Prohibition “jump-started the Jazz Age.”  Jazz had both a positive and a negative effect on people’s lives. Jazz was the most popular music of the prohibition age. The most popular dance of that time was “ The Charleston” by Lovie Austin and her blues serenaders.  A lot of people visited speakeasies (illegal bars) to drink smuggled alcohol and dance to jazz. Singers also went to speakeasies. They went to perform, not drink. Duke Ellington, Bojangles Robinson, Ethel Waters, Fred and Adele Astaire, Bix Biederbecke, and many more preformed at speakeasies across the country. Jazz music was hated by many people. Many people blamed bad behavior on jazz. They said it was “a Bolshevik element protesting against law and order” others said it was “ an influence for evil in society.”