In the 1920s and 1930s, when jazz was a relative newcomer to the music scene, oft-photographed songstress Josephine Baker fled racism in the United States for France, where she quickly rose to popularity. Baker was not alone; she and other musicians, such as saxophonist Coleman Hawkins, emigrated to a France that welcomed the musical form even under the shadow of the German occupation. According to Paris-based jazz musician Rene Urtreger, when World War II ended, the French had openly embraced American cultural influences--food, movies and jazz included.
In his book, "Making Jazz French: Music and Modern Life in Interwar Paris," Jeffrey Jackson discusses the origin of the controversy caused by jazz in Paris during the early 1920s. Reactions varied due to both the newness and foreign airs that surrounded jazz, which was seen as an African-influenced American import. French-based American musicians were feared to be taking jobs from local musicians, yet jazz as a musical form had already taken hold on the French ear. Fears were gradually dispelled during the late 1920s, and the French embraced jazz as their own.
Josephine Baker was a sensational singer who was wildly popular in Paris in the 1920s, but she was only one of many who made their names as jazz musicians in France. Django Reinhardt, a Belgian-born gypsy, traveled to Paris with his family and was famous for his accurate technique on the guitar, which he played with only two fingers of the left hand and full use of the right. Stéphane Grapelli was a violinist who led the Hot Club in Paris along with Reinhardt. The Hot Club is looked to as "the prototype of all later jazz clubs," according to the Louisiana State Museum website.
Individual musicians were not the only ones to strike a chord in France; the band of the all-black, Harlem-based Army regiment known as The Hellfighters was led by James Reese Europe, a legendary American ragtime bandleader. The band toured France in part to boost morale and friendliness between the French and Americans.
Henri Matisse is one of the most prominent examples of the direct influence of jazz music on French artistic culture. Notably, Matisse created work commissioned by the publisher of Verve magazine, a publication that appeared in both French and English. These 20 compositions are collected in a book titled, "Jazz," and feature vibrant, black cut-out figures, bold colors, and a strong sense of movement. Other artists, set designers, and costume makers, such as Pablo Picasso, Paul Poiret and Erté, created work that was strongly influenced by jazz. The Art Deco movement flourished in France during the 1920s and bears hallmark influences of jazz culture as well.
According to the Louisiana State Museum website, the French were "the first to consider jazz worthy of serious study," while Americans tended to view the musical genre strictly in terms of its entertainment value. Jazz has continued to influence other musical forms, such as bebop, which became popular in the 1940s, and rhythm and blues, which continues in popularity. The influence and prominence of jazz as both a musical form and a topic worthy of scholarship is evidenced with such events as The Getty Center's 2007 conference, titled "Côte à Côte--Coast to Coast: Art and Jazz in France and California."