1950'S West Coast Jazz
Music has been changing for a long time, every few years a new sound would come out and things would change. At the end of the 19th century, there was a new sound, a brass sound. In New Orleans, Louisiana a change began. There was a brass band in every neighborhood, and they all had different sounds. But one day a group got curious and traveled to California. Bill Johnson went and got his group to follow and from 1911 to 1917 and brought the Creole sound that would soon be dubbed jazz to California. Once in California things began to change.
This new sound spread throughout the United States. From New York to Los Angeles gathering attention because this was not an all-white or all-black music genre, it was a mixed genre and brought people together in a way not thought possible. This sound spread and started changing separately, in New York for example it became louder and more erratic while in California a whole new craze was just beginning. In the late 1940s, there was a new sound coming out and it was surrounding Los Angeles and soon started to spread.
Up until this point, New York dominated the jazz scene but California was stirring things up. In the area around Los Angeles a new sound was being made, this music started in 1947 with cool jazz’s predecessors The Four Brothers. After this, the sound of jazz began changing in California, and a lot of the changes focused around Hermosa Beach Lighthouse café, where Howard Rummy had a house band. The area this music was being made in being mainly beach is believed to be an influence on why the music was so mellow, because with all the beach sun and relaxing opportunities they had a more relaxed opportunity whereas in New York it was all concrete and business leading to a harder more upbeat sound.
This more relaxed beat coming out of California created a sensation that everyone wanted to hear and dance too. This style got popular in the 50’s and continued on into the 70’s with plenty of artists in between to bring their own flare to this laid back music making it a large section of music and bands could often be found anywhere in or around Los Angeles. This music may not be as big today, but the sound brought by this mellow jazz has left an impact on music and is remembered today as a big part of music history.