What effect did jazz have on the Great Depression?
In the meantime, Kansas City seemed to escape the hardships of the Great Depression. As cash flew through the city’s gambling hot spots, saloon owners profited from the sale of illegal drugs and alcohol. This wide-open nightlife may be the reason that jazz was able to thrive in the city. A looser, more spontaneous, infectious brand of swing was played in nightclubs across the city. Unemployed jazz artists fled there to find jobs. Soon Kansas City’s jazz scene grew as exciting as New York’s or Chicago’s.
