Essay on Charles Mingus in the 1950s

Charles Mingus is a very important and influential name in jazz; however he is left out by many historians when talking about the history of jazz. The main reason he is left out by so many historians, Mark Gridley in particular, is because of his attitude and ego. He is clearly not the most pleasant person, and he surely does not display how a real jazz musician should act, at least according to most historians. The way he acts during performances can be quite startling at first, if you are not familiar with his ways and methods of playing. For example, he was known for using profanity during performances, either geared at the audience if they were being too loud or the sound operators if the

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,

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.

Who was Miles Davis and why was he such an important element in the music of Jazz? Miles Davis, as we would know him, was born Miles Dewey Davis in Alton, Illinois on the 25th of May 1926 to a middle-class black family.. A couple of years later, Miles went on to St. Louis where he grew up. Since he was a youngster, Miles' hobby was to collect records and play them over without getting tired of them. Since his family knew Miles was so interested in the music of his time, primarily Jazz, for his thirteenth birthday Miles received his first trumpet, although he had been playing since the age of nine. With this Miles began to practice and play his trumpet along with his records. Who would have known that just three years later, at the

Max Roach: His Influence On Drumming Zach Mondlick 10/5-11/16/2014 Max Roach, a percussion virtuoso capable of playing at the most brutal tempos with subtlety as well as power, is usually considered one of the most important drummers in history. He worked with a great deal of the greatest jazz musicians, including Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Coleman Hawkins, Dizzy Gillespie, Charles Mingus, Sonny Rollins and Clifford Brown. His death at 83 was a step toward the end of the bebop jazz world's most influential generation. Few remain amongst the giants who were jamming alongside Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie while they built the harmonically dense, rhythmically powerful post-WWII music, dubbed bebop.

Charles Mingus was a jazz bassist, composer, bandleader, also was the one of the most important figures in twentieth century. He was born in Nogales, Arizona in 1922 raised in Watts, California. In his life, he was continued to develop the bop and blues. “His compositions ranged wildly in mood and dynamics, from puntillistic counterpoint to massive Wagner-ian explosions and was the first jazz musician since Ellington who could compete with classical composers”. His earliest musical inspiration was influenced by hearing the works of Duck Ellington and singing, such as church-choir, group singing even though his mother only allowed church music at home. He studied double bass with Rheinshagen who was a principal bassist of the New York Philharmonic,

Miles Dewey Davis the Third was a musician; composer; genius. Davis wrote a large portion of the music he played and he did not care what people thought about his music. “Do not fear mistakes, there are none.” (Miles Davis 29). The amount of skill Davis must have had to keep on creating new, original, different music is far beyond many people. Davis is one of the main contributing factors to change jazz. He, alone, has made his own style, the “Cool Jazz” genre (Karl Scarborough 26). Davis is surely one of the reasons I believe jazz is here to stay for a long time, and Davis thought so too. In Davis’ life, he has done many great things and experienced some good things as well as some bad things. Davis is a man whom, one might say, has “seen in all.” Even his childhood was different than most people born in the ‘20s and ‘30s.

Bebop was an instrumental music. No singer could have made it. Charlie Parker forever changed the fundamental relationship between voices and instruments as it had existed up to that point. Horn players still had to breathe, and so they had to base their phrased on the length of the human breath, but no longer did they need to limit what they played to the boundaries of the voice. They played faster, way beyond what any human voice could make out with clarity, and they played melodies that never were meant to be sung. Bop never came as naturally to the voice as it did to Parker's alto saxophone and Dizzy Gillespie's trumpet and then to the other instruments.

To improvise is to adjust the sound or tone of something right then and there, to make it up and change it as you go. In Jazz two artist that played an important role in Jazz improvisation were Louis Armstrong and Bix Beiderbecke. Armstrong because he redefined the sound of the trumpet, setting high standards for upcoming artists, and Beiderbecke because he founded a cool school sound of Jazz.

That may be true, but his culture and style of music in which shaped his life comes from somewhere more complex than a person or place. To find what helped shape Mingus’s entire life we must go back in history. When the new world was discovered many cultures mixed and shared ideas. In the late 1800’s ragtime emerged out of African music and European classical, thanks to Scott Joplin.

Ray is based on the life of Ray Charles. In his case, he was not born blind, but later became blind at the age of seven. Many reports from doctors in the recent years believe he had glaucoma, but there was no way to know for sure. Within the movie, there were a few scenes that flashed back to his childhood, and with the mother he had he was not able experience learned helplessness. His mother was his only teacher when he first became blind, and she challenged him and expected him to be independent. Once it was known he was going blind, she taught him how to survive by teaching him to use his memory and sticking his arms out in front of him to get around the house. There was a scene where he tripped and fell and cried for his mother and instead of helping she remained silent and there his heightened sense of hearing was shown.

The piano has been a pivotal instrument throughout the development of jazz music. Starting with ragtime, which developed out of classical music, all the way to modern jazz the piano has been a foundational instrument upon which many styles have been built. This is a result of the versatility of the instrument, as it has the ability to play accompaniment, rhythm, and solo improvisation simultaneously. Throughout the course of jazz history many musicians have utilized the piano to develop new and unique styles. These great musicians used influences from all sources to develop these new genres of jazz and are renowned for their ability still today.

Jazz is a crucial part of any musical history that has ever been known. Most is not all of the genres we know today all branched off of some type of jazz, and that’s a big thing. Jazz was founded in the early 20th century, but it can be found in the heart of both African and European music styles (What is Jazz). It is an important part of our history as American’s and spread throughout the world like a groovy wildfire. The genre of Jazz has been a home to many of the famous people we still know today including Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong, and so many more. However, there are still many less known artists that made it big that aren’t well remembered, but were still a crucial piece to the music we call Jazz. One of these artists goes by the

Louis Armstrong is one of the influential shapers of Jazz music. Armstrong had an ability to master both the instrumental and vocal aspects of older Jazz, and hence revolutionized contemporary jazz. Armstrong’s ability changed his position in the band. He quickly became the centerpiece of a performance, while other performers became more of a background due to his incomparable talent in both vocals and the cornet. This helped emphasize his unique style of performance of contemporary jazz. Armstrong’s style was considered groundbreaking and his improvisation enhanced this idea, as it brought it anew facet to the genre. His ability to play became superbly popular, and helped direct people such as Dizzy Gillespie and Duke Ellington to further the bubbliness and enthusiasm that he provided to the audience. His performances were also varied, from playing instruments such as the trumpet and the cornet, to singing and even band leading, all of which were unrivalled by most other performers of that and many other eras of music.

“When the music changes, so does the dance” -African Prover. Many of the world's greatest musicians have made tremendous impacts on the music today, Charlie Parker being one of them. Charlie Parker was a phenomenal Jazz musician who made a huge impact on jazz music as it advanced throughout the ages.