George Gershwin: A Brief Biography

During the early 1930s Movies, Music and Art had a major role during the Great Depression. Despite all the hardships in the 1930s, people were enthralled by the entertainment provided during this time period. It was extremely exciting and it had a huge impact on peoples daily lives. It would also take people out of the dark times, and to a much happier place. Some people were so impacted by the Great Depression, that they began to lose hope until Movies, Music, and Art spoke to the people of our society.

For most people there are two George Gershwin’s, there’s Gershwin the composer of immortal songs known through out the world; Our love is here to stay, Someone to watch over me and I got Rhythm , and then there’s the concert hall Gershwin composer of Rhapsody in Blue, An American in Paris and the famous opera Porgy and Bess, all now in the music libraries of the worlds greatest symphony orchestras and opera houses. What made Gershwin special is how he mixed the two, to him a 16 bar song was as important as a 3 movement symphony. Gershwin was in touch with his listeners in a way that few other composers can

     The music called Jazz was born sometime around 1895 in New Orleans. It combined elements of Ragtime, marching band music and Blues. What made Jazz such a different perspective of traditional music was its act of improvising. There was a widespread use of improvisation often by more than one player at a time. Songwriters would write the music down on a piece of paper, and then the Jazz musicians would try their best to play the music. Usually in a Jazz piece, musicians would use the song as a starting point to improvise around. Jazz musicians would play a familiar song to the audience, and by the time they were done with the piece they would stir up a totally different feeling away from the

On September 26, 1898 George Gershwin was born to the Gershowitz family as Jacob Gershowitz. The Gershowitzs' were an immigrant family that lived in Brooklyn, NY at the time. His parents, Morris and Rose, were Russian immigrants that owned a restaurant. George was the second of four children with older brother Ira, younger sister Francis, and younger brother Arthur. Over time, George accepted being called Gershwin instead

At 11 years old, I sat outside Mr. Tilman Singleton’s porch waiting for my piano lesson. From outside the front door, I could hear the frustrated comments and the occasional bangs of his hands pounding on the piano. Slowly, I stood up off the bench and opened the door. “You never improve! This is trash and you know it. Your lesson is over. Next Victim.” I assumed the victim was me. At first glance, my piano teacher Mr. Singelton was a tall, startling skinny, man with thinning hair and a large pair of glasses. I still remember what he wore my first lesson: turquoise dress pants perfectly creased, and a pink plaid button down shirt. Every outfit looked straight out of an 80s magazine. He was the definition of eccentric. Today, I will be commemorating my former piano teacher Tilman Singleton; the man whose character, perseverance, and friendship will forever inspire my musical dreams.

In George Jones' childhood, he was a good kid. He was born in Saratoga, TX on September 12, 1931. His father was a very bade alcoholic. Over the years, his father started to get abusive.

Born in Washington D.C. in 1899 Edward Kennedy Ellington was his name or better known as “Duke” began playing piano as a child. His mother who also played the piano saw his education and by the time he was seventeen he began playing professionally. Becoming a famous piano player in Washington D.C. Ellington started to make his own music. In 1922 he moved to New York and by 1923 he formed his own band called the Washingtonians.

George Glenn Jones was the youngest of eight children and grew up in a poor family. He was born and raised in Saratoga, Texas on September 12, 1931. He grew up with an alcoholic father who sometimes grew violent. "We were our daddy's loved ones when he was sober, his prisoners when he was drunk," Jones later wrote in his autobiography, I Lived to Tell It All. When Jones was nine his father bought him his first guitar, and when he began to display an early talent, he was sent out to the streets to perform and help earn money for the family.

The music of the 1940’s was the Big Band sound like Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman. Popular singers were the Andrews Sisters, Kay Kaiser and many other famous ones. There were crooner style singers, including Bing Crosby, whose smooth voice made him one of the most popular singers. There was Frank Sinatra, Dinah Shore, Tony Bennett, Pat Boone, Nat King Cole, Kate Smith and Perry Como. All of these very popular singers led the hit parade. They sang the songs that went with the mood of the country in the early 50s. Many of these crooners became the idols of the decade’s later rock and roll stars, who used their influence to create a unique sound.

George Gershwin‘s opera Porgy and Bess is said to have been racist and outdated even in the time that it was written in 1935. There are many aspects of this work that are incorrect and prolong stereotypes about African Americans by depicting them as violent and religious. Gershwin classified this opera as a folk opera, a term which was offensive to African Americans. George Gershwin, arguably a great composer, composed an opera that is considered to be controversial due to its negative representation of African Americans. Porgy and Bess is a cultural artifact and when discussing it we bring up complex issues of race from the time it was written and even to this day in the United States.

Want to hear some good music? Listen to this artist that is just the bees knees. Duke Ellington, a pianist, performs at Broadway nightclubs as the bandleader of a sextet. This amazing group includes other people like his ensemble includes as Bubber Miley, Joe Nanton, Cootie Williams, Rex Stewart Johnny Hodges Rex Stewart, Lawrence Brown, Harry Carney, Barney Bigard. Ellington has already made many recordings with his bands, appeared in films and on radio. He is the new it. Why just sit there? Go switch a radio station playing his awesome music

I attended the Jazz Ensembles Concert, The Music of Duke Ellington, on Wednesday, September 30, 2015 at the Griffin Concert Hall, University Center for the Arts. I was not really sure what to expect since I had never experienced Jazz in a concert hall setting, however, I believe I am still able to make an informed and unbiased review.

The 1930s were a great time for music and new kinds of it. For example, “Though the jazz age had ended, during the 1930s jazz continued to mature as a musical form.[...] Big bands began transforming it into danceable swing music” (Cynthia, Baker 1). Jazz was transforming into something people liked more and more. It was exciting because people could now dance to the music. Music continued to transform and new forms came into existence, “Another style of music that developed during the decade was distinctly western in form”(Cynthia, Baker 2). A new style was invented that would grow into one of the more famous genres that continues to be popular today, Country Western. This shows growth because the Western United States was developing its own

Perhaps no other figure in recent American history more quintessentially embodied the unique cross-section of neurosurgery and music than George Gershwin, a first generation American born to Russian-Jewish immigrants who took up piano at the age of twelve and went on to become one of the most renown musicians of the twentieth century. In an era that preceded sophisticated neuroimaging, Gershwin, at the age of thirty-eight, began experiencing recurrent syncopal episodes characteristic of seizures, which eventually progressed to left-sided hemiparesis and impaired consciousness before Drs. Walter Dandy and Howard Nafziger were urgently consulted for evaluation of a suspected brain tumor. This was ultimately confirmed upon partial surgical resection

George Gershwin, born in Brooklyn, New York on 26 September 1898, was born the second of four children of Morris and Rose Gershovitz, Russians who immigrated to New York in 1891. George and his family lived on Manhattan's lower east side in a poor Jewish community. After settling down in New York, his father changed the family name to Gershvin. It was George who later altered his last name to Gershwin when he entered the professional world of music. Most of his family was not musically talented, but his brother Ira became a wonderful well-known musician.