From Jugs to Jazz: Examining the Role of 19th Century Stoneware in the Rise of African American Jug Bands

Summary

During the 19th and early 20th centuries, African American musicians harnessed the acoustic capacities of stoneware jugs in musical groups that came to be known as "jug bands". These bands played tunes on variety of household objects turned instruments, blending African musical styles with experimental rhythms. In many cases, jugs were the centerpiece of these musical ensembles. Jug players produced tuba-like intonations by blowing and vocalizing into their instruments at different angles (Oliver 1998). As jug music spread from rural venues to urban saloons and nightclubs, Black musicians transformed popular music and catalyzed the development of ragtime, blues, and jazz across the United States. The history of jug bands illustrates the ways in which ordinary stoneware vessels became plastic mediums for Black artists to express a kaleidoscope of dissonant feelings, desires, and aspirations in the midst of racial subjugation.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2018   •
• "You Can Feel It All Over" - Places of Popular Music Performance in Historical and Contemporary Archaeology

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 813