1920’s Jazz: From Dancing to Discs | Hits + Myths Presentation

A presentation by Michael Deakin

At the beginning of the 1920’s, US Prohibition tilted public enthusiasm towards small venues. Three varieties of music were gaining popularity: blues, ragtime and jazz, each classed as unrelated categories. “Dance” music, popularised by Vernon and Irene Castle, had been the most popular live music, but recording techniques were not yet capable of producing “records” that did justice to the sound of live performance. All this changed around 1924, when electronic recording took over from acoustic sound capture. Ma Rainey, one of best-known live vaudeville performers agreed (at last) to go into the recording studio, with spectacular results. Improved sounds created bigger audiences, and the musical stars were borne.