A Furious Battleground: World War I and the Development of Jazz in American Popular Culture

Any examination of jazz in the 1910s routinely includes some discussion of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band (ODJB) and Lieutenant James Reese Europe. The ODJB, often decried as imitators rather than innovators, occupy a precarious position in the jazz narrative. While scholars generally recognize the ODJB as the first band to release a jazz recording, this recognition is tempered by ongoing debates as to the appropriateness of labeling their music as jazz, at all. James Reese Europe also holds a precarious place in the history of jazz as scholars struggle to meaningfully place his music within the transitional ether separating jazz from the ragtime craze that preceded it.

While these discussions are well-worn to many, there is another aspect to any understanding of jazz in the 1910s, including the roles played by the ODJB or James Reese Europe, which needs to be more fully explored—the impact of World War I on American society, and how the development of jazz intersected with the war itself (rather than simply as a result of the massive social upheaval in the conflict's aftermath). By exploring the social tensions at play on the home front and the unprecedented experience of Americans on the warfront, the Great War context from which jazz emerged provides new insights into the jazz narrative of these critical early years.