Chapter 6: The Birth of Jazz
One of the most unique and culturally significant contributions to early jazz came from the New Orleans funeral tradition. On the way to the cemetery, the brass band would perform hymns and dirges in a slow, solemn, and reverent style. The music reflected the gravity of the occasion and helped mourners process their grief. However, after the burial ceremony was completed, the return journey from the cemetery had a complete emotional shift. The same hymns would now be played at an upbeat tempo, often in a syncopated, ragtime-influenced style. This celebratory mood symbolized the idea that the deceased had been released from the burdens of earthly life and had passed into peace or glory. The transformation of musical style from somber to spirited captured the dual emotional registers that would come to define jazz itself.
Musicians often incorporated ragtime elements into their funeral marches, using steady bass patterns in the tuba or bass drum, wide leaps between notes in the lower voices, and syncopated melodies in the horns. These performances also contained an early form of double-time playing, where a slow tune was played at twice the tempo while maintaining the same harmonic rhythm, giving the piece a new energy and character.
A distinctive feature of these funeral bands was the tailgate trombone technique. Because some bands rode on flatbed wagons during the procession, the trombone player, whose instrument has a long slide, would be seated at the back of the wagon with the tailgate down, allowing space for the slide to move freely. This led to a performance style in which the trombone emphasized dramatic slides, smears, and scoops between notes, techniques that became hallmarks of Dixieland jazz. Today, the term tailgate trombone refers to this expressive, sliding style of jazz trombone playing. The jazz funeral tradition reinforced many musical values central to early jazz, including collective improvisation, emotional expressiveness, and rhythmic emphasis.