About: Music in Charleston

As it has with every aspect of Charleston, South Carolina culture, the Gullah community has had a tremendous influence on Music in Charleston, especially when it comes to the early development of jazz music. In turn, the music of Charleston has had an influence on that of the rest of the country. The geechee dances that accompanied the music of the dock workers in Charleston followed a rhythm that inspired Eubie Blake's "Charleston Rag" and soon later James P. Johnson's "The Charleston", as well as the dance craze that defined a nation in the 1920s. "Ballin' the Jack", which was the popular dance in the years before "The Charleston", was written by native Charlestonian Chris Smith.