The cradle of jazz - New Orleans!
From Congo Square to Swing: The birth of jazz in New Orleans.
Jazz grew in many places – but it was born in New Orleans
New Orleans, founded in 1718 by French colonial rulers, became a hub of the transatlantic slave trade just a year later. People from West Africa were forcibly taken to the colonies – to South America, the Caribbean, and also to Louisiana, which remained under French control until 1803.
The city quickly developed into a melting pot of cultures: Creoles, enslaved and free African Americans, French, Spaniards, and Americans lived in close proximity. Their music, dances, and rituals began to blend – and this is precisely where jazz originated.
Congo Square – a magical place
A unique phenomenon in New Orleans: On Sundays, the French Catholic colonial rulers allowed enslaved people to gather in Congo Square. There they danced, drummed, and sang – African rhythms met European march music, Creole melodies met Caribbean rhythms.
What happened in Congo Square was more than just entertainment – it was cultural synthesis. Congo Square brought together not only cultures from Africa and continental Europe, but also the cultures of slaves who had been brought to New Orleans from the Caribbean and the interior of the USA and had never themselves set foot on African soil.
Thus, spirituals, work songs and the call & response from the Baptist Church were added — all elements that are later found in the blues and that also find their way into the jazz tradition.
New Orleans: A city of music with opera and orchestra
Did you know that before the American Civil War, New Orleans had three opera houses and two symphony orchestras? Music was everywhere – and not just for white people. Free Black people also played, composed, and performed music at the highest level.
From freedom to segregation
The brief Reconstruction Era (1865–1877) brought formerly enslaved people twelve years of hope and freedom—including cultural freedom. But with the end of this era, these gains were undone. The Jim Crow laws established systematic racial segregation under the cynical motto "separate but equal," which was not officially declared unconstitutional until 1954.
Ragtime, Blues – and Swing
Towards the end of the 19th century, many African American musicians migrated within the USA. In cities like St. Louis and Chicago, ragtime and blues met – two musical styles that together formed the rhythmic and emotional basis of jazz.
Ragtime, with its characteristic syncopation (English: "ragged time"), laid the foundation for what we know today as the swing feeling: when the beat is suddenly not where you expect it to be – and that's exactly what makes the music groove.
Why is this important for us as dancers?
Because swing dancing and jazz are inextricably linked to this history. Every step, every rhythm we dance is part of a cultural heritage born from pain, creativity, resistance, and joy. Those who dance should also know where the music comes from – and why it sounds the way it does.
Want more? The next issue will continue with the first jazz bands and the role of New Orleans street music!
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