At the onset of the 20th century, America underwent an enormous change in the overall social structure, as well as the geographical layout of communities and their respective cultures.  With the initiation of World War I, soldiers traveled overseas to fight, and vacated a large number of jobs in the industrial sector in the northern United States.  What followed was the Great Migration, as thousands of African-Americans migrated north to fill these vacated jobs, and pursue the American Dream (Gioia).  A unique environment developed, a middle ground between high brow, middle class attempts to assimilate, and the low brow, working class struggles to survive in the gutter.  While similar environments existed in both Chicago and New York in the 1920s, New York became an important center for jazz.  The middle and low classes interacted with each, unlike in the deeply divided north and south sides of Chicago.  A creative ground was established that would push the musical medium while it maintained a conversation with its audience and their surroundings(Lyttelton).

Jazz in New York began with James P. Johnson around 1912, before the Old Dixieland Jazz Band had formed, and before King Oliver and Louis Armstrong had moved to Chicago.  Johnson developed what was called the Harlem stride piano style, where the left hand would keep a rhythm and the right hand would play a melody.  It was a continuation of ragtime, but it further advanced the style by increasing the tempo, picking up the intensity, and allowing for more improvisation.  This reflected the living situation at the time in Harlem.  The influx of African-Americans from the south brought together a diverse group.  While they were all of African descent, there cultures were very different.  Many wanted to hold on to some of their roots, but they had very little nostalgia for the oppressive Jim Crow laws they were hoping to escape.  There were two sides to this developing area of Harlem.  An artistic, middle class black society that was part of the Harlem Renaissance movement in art and literature, and a working class society where multiple families lived in tight quarters and struggled to pay rent.  Both groups sought out a proud existence in this new, more free setting.  During the Harlem Renaissance, blacks began to participate in the high culture that was to match that of Europe.  They were hoping to be looked at as a productive human race as opposed to the more animalistic treatment they had received in the south.  The flip side was that at the same time, families were piling in on top of each other struggling to pay rent.  Rooms were rented out in shifts, and parties were held to try and cover the expense that was a much higher percentage, relative to their salaries than in other areas(Gioia).  

Fletcher Henderson and Duke Ellington followed Johnson, as they tried to respond to the environment that existed in Harlem during the 1920s.  They brought a largeness to jazz, with the beginning of the big band which reflected their urban surroundings as they played in places like the Cotton Club, and Club Alabam(Gioia).  The audience wanted a place to dance and let loose, and in order to keep their jobs band leaders were willing to give the audience what they wanted.  Russian philosopher Mikhail Bhaktin’s proposed that literary works are affected by works from the past as well as works in the future.  Similarly jazz bands used the stage as an outlet to communicate the struggles of working for white club owners and never quite feeling free.  This was shared by working class that simply punched the clock.  As the audience responded artists were pushed to explore those feelings further.  The instruments were described as sounding human which resonated with the audience, both black and white, bringing down walls of segregation and opening up the genre to a broader audience.