The popularity of jazz occurred during a very turbulent time for countries around the world. It started to develop in the United States towards the end of 19th century, and took the world by storm around the 1920s, a time period known as the "Jazz Age" or the Roaring Twenties. This was a time of economic prosperity in the United States and Europe associated with the end of the First World War, and social and cultural aspects of these societies had room to grow. Jazz had first been introduced across the pond towards the end of the war by James Reese Europe, leader of the infantry band called "The Hellfighters". The band played jazz for French and British soldiers, and it soon spread quickly throughout Europe, using the Roaring Twenties as a catalyst. The origins of jazz in Spain came from the United States, and this direct connection is still very apparent today.

​As jazz grew more and more globally, the United States still produced the most musicians who became household names, like Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Earl Hines. International travel was still hindered by technology, as the Wright Brothers had taken flight only two decades prior, and a trip on a boat from New York to London still took around five days. At this time, it was difficult for popular culture to spread across continents. Fortunately for jazz, however, the radio had just been invented and quickly became popularized around the world. Jazz was able to take off in countries were it hadn't even been played live, as long as it was known and played by the local radio broadcasters. Jazz was trending in North America and Europe, so it was not uncommon for it to be heard in Spanish homes and cars between the early 1920s and when Franco began to censor the media, including radio stations, in October of 1939. With almost two full decades of exposure, musicians in Spain were inspired and had learned how to play jazz, and the Spanish jazz scene began to develop on its own.

Franco's nationalist regime created a time period where the Spanish jazz scene was isolated, so there wasn't much direct American influence on Spanish jazz for the first couple decades after 1939. See more on censorship under Franco here. Although Spanish musicians, jazz musicians included, were still allowed by law to play and perform under Franco's dictatorship, this was a period of serious economic hardship for most Spaniards. Many were unable to continue making a living making music as they had before, and in turn had to find other jobs to support themselves and provide for their families. A composer from Catalonia, Federico Mompou, found work running a bell foundry, without any time to compose, just to make ends meet. Bands and orchestras dissolved, and many musicians, conductors, and composers like Julián Bautista, Pablo Casals, and Adolfo Salazar gave up their craft entirely. Beyond just the financial aspects, the spirit behind Spanish culture and music had been crushed from such a violent and deadly Civil War and it was not revived with a fascist dictatorship following the war. This did not promote much development of jazz in Spain during this time. After World War II, once Franco began promoting his administration's support for American culture, Spaniards became more exposed to the global music scene again, which was dominated by the United States, although the Spanish music scene had changed drastically. The Spanish love for music wasn't the same, so it took several years for jazz clubs and bars to reopen, and even longer for the energy surrounding jazz to even get close to where it was before.

With less political barriers, American jazz flooded the Spanish jazz scene yet again, and by this time technology had advanced. Musicians began going on world tours, and music was able to spread much more rapidly and easily from culture to culture. By the late 1940s, jazz was starting to get pushed out of its #1 position by rock and roll, another genre of music that originated in the United States.

From years of war and decades of oppression, Spaniards lost many opportunities for significant social and cultural advancements as a country in the early 20th century. Spain is frequently considered to be "behind" in many cultural aspects compared to the countries it is in such close proximity to, as Franco's reign was one of the longest and most recent dictatorships in modern history. Although Spaniards were presented with obstacles preventing them from doing so, the music still grew and survived, and the country now has a rich environment surrounding music.

References:
Javier Suárez-Pajares, ed., Música Española Entre Dos Guerras (Granada: Archivo Manuel de Falla, 2002).
https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20120224-travelwise-the-birthplace-of-jazz
https://hancockhistoricalmuseum.org/i-love-the-1920s/jazz-music-during-the-1920s/
https://www.britannica.com/topic/radio/Continental-Europe
https://web.archive.org/web/20070311153032/http://www.portalmundos.com/mundoradio/historia/historia.htm
https://holocaustmusic.ort.org/politics-and-propaganda/spains-musical-politics-during-world-war-ii/
https://www.theguardian.com/music/shortcuts/2016/jul/18/bad-vibraciones-the-pop-songs-franco-didnt-want-spain-to-hear

It's no secret that the music scene in Spain is an important and rich part of the culture. But when most people think of music in Spain, they think of flamenco, dancing, and red dresses. They probably won't think about jazz. But for my practicum, I will be exploring the world of jazz in Spain and learning about its development in the country over the last century. After stumbling across a lot of jazz-flamenco fusion and because of the prominence of flamenco in Spain, I thought it only fitting to dive deeper into the influences that it has had on the jazz scene here. And as I've continued with my research, I have found that there are more similarities between jazz and flamenco that I originally thought. Probably the most characteristic element that unites jazz and flamenco is the dominating presence of improvisation in both genres. ​

The origins of flamenco are tied back to the Spanish regions of Andalusia and Murcia, and have significant influence from the Roma populations that have resided there. The development of flamenco has been influenced over centuries by many different cultures, including non-Roma Spaniards, Sephardic Jews, and the Moors. The Roma influence, however, is by far the most notable and has been given the most credit. Groups of Roma people fled what is present-day India in the 15th century and a large population settled in southern Spain, and what is now Andalusia. They brought many different instruments, like castanets, tambourines, and bells, along with massive repertoires of both song and dance. Shortly after their arrival, flamenco as an art form began to emerge. There are three main parts to flamenco: the toque (guitar), the cante (song), and the baile (dance). The toque is typically characterized by rapid single note melodies on a traditional flamenco guitar. Instrumentally, this is also usually accompanied by castanets or clapping, often incorporated into the baile as well. Although the cante and baile are very important parts of flamenco, for my research purposes and comparing with jazz (where it's not as common to have singers and dancers), I will only be analyzing the instrumental aspects of flamenco in this blog. 

Some of the most notable jazz-flamenco albums from both Spanish and American musicians are "¡Jazz Flamenco!" by Pedro Iturralde, "Born" by Joan Bibiloni, and "Bolero" by Larry Coryell. With jazz being such a diverse genre, the genre of jazz-flamenco maintains this same diversity. Just in the albums mentioned, there are several different types of songs, from blues ballads to swing to Latin jazz, all with flamenco influences, primarily in the presence of the guitar. ¡Jazz Flamenco! in particular has a very interesting theme; although Pedro Iturralde is a saxophonist, there is still a large spotlight on the guitar played in a very flamenco-sounding style, with single note melodies and little to no background from other instruments. This type of guitar is also featured in every song, sometimes only at the beginning, and then a typical jazz combination of bass, drums, and piano, with Iturralde's saxophone being highlighted takes over, often taking away the guitar altogether, like in "Adiós Granada", "Zorrongo gitano", and "Las morrillas de Jaén". Iturralde's combination of jazz and flamenco is bit less of a fusion, and while it highlights both components, they tend to be separated in each song, with the flamenco element coming first, and the jazz element finishing out the rest of the song. "Born" combines the jazz and flamenco elements a bit more cohesively, where there aren't two distinct sections (one jazz, one flamenco) like in ¡Jazz Flamenco!. Instead, Joan Bibiloni keeps the traditional flamenco-style guitar highlighted throughout the piece, but has it supported by other instruments, especially percussion, in the background. The guitar in flamenco songs is typically more isolated, with very little backing chords from other instruments, and it isn't uncommon for a flamenco performance to have just a guitarist and a dancer with castanets. It is much less common to see such a small group playing jazz; even the smallest combos typically have 3 or more musicians: probably a drummer, keyboardist, guitarist, and usually a bassist too. In "Born", Bibiloni includes more of a jazz-style support while highlighting very flamenco-style guitar (nylon-sounding strings with quick, flowing melodies, and the occasional percussive elements by hitting/tapping the guitar itself). There are a few songs on the album that do separate the jazz and the flamenco a bit more, like "Una Vida Llarga i Tranqui-la", but not quite to the extent that Iturralde does in ¡Jazz Flamenco!. Although the very Spanish-sounding guitar is frequently the star of the show, the piano, electric guitar, bass, ad even some vocals also get a couple solos here and there throughout the album, which is much more typical of jazz compositions, where almost every song has a section dedicated to letting anyone take a solo. 

References:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/complicated-history-flamenco-spain-180973398/
https://www.britannica.com/art/flamenco
https://www.wondriumdaily.com/history-of-spanish-gypsies-romani-gitanos/
https://lastablasmadrid.com/en/about-flamenco/
​

Throughout the 19th century and into the early 20th century, Spain underwent what seemed to be constant political turmoil. With so many clashing political ideologies and philosophies, the monarchy at the time was at perpetually at risk of uprisings against it. Decades of coups and wars ensued, and in 1868, a successful uprising that involved both movements and riots in cities, the middle class, and the military, overthrew Queen Isabella II of the House of Bourbon. The First Spanish Republic was created soon after, but the monarchy quickly took over again with Carlists (preferred a different branch of the House of Bourbon to rule) and anarchists in opposition. This  back and forth between various different types of government, with civil unrest, violence, and dissatisfaction from most, continued on for a long time, and Spain spent many years under various republics, monarchies, military dictatorships, and democracies. By the 1930s, Spain was very divided and in 1933, right wing parties took over representation in the government. This caused further division that progressively became more serious and violent. There was a series of anarchist, socialist, and communist insurrections in retaliation. Then, Francisco Franco and his nationalist supporters started an uprising in an attempt to overthrow the republic at the time. In more right-wing areas, Franco was able to quickly establish fascist rule, but was met with much more opposition from leftists in larger cities. Threatened with potential defeat in the cities, Franco called upon then-Nazi Germany and fascist Italy for military aid in overthrowing any other form of authority. This involvement started the Spanish Civil War in 1936, with Franco's nationalist administration succeeding in taking over the nation's political power in 1939. Thus began Franco's regime as a fascist dictator ruling over the the country of Spain, promoting anti-communism, nationalism, conservatism, national Catholicism, and militarism. The people of Spain lived in a very dark time under his dictatorship. Forced labor, concentration camps, and executions were responsible for up to 50,000 deaths. Franco strived for uniform ideologies among the Spanish people, so his military dictatorship enforced the censorship of non-conservative political ideologies, any religious ideals outside of Catholicism, western culture, references to abortion, divorce, adultery, sexuality, indecent language, criticisms of Franco and his administration or any of his policies, and more. Franco had the military authority and intimidation to enforce this censorship, and those who represented different cultures, identities, or philosophies that Franco was trying to eliminate would in turn live a life under oppression or be executed under the dictatorship. 

Although Franco's regime began with strict censorship of western culture, the Second World War drastically changed this. As a fascist dictator who had called upon other dictatorships and their militaries (Germany and Italy) to help him assume and maintain power in his own country, Franco aligned politically with the same authorities who ended up becoming part of the Axis powers in World War II. Spain remained neutral during the war, and by 1945 when the war ended and the Axis powers were dissolved, Spain was left relatively isolated and Franco's administration needed to find its support elsewhere. The United States had just proven their strength and success as a nation in the war, so Franco ordered the media to begin a campaign portraying Franco's Spain as an ally to western countries, and in particular, the United States.  This also brought changes in cultural policy, and Spaniards were encouraged to engage with western culture, directly opposing what the administration had promoted for six years prior. Jazz, as an inherently American genre of music, was more popular before Franco assumed power, but after WW2, jazz clubs and bars reopened in cities where it previously had a more prominent presence, like Barcelona, Valencia, and Madrid. But the popularity of jazz never reached the same level and spread that it had before Franco's regime. Jazz became a widespread global phenomenon beginning in the 1920s, especially after the invention of the radio, and was the most popular genre of music until rock and roll took over in the 1950s with the British invasion. While other countries' jazz communities thrived during these decades, Spain was in the midst of political turmoil or under a fascist dictatorship that censored jazz for the majority of these decades. By the time Franco allowed western culture and influence back into Spain, rock and roll was becoming increasingly popular, quickly topping the popularity of jazz as a genre globally. Jazz continued to thrive in Spain, as it was reminiscent for many of the years before the Spanish Civil War, but due to the foreign policy and political state of Spain at the time when jazz was thriving most in the rest of the world, Spanish jazz wasn't able to have quite the same development that it had in most other countries. 

During the period of strict censorship under Franco's rule, it wasn't music as a whole that was censored, it was just western music in particular, or any other type of music that posed a threat to Franco's regime and the general sentiment towards Franco. Franco's administration actually promoted Spanish music, and encouraged the spread and performance of styles of music such as flamenco and zarzuela. During this time, this type of Spanish music was free to be performed and evolve as genres, but the reality was that the country had just been through a bloody civil war with hundreds of thousands of deaths, and the rest of the world soon after was thrown into a bloody world war with tens of millions of deaths. This period was not the most joyful time for Spaniards, despite having a neutral position in the war, as supplies and imports were also severely restricted for citizens, and most had to deal with decades of extreme poverty, with higher priorities for most than making and playing music. 
​
References:
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/spanish-civil-warPreston, Paul. The Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revolution and Revenge. W.W. Norton & Co., 2007.
Carr, Raymond. The Republic and the Civil War in Spain. London: Macmillan, 1971.
https://journals.openedition.org/temoigner/3512
https://uvadoc.uva.es/bitstream/handle/10324/52685/Performing-anti-Spanish-body.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Jazz originated in the late 1800s in New Orleans, Louisiana. Predominantly played and developed by the black American community, it began with influences from gospel music, ragtime, and blues. It became popular in brothels and black Americans were most known for playing it, so given the sexual and racial connotations during this period of time in the United States, jazz was criticized as a "dirty" art form that, if played or promoted, was "bad taste". This soon changed once white artists started playing and recording it while taking credit for creating it as well. Jazz became increasingly popular, first throughout the rest of the United States and then worldwide. The global reach, particularly to Spain, mostly came from popular American jazz musicians visiting big cities to perform. Jazz in Spain grew so much that big jazz festivals started popping up, such as the Voll-Damm Barcelona International Jazz Festival and the San Sebastian International Jazz Festival.

This growth, however, did not come without setbacks. As early as the 1920s, Barcelona became a hot spot for jazz in Spain, with its first jazz club opening in 1934. However, dark times for the country were right around the corner. In 1936, the Spanish civil war began, with Francisco Franco's nationalist regime taking over in 1939. As part of his nationalist agenda, non-Spanish ideals were suppressed, including jazz, almost extinguishing this new flame that had just started burning strong in a few big cities in Spain. Spain isn't necessarily known for its jazz scene, but it is very well-known for flamenco. Flamenco originated in Spain and was supported by Franco's agenda and this is were jazz was able to continue lingering, through jazz-flamenco fusion. Jazz musicians in Spain played more flamenco music at this time, but as they were still jazz musicians, their influence came through, and jazz was able to stick around. 

After its introduction from American culture into the country, the jazz scene in Spain continued to be significantly influenced by American jazz musicians. At a given time, it was likely that the most popular jazz musicians in the United States were also the most popular jazz musicians in Spain because of the global popularity that these jazz musicians had when jazz was most popular. It was also very common for these jazz musicians to travel the world on tour, and of course make stops in large Spanish cities on their way, bringing the newest evolutions in jazz along with them. 

Spain has been considered "a desert for jazz" by critics like Leonard Feather, a British jazz musician, and it hasn't been able to have the same development that the countries around have had. Other, larger, political and social issues got in the way, but this doesn't mean that jazz wasn't still able to thrive. And while the biggest names in jazz may not be from Spain, and it might not be the first genre of music that comes to mind when you think of Spain, there is far more of an abundancy of jazz here than most people may realize.

References:
https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20170224-the-mysetrious-origins-of-jazz
http://blog.donquijote.org/2015/3/jazz-in-spain-from-the-golden-age-to-nowadays
https://rateyourmusic.com/genre/flamenco-jazz/