Celebrating the Triumph of Charlie Parker Essay

     During the 1920’s which is also known as the “Roaring Twenties”, Chicago became the focal point for Jazz after clubs around New Orleans were closed. Record deals were being made there and soon Jazz was being acknowledged for the brilliant music it played. Famous musicians who received acclaim for their work in Chicago were Earl Hines, Johnny Dodds, Louis Armstrong, and King Oliver. In New York City, it

Louis Armstrong was the greatest of all Jazz musicians. Armstrong defined what it was to play Jazz. His amazing technical abilities, the joy and spontaneity, and amazingly quick, inventive musical mind still dominate Jazz to this day. Only Charlie Parker comes close to having as much influence on the history of Jazz as Louis Armstrong did. Like almost all early Jazz musicians, Louis was from New Orleans. He was from a very poor family and was sent to reform school when he was twelve after firing a gun in the air on New Year's Eve. At the school he learned to play cornet. After being released at age fourteen, he worked selling papers, unloading boats, and selling coal from a cart. He didn't own an instrument at this time,

The person whom invented Jazz was born in uptown New Orleans on September 6, 1877 to Alice and Westmore Bolden. Charles “Buddy” Bolden grew up in one of the most musically rich cities in all of the United States during the time, and it would have great influence in his life. As a young man, Buddy made money as a barber, however his heart was truly in his music. The cornet was his instrument, and he could play like nobody else. He was famously known as “The King” because of how well he played the cornet, as well as his public demand and popularity.

Ferdinand Joseph “Jelly Roll Morton” LaMenthe was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on October 20, 1890. As a child he began to learn how to play the piano at age 10 years old. He was taught by Tony Jackson; compose of songs like “Pretty Boy” and other hits. Tony Jackson is among the few musicians whom Morton admired and respected. Jackson was also known to him as the greatest single-handed entertainers in the world. After his mother’s passing, Morton began playing in gigs in the bordellos of the Storyville district of New Orleans. In New Orleans he became active as a gambler, pool shark, and many more things that made him get kicked out by his grandmother. With him doing all of this gambling she didn’t want his sisters to see that life that he was going down.

Coltrane joined the Earl Bostic band in 1952. Bostic knew a great deal about the saxophone, and Coltrane benefited from his knowledge (21). He learned about fingering techniques and also Bostic's sound which differed from most saxophonists of that time (22).

Early Life-Charles was first seen on March 5th, 1836 in Macoupin county, illinois. He was the 4th of 5 children When he was little, he was one of the most observant and curious children in his family. Charles quit school at age seven. After flunking out of school, he and one of his brothers, Elijah, caught their first Mustang together, since then he wanted to be one of the best horsemen in America. At age 15 he started riding horses and became a jockey. His mother had 4-5 divorces, each after one child. Then he and his family moved to Port Sullivan.

Many people knew Louis Armstrong as the “first real genius of jazz”(Shipton 26). He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on August 4, 1901. Louis was the illegitimate son of William Armstrong and Mary Est “Mayann” Albert. He was abandoned by his father, a boiler stoker, shortly after his birth and was raised by his paternal grandmother. Then, at the age of five, he was returned to the care of his mother, who at the time worked as a laundress. Together with his mom, they moved to a better area of New Orleans. This is where Armstrong first fell in love with music; he would listen to people playing any chance that he would get(Tirro). He would attend parades, funerals, churches and go to cheap cabarets to be able to hear some of the greats play

new type of music that would later be called jazz. Choosing to base his career

Louis was born in New Orleans where he grew up and learned to play the trumpet. He also learned to sing. Because of his long improvised solos, he inspired jazz so that long solos became an important part of jazz pieces and performances. (Cayton, 462) Armstrong was the king of jazz trumpet players. The new style that he created gave a voice-like quality to his horn. (Hakim, 58) Although Jazz was very popular itself, a majority of the fans and listeners were younger people. Flappers were commonly known during this time. They danced to the jazz music with a whole new style.

Louis Armstrong is a man of many talents and skills known for creating a new environment, especially in his home town of New Orleans. He was born into poverty on August 4, 1901 in the streets of Back o’ Town (Meckna). He’s a professional jazz performer who played with Oliver and Henderson. He started as a soloist for Henderson after marrying Lil Hardin. He has many nicknames in which some are Satchmo and Pops. He also played as a second trumpet for King Oliver. He interprets and contributes to the genre of jazz, creates great form through his performance in the “Hot Chocolates,” and his work represents a whole for equality and the civil rights movement.

in Kansas City and became one of the most famous jazz musicians of all time. He led us

Then by 1949 was when the real business started. Miles went solo. With the tremendous amount of experience he accumulated, the recordings he had made, the people he knew, and with the 'hook-ups' Miles developed, he should not find any difficulty finding success in the evolution of Jazz.

Charlie Parker was born in Kansas City on August 29, 1920; at this time Kansas City was a center of African-American music. Parker quickly developed talents at the public school he attended, Lincoln High, on the baritone but by the time he was 15, alto saxophone had become Parker’s instrument of choice. From 1935 to 1939 Parker played in the Kansas City music scene, mostly at a place known as the Reno Club. In the year 1954, taken over by drugs and alcohol, Charlie Parker died in a New York apartment.

My example that I will be using is Modern Times by Charlie Chaplin. Modern times is a film developed after the industrial revolution. It serves the purpose of critiquing capitalism and the social world. Modern Times begin with a factory worker who starts developing anxiety through the lack of breaks and repetitive work. When the Worker is on break, his boss is always keeping an eye on him and demands him to go back to work due to the loss of production. Soon after, the factory worker goes on lunch break, but is again distracted by his boss due to the desire to try out a new lunch contraption. At first, the new technology seems to work since the factory Worker was being fed. But, after a few seconds the contraption goes haywire and starts hurting the worker. The factory Worker goes back to work, but suddenly starts to mess up. He goes around ruining all his co-workers’ work and even get himself in prison. However, he ends up saving all the cops from the inmates’ revolution and is released early from jail. He does not want to leave since he is treated properly in jail and will be homeless in the outside world. He tries to get himself in prison again, but meets a beautiful woman Gamin who is also homeless and workless. They run off together and commit burglaries to feed themselves, but is soon discovered by the police. They manage to escape and run off to live in a small house by themselves. The factory Worker and the Gamin decides to have lunch together, but finds out that a

Charlie Chaplin was born in South London on April 16, 1889. He was the first child of Hannah and Charles Chaplin. Charles was vaudeville actor. Hannah was a vaudeville singer. Charlie’s father was a drunk and he later left his family when he was three years old when he found out his wife had an affair with another actor, Leo Dryden. They soon had a child named George, who left to live with his father. Since Hannah was now a single mother, she was struggling to find a way to provide for her children. She had another son that was older than Charlie, from a previous relationship (Schwartz).