Dizzy Gillespie
In today’s world, people get excited when they hear about artists like Kanye West, Muse, and Beyoncé. Our generation has seemingly overlooked the musicians that laid down the pavement for these artists to be famous. These legends watched music progress from jazz, to rock, and now hip-hop. The music that once made hundreds of people rise to their feet and dance is now heard in elevators and coffee shops, which is truly a shame. One of the most tactlessly forgotten musicians of that time is a man that went by the name of Dizzy Gillespie.
John Birks Gillespie, known to most as Dizzy Gillespie, stood as one of the most imaginative artists in the history of jazz. He rose to fame during the bebop period of the jazz culture, taking place in the 1940s and 50s. One can even say that this type of fast-tempoed music came into being because of Dizzy Gillespie and his fellow musicians, Charlie Parker and Theolonius Monk. When Dizzy was born in South Carolina, no one expected they were looking at someone who would form a new style of jazz. As we go back through
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Dizzy was not one of these musicians. He even said, “I think the idea is now for blacks to write about the history of our music. It's time for that, because whites have been doing it all the time. It's time for us to do it ourselves and tell it like it is.” (Brainy Quote, 2015) He continued to perform and enhance his showmanship. Dizzy had many talents besides the trumpet, including the piano and a great sense of humor. He was well known for infusing jokes into some of the songs he sang or even making up parodies or popular songs. His ability to scat sing was held in the highest regard and was comparable to the great Louis Armstrong. Although many of his fans looked at him as a joker and a comedian of sorts, he was an incredibly serious and knowledgeable jazz
The second generations of Jazz musicians were some like Joe “King” Oliver, Kid Ory, and Jelly Roll Morton. These people formed a small band and started to reshape the way the original Jazz music was played. They have made it into a different style with more complications and twists and turns. And so it became known as “Hot Jazz”. King Oliver found a young artist by the name of Louis Armstrong. He soon grew to become the greatest Jazz musician anyone has known. He is still a big star in the world today. By the 20th Century, African-American musical styles became the dominant force.
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,
Our music industry would not be what it is today without one of America’s greatest music legends, Duke Ellington. He made major breakthroughs at a time when the odds were against him. He was born Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington (1899-1974) (Tirro 1993). He was a natural and has many life achievements that have contributed to the genre of jazz. He was a catalyst in his era. His music spoke to the soul. He defied the odds with his musical accomplishments. It was not everyday blacks were awarded the opportunity to shine in America’s spot light.
If one was to go out into the street, walked up to a random stranger and asked them if they knew who Louis Armstrong was, chances are that they would be able to answer you correctly. Louis Armstrong (Aug 4th, 1901 - Jul 6th, 1971) was an American trumpeter, composer, singer and occasional actor who became one of the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned many decades, from the 1920s to his death in 1971, and many different eras in jazz. He first came to prominence in the 1920s as a trumpeter and cornet player with no technique as well as being very skilled in scat singing, Armstrong was a foundational influence in jazz, influencing many later jazz artists as well as shifting the focus of the music from collective improvisation to solo performance.With his very well-known and recognizable gravelly voice, a technique that was later named “crooning”, Armstrong was an incredibly influential singer, demonstrating great dexterity as an improviser by bending the lyrics and melody of a song for expressive purposes on demand. Renowned for his charming and incredibly charismatic stage presence and voice almost as much as for his trumpet and/or cornet playing, Armstrong 's influence extends far beyond jazz music, and by the end of his career in the early 1970s at his death, he was widely regarded as a deep and profound influence on popular music in general. Armstrong was one of the first very popular
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.
Many great performers have come out of the jazz industry, but the most widely known is Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong. Louis began playing at a young age when he was growing up in New Orleans. His greatest inspiration was Joe “King” Oliver. He began following him and eventually Oliver became Armstrong’s mentor. Armstrong practiced his instrument and eventually he became the jazz great everyone knows today. Armstrong’s unique singing and masterful improvisation transitioned jazz from the traditional style to a newer, more rhythmic style. He popularized scat singing and was the first musician to have his solo on a recording (Rodgers 85). The solos Armstrong performed along with his popular scat singing helped make jazz musicians more popular along with making the fans take notice of Armstrong and jazz itself (Rennert 8).
Manuel Perez, a classically trained Creole trumpeter, played in many bands, all of which required the reading music. By 1910 he realized that improvisation was becoming hop, so he hired Joe "King" Oliver to bring that improvistinal flavor. Oliver was a cornetto player from New Orleans before he moved to Chicago. He went on to create King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band the first band that recorded a song with the word Jazz in its title. His band was made up of New Orleans musicians except for the pianist, Lil Hardin. The first popular woman player. Women only sand and played piano at the time. He also brought up a little known trumpet player named Louie Armstrong to play with him. They were a huge hit. They brought in the Uptown style that was again, a new
new type of music that would later be called jazz. Choosing to base his career
There were many jazz musicians. Louis Armstrong is one of the most important jazz figures. Louis Armstrong is one of the first great soloists in the 1920’s musicians. His career rose in New Orleans. He influenced other jazz musicians by his fearless trumpet styles and distinctive vocals. Louis gave jazz music a purpose. He spread jazz throughout the world. Fletcher Henderson also influenced jazz music. He was an extraordinary musician and he impacted jazz music immensely. Without the jazz musicians, jazz music would not have been possible. With the assistance of the jazz musicians, the music industry
After his death Louis kept his spirit buried in each and everyone of us. “Louis is not dead for his music is and will remain in the hearts and minds of countless millions of the world’s people, and in the playing of hundreds of thousands of musicians who have come under his influence”(Dizzy Gillespie, July, 17 1971).
“The Wild West Side Mob”, not for their behavior, but because of their free, ragged, style of jazz. While this style made them great jam session musicians, it made it difficult for them to find work. Hot jazz was not in demand. Nevertheless, Benny’s ability to play cool, sweet jazz on demand ensured that he found plenty of
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
Nps.gov states that some of the greatest musician in America History has come from the jazz side of the world. Artist such as Louis Armstrong, Billy Holiday and Jelly “Roll” Morton, pave the way for jazz to reach its height as it did in the early 20’s with the upbeat tempo and smooth classical sound. These artist brung a unique sound to jazz that was not there. Louis Armstrong contribute to jazz is so remarkable, he played the trumpet like no other. His sound was so soothing to the ears. When you think about jazz, Louis Armstrong is one of the first names most people relate to jazz. Jelly “Roll” Morton was probably the most influence artist there is. An innovative piano stylist and composer, began his odyssey outside of New Orleans as early as 1907. He continue his work throughout the 1920’s and was mainly consider the reason of the swing era.
James P. Johnson an influential jazz pianist and is known for his hit “Carolina Shout.” And finally, Coleman Hawkins played the tenor saxophone. He was actually one of the first musicians to be known for the instrument.
Miles Davis was one of the greatest and most important figures in jazz history. Miles Dewey Davis III was a musician, composer, arranger, producer and bandleader all in one. Davis was at the forefront of almost every major development in jazz after World War 2. He was one of the most influential and innovative musicians of the twentieth century along with Charlie Parker and Louis Armstrong. His versatility landed him at the forefront of bebop, cool jazz, modal, hard bop and fusion (Kirker, 2005:1). His sound went on to influence many other newer forms of music today such as pop, soul, R&B, funk and rap. As one of the last trumpet players, Davis employed a lyrical, melodic style that was known for its minimalism as well