“Jazz is not popular”, “Jazz is not popular in China”, “He/she/I can’t understand jazz”, “Pop musicians play a few chords for an audience of thousands, Jazz musicians play thousands of chords for an audience of a few.” We’ve probably all heard these sentences many times. Recently, I saw a video by popular YouTube musician Rick Beato: “Why People Hate Jazz”.
If you are new to jazz, this list is actually a great place to start! Many of these albums are not only popular in the mainstream but also beloved and critically acclaimed by serious jazz musicians, critics and aficionados. Only 10 jazz albums went platinum and only 25 went gold. Even the best selling album only sold 4 million. When you compare that with Michael Jackson’s 1983 Thriller, which to date has sold 67 million.
or Backstreet Boys 1999 Millenium which sold 1+ million in just its first week, or recently Adele’s 2015 Album 25 which sold around 5 million worldwide in just the first week of its release, it seems like it’s a rock solid statement: Jazz is simply not popular.
But there’s two huge problems with only looking at this list. What are they? Well, the list only dates back to the 1970s, which means that everything before then wasn’t counted, and Nielson Soundscan, the most accurate worldwide database, didn’t start until 1991. And even if we try to search for data before then, it’s difficult to find, as the market was quite messy then, Billboard only started counting in 1940, there was also the competing Hit Parade, and some record companies didn’t track data rigorously or even release information, so we don’t have much accurate data for the period of time that jazz was the most popular style of music。
The second problem? It’s jazz albums. Albums。
So what? Well, recently a friend asked for recommendations for early jazz albums. That’s actually impossible to answer. Why? The album wasn’t in widespread use until the late 1950s. The technology wasn’t even available to record anything longer than 5 minutes until 1948! Most of the music in EVERY genre before then was recorded on 78s, one song per side, within the maximum time limit of ~3 minutes, which later increased to just 5 minutes.
And the thing is, by the time the ALBUM became the standard recording format, that was well after the peak of jazz as popular music. Actually, it was right around the beginning of rock & roll as popular music, so the concept album, or an album as a collection of songs exploring a singular theme, became a new artistic medium for ambitious musicians. Classic examples include Beatles Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band 1967, Pink Floyd The Wall 1979, Radiohead OK Computer 1997.
Does Jazz have any concept albums? I’m glad you asked. The answer is definitively yes, and in fact, Frank Sinatra’s 1955 In The Wee Small Hours is considered to be one of the earliest examples of the concept album and is also a great starting point for those interested in jazz music. We will explore this album more in Part 2: Jazz influence on singing.
But let’s return to the original topic. Jazz had a long period of mass popularity. From the years approximately 1930-1945, big band swing swept the country, and during World War II, it spread over the whole world as American soldiers brought their records abroad。
Jazz music became a symbol of America’s most positive ideals: freedom of expression, diversity, inclusion, democracy, the power of individual within collective cooperation for a higher purpose, this in stark contrast to the racist authoritarianism of Hitler and Nazism. In 1942, at the height of his popularity, Glenn Miller gave up $20,000/week salary to join the Air Force and performed jazz to boost troop morale, and he tragically disappeared while flying on his way to France.
The first jazz record to be recorded in 1917, The Original Dixieland Jazz Band’s “Livery Stable Blues”, is considered to be the first record to sell over 1 million copies, although data from this era is difficult to confirm （another complication regarding this topic). Paul Whiteman’s massive mainstream hit in 1920 “Whispering” sold 2+ million.
Louis Armstrong rose to fame by singing popular songs like “Ain’t Misbehaving” which was from his debut on Broadway in the show Hot Chocolates. Ella Fitzgerald’s smash hit “A Tisket A Tasket” stayed #1 on the charts for 17 consecutive weeks and sold over 2 million, and it still wasn’t even the most popular song of the year! Artie Shaw’s classic big band arrangement “Begin The Beguine” claimed that spot.
Here’s a list of the top hits from 1938. They’re all jazz classics. Can you imagine an instrumental as a #1 song? Well it happened in 1938. “Begin The Beguine” wasn’t even Shaw’s song, it was a cover! It was originally written by Cole Porter for the Broadway musical Jubilee in 1935, so everyone knew the song and that’s what contributed to its success. (Source: https://playback.fm/charts/top-100-songs/1938)
“A Tisket A Tasket” by the way, is a popular nursery rhyme, and Ella Fitzgerald with Chick Webb made a swinging arrangement that just captured the mainstream audience’s imagination. This is the period where jazz music, popular music, and musical theater were never closer together.
The most popular figure during this period is undoubtedly Benny Goodman. He brought authentic jazz to the mainstream by playing the arrangements of famous Harlem arrangers and enjoyed massive fame and fortune, selling millions of records during that time. He was the first jazz musician to play at Carnegie Hall. His signature song “Sing Sing Sing” is one of the defining songs of the era and was #1 in 1937. Imagine, a bespeckled Jewish clarinetist, the most popular musician (not just the most popular jazz musician, but the most popular musician, period!) in the world.
At the peak of jazz music, Glenn Miller surpassed even him, selling millions of records. During the period of 1939-1942, he recorded 16 #1 songs and 69 top ten songs which surpassed even Elvis and the Beatles. His signature hit “In The Mood” to this day is well known by jazz fans and non jazz fans alike, and it stands to be arguably the most popular song of the swing era.
At the peak of jazz music, Glenn Miller surpassed even him, selling millions of records. During the period of 1939-1942, he recorded 16 #1 songs and 69 top ten songs which surpassed even Elvis and the Beatles. His signature hit “In The Mood” to this day is well known by jazz fans and non jazz fans alike, and it stands to be arguably the most popular song of the swing era.
So, when we talk about whether or not jazz is popular or not, we have to keep this context and history in mind. Jazz is no longer popular music, but we can’t say it never was popular. Times change, tastes and trends change, and today rock and roll is nowhere near as popular as hip hop or EDM. But if you’re interested in popular music, you should know it’s history and development, and if you trace it back, you will find that all roads lead back to jazz, and that’s why it’s so important. Jazz has had a lasting influence and undeniable impact on popular music.
Next, we will look at how jazz transformed popular singing and how it influenced contemporary pop singers.
In it, he uses as his evidence the top-selling jazz albums of all time as evidence. Let’s take a look:
