J is for Jazz

Today, we generally use the term Art Deco to apply to buildings of a particular style that were constructed during the heyday of the Art Deco style, so around 1919 to 1940.  

As we saw in A is for Art Deco the term was retrospectively applied to the style around the mid-1960s, its name coming from the title of the Exposition held in Paris in April 1925. Until this time, as the style was heavily influenced by amongst other things the jazz movement in music and dance, the terminology Jazz Moderne was used and often interchangeably with “le style Moderne”.

In 1926, Sir Hamilton Harty, the conductor of the Halle Orchestra which had been formed in, and had its home in Manchester, [1] defined jazz music thus:

“Just a noise for dancing.”

And, that “[h]e had never found it anything but sensual, noisy, and incredibly stupid.”

In an ironic newspaper piece printed in 1928, the writer of the article suggested that

“Because they were dancing, singing, shouting, and rolling milk churns about, a number of youths were fined at Loughborough. Evidently, Loughborough doesn’t know a jazz band when it comes across one.” [2]

Back to architecture, and personally, I think of Art Deco as being angular and brightly coloured, as in, for example, our current Odeon building, the colourful facade of which was created in 1936, pictured below in 2018. 

The more specific Streamline Moderne style is probably quite familiar to people as this was the style adopted for many of the original Odeon buildings across the country, not least our very own, which has more recently been known as Beacon Bingo. Note the smooth, and rounded corners of the building, pictured here in 2023

So, whether you call it Art Deco, Jazz Moderne, “le style Moderne”, or Streamline Moderne, we have examples in our lovely town. 

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Notes

[1] Nottingham Journal, 1 September 1926, pg. 3

[2] Nottingham Journal, 4 May 1928, pg. 6

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I'm taking part in the A-Z April Blogging Challenge!!

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Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

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