Jazz pioneers impacted the world

While talking about Black History Month, Nathan Davis and Greg Humphries talk about jazz as a… While talking about Black History Month, Nathan Davis and Greg Humphries talk about jazz as a reflection of history and a triumph over segregation.

They came up with an idea: Black History Month and the history of jazz are one and the same.

“The impact of jazz on black history, you can’t separate the two because they go together,” said Davis, who teaches the history of jazz class. “I learned more about history by looking through jazz.”

Black jazz musicians like Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong reflected black pride and their struggles for freedom during the ’30s and ’40s through their music in song titles, lyrics and the innovations they contributed to music.

Ellington and Armstrong were not just performers of their music; they also helped open doors around the world. They traveled to foreign countries with diplomats and aided in negotiations by performing and speaking a language that everyone understood: music.

“It shows that this music that grew out of slavery has become a great diplomatic tool,” Davis said.

Many of these innovators hailed from Pittsburgh, which was a hub for jazz during the time. The Hill District was alive and thriving with nightclubs like The Crawford Grill and the Hurricane, producing hot jazz acts, singers and new trends.

“During the ’20s and ’30s, it used to be called Little Harlem,” Davis said.

According to Davis, Pittsburgh contributed more innovators to jazz than any other city its size. One jazz innovator, Billy Exton, still has family here, Davis said.

“Pittsburgh has always produced tons of great jazz musicians,” he said.

Pittsburgh cultivated Big Band innovators like Earl “Fatha” Hines, who changed the way pianists played solos and Kenny Clark, who “changed the way the drum set is played.”

“During times of conflict, people learned to improvise and create something,” said Humphries, who is Davis’s teaching assistant. “The results of what it was able to produce was talent.”

Humphries, who also gives drum lessons to students, said that jazz music was quintessential for the time period. Referring to struggles such as the stock market crash and segregation, Humphries said that jazz musicians helped people rejoice for good times to come and reflected lifestyle changes.

“The impact of what blacks made in entertainment is due to racism,” he said. “It’s sort of an oxymoron, but it happened.”

The jazz clubs and other entertainment venues in the Hill District were not reflections of segregation, however, but integration. Humphries pointed to the pictures of these scenes taken by Charles “Teenie” Harris.

“You’ll see many whites sitting side by side with African-Americans,” he said. “It was always like that in entertainment.”