Harlem in Montmartre: The French Jazz Age Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. The term 'Négrophilie' was coined by the French, probably at the end of the 19th century to describe their interest in black American and African culture. What did the term eventually specifically mean and, with all good intentions, come to represent?

Answer: The joyful embracing of African-American creativity in the Jazz Age, by the Parisian avant-garde.

'Négrophilie' was a word coined by the French to describe, in every positive sense, their excitement over the incredible influence that African-American artistic innovation had upon the Paris of the 20s. It truly meant a love of anything Black, and the exciting freedom of expression and creativity that was added to an already exciting city.

The avant-garde used the entire situation to provokingly challenge the narrow and bigoted views of the bourgeoisie, in the hope of bringing about some sort of societal change. For the ex-pat Americans, it was a breath of freedom and fresh air, away from the petty restrictions and the violence attached to segregation.

2. France was a major colonial power prior to the 1950s. They had colonized large areas of Africa, particularly West Africa. African arts and crafts had slowly begun to find their way to dealers and auction houses in Paris. The avant-garde French artists began to sense the power of these pieces. Among the influential artists of the day who, in particular, began to incorporate the African themes in his work?

Answer: Pablo Picasso

By the 1920s, already giants in the art world - Picasso, Brancusi, Giacommetti, Leger and Man Ray, to name but a few - were entranced by the tribal jewelery and clothes. Paris fashions and the art of the avant-garde expressed an overwhelming influence of 'l'art nègre'.

At the beginning of the 20s, the stage was set and the atmosphere inviting. No-one who was anyone wore Cartier if they wanted to be truly in fashion, it was those baubles, bangles and beads that led the style.

3. The United States entered WWI rather belatedly in 1917. Harlem was quick to volunteer for their patriotic duty. They formed the New York Heavy Foot Infantry, but in Harlem they were known by the title the French bestowed upon them: 'The Harlem Hell Fighters'. What type of jobs or trade did these men primarily come from?

Answer: They were musicians.

The Fifteenth were a valiant fighting force, and were the most decorated American combat unit in WWI. They got a chance to get a taste of France's Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité, and liked what they saw. They were the musicians of Harlem, now ready to bring that sound to Paris. Many jumped at the offer of excellent employment in a racially tolerant environment.

The demand for Black American musicians was growing, as more and more of the small Montmatre night clubs began to feature 'Le Jazz 'ot'.

4. For the Parisian avant-garde, embrace of African culture and the growing population of American Blacks was a direct shot across the bows of the bourgeoisie. When Langston Hughes, the poet and writer and his contemporaries arrived in Paris, they caused a stir and were admired for their ...?

Answer: Otherness

'Otherness' came to describe that which cannot be described. The White Parisians began talking about their 'other' affair. 'Other' music, 'other art and design'. Man Ray did a series of black and white photographs of Rose Selavy and Nancy Cunard. In these pictures,they have the expression of longing for 'otherness'. The same identification by association with the black form.

It is interesting to note that those French-speaking Black Africans from Senegal or the Cote d'Ivoire or other French colonies did not receive the same freedom and acceptance offered to the Americans. These black colonial French were seen and treated as second class citizens.

5. Almost immediately after WWI, Harlem experienced a renaissance in all Black artistic and creative endeavors, but especially in the emergence and popularization of jazz. An amalgam of blues and ragtime was emerging with a less formalized syncopation - and that was how Jazz was born. Who, of all the great musicians of the time, is reputed to be the originator of Jazz Piano?

Answer: Jelly Roll Morton

Jelly Roll Morton is reputed to be the originator of the first piano Jazz, although many other great musicians were playing their versions of this new sound. Jelly Roll did not have the degree of improvisation that some of the others had, but by all accounts he and his band sure knew how to swing.

James P. Johnson was recognized for his early contributions to Jazz piano, as well as being the writer of a little musical number from the show 'Running Wild'. He wrote 'the Charleston', a jolly little dance that encouraged the emergence of scantily clad flappers on both sides of the Atlantic. The French embraced absolutely the innovative nature of the music and the larger than life characters who played it. Jazz represented a break from the strictures of bourgeois life, and the fashions and tastes that went along with it's structured and unimaginative existence.

6. Of course, the best known of the Black American performer of this time was Josephine Baker. In 1925, she and her musicians and dance troupe opened in 'La Revue Nègre'. To the thrill of the Paris audience, they positively exploded on stage. In her opening number, what was the design of her stage costume?

Answer: None, she was naked except for a pink flamingo feather.

The presentation of Josephine Baker in her magnificent sultry nakedness, proved for the first time, to the unsuspecting French, that black is beautiful. It had a visibly stirring effect upon the white Parisian male. The Revue launched two items that caused the Parisian audience to go wild.

