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Lesson 2Lesson 3Lesson 4Lesson 5
1 The Advent of Jazz, The dawn of the 20th Century

Assessment

1. Blues music was brought to New Orleans by blacks seeking:

  1. work in the cotton fields of the Mississippi River Delta
  2. better-paying jobs on the waterfront
  3. to move to the Caribbean
  4. relief from segregation
2. Jazz emerged among black musicians in New Orleans in the late 1890s as a fusion of a number of musical styles. Choose the grouping of words that best describes the style of jazz:
  1. patriotic, marching music, brass band
  2. somber, operatic, old-school
  3. syncopated, improvisational, emotionally powerful
  4. bent vocals, three chords, 12-bar sequence
3. Toward the end of the 19th century, three important causes of race-related conflict were:
  1. segregation, the second-class status of Creoles and African Americans, and the unfavorable style of music known as “ragtime”
  2. Jim Crow laws, the Civil War, and the Supreme Court’s ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson
  3. the Supreme Court’s ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson, the end of the Reconstruction era, and Jim Crow laws
  4. the end of the Reconstruction era, the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Dred Scott case, and segregation
4. In the 1890s, a man named Homer Adolph Plessy presented his case before the Supreme Court to argue:
  1. that racial segregation was unconstitutional
  2. that separation of Creoles and African Americans was illegal
  3. that African Americans and Creoles should be allowed to use the same facilities as whites
  4. A and C
5. Which of the following musical styles best anticipated the birth of jazz?
  1. ragtime—because, despite its critics, it was America’s most popular music for 25 years
  2. blues—because it allowed musicians to express an infinite number of emotions
  3. church hymns and spirituals—because of their use of call and response, moans, and bent notes
  4. all of the above
6 At the turn of the 20th century, New Orleans was considered the most cosmopolitan city in the South because:
  1. Latin and Caribbean residents adopted the tradition of Mardi Gras
  2. it hosted two symphony orchestras and an opera house after the Civil War
  3. it was a sophisticated and progressive urban center that drew a diversity of culture, music, and celebration
  4. its population was represented by a few different ethnic groups
7. Although he was never recorded, one of the first jazz instrumentalists to combine the polyphony of marching bands with the emotional power of the blues was:
  1. Louis Armstrong
  2. Jelly Roll Morton
  3. Edward “Kid” Ory
  4. Charles “Buddy” Bolden
8. The first nationwide jazz hit was performed by:
  1. Louis Armstrong
  2. Jelly Roll Morton
  3. The Original Dixieland Jazz Band
  4. Sidney Bechet
9. Which of the following is least associated with jazz music?
  1. syncopated rhythms
  2. call and response
  3. improvisation
  4. vaudeville
10. Despite the racial oppression that characterized the era, jazz music gained popularity because:
  1. segregation prevented whites from playing jazz
  2. recordings of jazz music became available
  3. Creole and African American jazz artists moved out of New Orleans and took this musical style with them
  4. B and C
An initiative of the National Endowment for the ArtsProduced by Jazz at Lincoln CenterSupported by the Verizon Foundation