than racially fueled tensions of the time. Perhaps if we had examined jazz from earlier women we would have seen more of this, when jazz could be seen as more racially fueled. All the same, it’s clear that their environments clearly impacted the overall styles of their music.