The first, as mentioned, was Josephine's stunning state of undress, and the second was the 'Charleston'. Introduced in the Revue Nègre, and danced by Josephine in her lithe, erotic, almost lascivious style, Paris threw caution to the wind, entranced by the free-flowing music, and a dance that dissolved all inhibitions.

7. Among the excellent musicians playing in Josephine Baker's troupe, was perhaps one of the first and finest jazz soloists. Sidney Bechet became renowned, at an early age, as a true virtuoso of the jazz clarinet. He was described by Ernst Ansermet (the Swiss conductor) as: 'The extraordinary clarinet virtuoso Bechet is an artist of genius'. Despite his tremendous success on the clarinet, Bechet became equally legendary on another jazz instrument, giving it voice and expanding it's important role in the best jazz being played by bands on both sides of the Atlantic. What was this instrument?

Answer: Soprano saxophone

Bechet had originally tried to play an old, beat-up soprano sax, and had such difficulty in attempting to play it, that he took it back to the pawn shop from which he had purchased it. About a year later he bought a brand new instrument, and was successful in making it work beautifully as part of a jazz ensemble. Bechet eventually became even better known for his jazz virtuosity on the soprano sax than the clarinet.

Originally from New Orleans and of Creole ancestry, he spent most of his life from the 20s on in Europe. He returned to Paris to live in 1952, and was widely received. Many of his later compositions were inspiired by the French countryside. He was a brilliant improviser, with a passion for life and music.

8. A fascinating addition to the flamboyant women who were successful in Black Montmatre was Miss Ada Beatrice Queen Victoria Louise Smith aka Bricktop. A performer and (in her words) saloon-keeper. After successfully assisting in turning her first venue from a dive into a real hotspot, she managed to open her own, namesake establishment across the street. Well-documented gossip has two epitomes of the Jazz Age fighting over her on the corner of Rue Pigalle and Rue Fontaine. Who were these two gallants.

Answer: Scott Fitzgerald and Cole Porter

It was, apparently, Fitzgerald and Porter that were prepared to resort to fisticuffs for the attentions of Miss Bricktop. In a fit of boyish one-upmanship, Cole Porter wrote the very haunting 'Miss Otis Regrets', which ends with the lady being lynched by the mob for shooting her lover.

Bricktop ran a successful establishment, marrying a saxophonist Peter Duconge in 1929. She remained in Paris long enough to see two local boys work hard on their techniques, forming France's first professional Jazz band. They were, of course, Django Reinhardt and Stefan Grapelli.

9. Although originally the term 'art nègre' had been used to refer to African decorative pieces and the influence they had upon the French artistic community. The effect of the influx of highly innovative and creative black American artists, with freedom from bigotry, did in fact produce a culture of much greater breadth and importance than originally thought. By what name was this movement known?

Answer: Le Tumulte Noir

Le Tumulte Noir takes into account the combined impacts of African sculpture with the impact of African-American music and dance upon Parisian popular entertainment and modernist art, literature and performance art. It gives a new understanding of the development of modernist primitivism, from Matisse and Picasso to Futurism, Dada, Surrealism and Purism.

Contemporary thought claims that performers such as Josephine Baker and Sidney Bechet were seen to have impacted the political balance between Africa and Europe during the colonial period.

Whatever the longer term effects of the age, we know that we missed some incredible music.

10. By the end of the 20s, many of the American ex-pats had gone home, such as Fitzgerald and Hemingway. The Wall Street crash of 1929, and the subsequent depression, had made it financially difficult for many to live abroad. Many African Americans still wished to avoid the dire lack of jobs in the States, as well as the racial bigotry. What occurred in Paris to make the welcome less inviting for the ex-pat Harlem musicians?

Answer: The arrival in great numbers of the Ku Klux Klan.

Large numbers of Ku Klux Klan members arrived in Paris. Their primary mission was to establish racial segregation. They hoped to instill in the French that their open-minded racial views had weakened the structure of society. They emphasized the dangers of Black men becoming involved with White women. They spread fear and racist propaganda, so that the Jazz-based jobs became less available, and people began to be wary of coming into predominantly black areas.

Many returned to the States, but many also found work in other parts of Europe. With the rise of Nazi power in Germany, things became even more difficult.

The party was over.

Source: Author Englizzie

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
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Post WWI Paris opened its arms to African American musicians, artists and writers. They flocked to France to escape segregation and bigotry at home. A new word was spawned for this phenomenon: 'Négrophilie'. Follow me for a look at Le Jazz hot et al.

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