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Lesson 1Lesson 3Lesson 4Lesson 5
2 The Jazz Age and The Swing Era

Assessment

1. Which statement is most correct? Louis Armstrong made a significant contribution to:

  1. the development of the improvised jazz solo and popular singing styles
  2. the development of the popular song
  3. the development of the modern recording industry
  4. the development of big band arrangements
2. Which of the following was not a principal reason that African Americans moved to the North in the early 20th century?
  1. to escape segregation and Jim Crow laws
  2. because few blacks lived in the South
  3. in response to articles in the Chicago Defender
  4. for economic opportunities
3. Which of the following statements about Prohibition is correct?
  1. Prohibition helped the development of jazz because speakeasies employed musicians
  2. Prohibition was considered a huge success
  3. Prohibition was repealed through an order by the President
  4. Prohibition helped keep jazz musicians separate from gangsters and others involved in illegal bootlegging
4. Which of the following three events are in the correct chronological order?
  1. the Great Depression, the Jazz Age, World War II
  2. “Rhapsody in Blue” performed for the first time, attack on Pearl Harbor, Prohibition repealed
  3. radio DJs become celebrities, World War II, Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings
  4. growth of big bands, attack against Pearl Harbor, musicians’ union strike against record companies
5. In the 1920s and 1930s, jazz developed most rapidly in:
  1. California and the Southwest
  2. urban areas with growing immigrant and African-American populations
  3. the northwestern region of the United States
  4. rural areas with large African-American populations
6. A style of piano playing in which the left hand alternates between bass notes and chords and the right hand plays melody and improvisation is called:
  1. scat
  2. call and response
  3. stride
  4. riff
7. Which of the following inventions were most significant in spreading the popularity of jazz music?
  1. the airplane and the automobile
  2. movies and television
  3. radio and recording
  4. the telegraph and the telephone
8. When Benny Goodman hired Teddy Wilson and Lionel Hampton:
  1. he continued to support the norm of segregated jazz bands
  2. he followed the examples of desegregation begun by baseball and the armed forces
  3. he helped break down racial barriers by performing with an integrated band
  4. he was labeled a “moldy fig”
9. Which of these instruments is not part of a rhythm section?
  1. trumpet
  2. bass
  3. piano
  4. drums
10. During World War II singers began to be more popular than jazz instrumentalists in part because:
  1. musicians didn’t record due to their boycott of the recording industry
  2. many musicians were drafted into the armed forces
  3. jazz bands were not presented on radio
  4. military swing bands were touring Europe
An initiative of the National Endowment for the ArtsProduced by Jazz at Lincoln CenterSupported by the Verizon Foundation