What Is Duke Ellington's View Of Authenticity?

The article “Jazz and White Critic” by Amiri Baraka brings light to an element of jazz criticism that he is frustrated by. Baraka finds controversy in the ideas white critics write about regarding jazz music. Baraka states, “Most jazz critics have been white Americans, but most important jazz musicians have not been.” In the 1960’s, when Baraka made this statement, jazz was becoming more popularized and socially accepted. African American jazz musicians took a long, strenuous journey over decades to push their music into the spotlight to become one of the most popular music styles in society internationally. The special element of jazz is its raw emotion. Baraka distinguishes between “White Jazz”, music

Many Renaissance writers felt some hesitancy about the use of the black lingo as well as an onus to maintain the separation between high and low art, an issue that continues to be debated. How to confront questions of race commonly had to be more nuanced and subtle as well. Advances in black music were somewhat more efficacious because of the high demand for black talented artistes like Count Basie, Ethel Waters, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, and Louis Armstrong. New York nightclubs regularly featured black musicians, whose innovations in jazz embodied America 's first original music form. Black women vocalists also found success as the music industry quickly discovered the commercial advantages of race music.

Jazz to me is one of the inherent expressions of Negro Life in America: the eternal tom-tom beating in the Negro soul—the tom-tom of revolt against weariness in a white world, a world of subway trains, and work, work, work; the tom-tom of joy and laughter, and pain swallowed in a smile. Yet the Philadelphia clubwoman… turns up her nose at jazz and all its manifestations—likewise almost anything else distinctly racial…She wants the artist to flatter her, to make the white world believe that all Negroes are as smug as near white in smug as she wants to be. But, to my mind, it is the duty of the younger Negro artist …to change through the hidden force of his art that old whispering “I want to be white,” hidden in the aspirations of his people, to “Why should I want to be white? I am Negro—and beautiful.”

Jazz to me is one of the inherent expressions of Negro life in America: the eternal tom-tom beating in the Negro soul-the tom-tom of revolt against weariness in a white world, a world of subway trains, and work, work; the tom-tom of joy and laughter, and pain swallowed in a smile. Yet the Philadelphia club woman , turns up her nose at jazz and all its manifetations-likewise almost anything else distinctly racial... She wants the artist to flatter her, to make the white world believe that all Negroes are as smug and as near white in soul as she wants to be. But, to my mind, it is the duty of the younger Negro artist, to change through the force of his art that old whispering "I want to be white, hidden in the aspirations of his people, to "Why should I want to he white? I am Negro-and beautiful"

express themselves as talented individuals. Certain blacks contributed immensely to the era of jazz, for example, Duke Ellington. Ellington entered a brand-new, exciting

Duke Ellington was an American jazz bandleader, composer, and pianist. He is thought of as one the greatest figures in jazz. The French government honored him with their highest award, the Legion of Honor, while the government of the United States awarded him with the highest civil honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He played for the royalty and for the common people and by the end of his fifty-year career, he had played over 20,000 performances worldwide. He was the Duke, Duke Ellington.

Alvin Ailey was a phenomenal choreographer, dancer, and activist whose work focused on the narrative of the African American during the Great Depression and the Civil Rights Movement. Informed and inspired by black church services, gospel music, and everything spiritual, the collaborations between him and Duke Ellington come as no surprise. Ellington’s career also focused on depicting “the character and mood and feeling of [his] people”, except he executed this artistry through musicianship in composing, conducting, songwriting, and bandleading. Together, they were both able to uplift and celebrate the Black American and their rich culture, during a time of trauma and the unforgivable horrors of slavery, meanwhile revolutionizing and

Starting around 1918, and progressing through the 1920s and 30s, a section of New York City called Harlem began to be the center of a group of talented African American artists, composers, poets, and dancers. This period of time, with all the literary works, music, art, and poetry coming out of the Black experience, was called the New Negro Renaissance, or the Harlem Renaissance. This was a time just after World War I when there was again hope hope that Whites and Blacks could coexist and appreciate the gifts each had to give, particularly in the arts. What united participants was their sense of taking part in a common goal and their commitment to giving artistic expression to the African American experience (Watson 1995, introduction, 1-14).

“Like The Duke’’, In a sentimental Mood’’ ‘’Take the A train’’ where songs that made me like jazz, that made me sit down and listen this genre of music, there are a lot of great jazz composers in history of music but Duke Ellington was one of the best till this day we still hear his music play. His type of jazz was really relax very smoothing extremely unorthodox.

The Harlem Renaissance was an evolutionary period in terms of African-American cultural expression; in fact, the movement changed the way that black musicians, poets, authors, and even ordinary people perceived themselves. One of the most influential poets of the time was Langston Hughes. Hughes’ works display a pride in being black that most African-Americans are too afraid to show, even today. Moreover, he adamantly refused to submit to the sentiment that he should be ashamed of his heritage, instead believing that “no great poet has ever been afraid of being himself.”(p1990 From the Negro Artist). In the article “‘Don’t Turn Back’: Langston Hughes, Barack Obama, and Martin Luther King, Jr.” by Jason Miller, Miller analyzes how Hughes’ poetry has been used by Martin Luther King, Jr. and Barack Obama and how the House of Un-american Activities Committee affected that use.

This judgment began unexpectedly to spread as African American music, especially the blues and jazz, became a worldwide sensation. Black music provided the pulse of the Harlem Renaissance and of the Jazz Age more generally. The rise of the “race records” industry, beginning with OKeh’s recording of Mamie Smith’s

“The Harlem Renaissance was a time where the Afro-American came of age; he became self-assertive and racially conscious… he proclaimed himself to be a man and deserving respect. Those Afro-Americans who were part of that time period saw themselves as principals in that moment of transformation from old to new” (Huggins 3). African Americans migrated to the North in great numbers to seek better lives than in the South as the northern economy was booming and industrial jobs were numerous. This movement brought new ideas and talents that shifted the culture forever. Black writers, such as Langston Hughes, used their work to claim a place for themselves and to demand self-respect in society. Poems that Langston Hughes wrote captured the essence of the complexity of a life that mixes joy and frustration of black American life through the incorporation of jazz and blues in order to examine the paradox of being black in mostly white America, the land of the not quite free.

To truly understand why music, and jazz, remain such a monumental part of African-American culture, it is important to look at the whole picture that America presents

When he was 20 years old, Duke met Sonny Greer, a fellow musician who’s focus was percussion and drums. This acquaintance helped encourage Ellington to become a professional musician. From here, Ellington would use every chance he had to build his music business, asking strangers if they knew how to play. In 1917 Ellington formed his first group, The Duke’s Serenaders. Duke was both the pianist and the booking agent for the group, and the group was successful during the time, especially because it had both White and African-American artists among its members.1

As Jazz grew out of blues and slave music to become independently popular in the 1940’s and 50’s, it also facilitated a conversation about racial equality and black peoples’ place in American society. Jazz was recognized by many as “black people music” due to its roots in slave music and the blues. This controversy not only brought jazz to the attention of a larger audience, but also, gave it cultural relevance as music that acted as resistance music and, alternately, brought the warring skin colors together in harmony. Without the political air that surrounded jazz, the genre would not have carried the same musical or social influence, as many white people loved the music, but did not necessarily love the people making it; this is exemplified by the music itself and described in the writings of many prominent jazz scholars.