Duke Ellington Duke Ellington's pre-eminence in jazz is not only because of the very high aesthetic standard of his output and not simply due to his remarkable abilities as a pianist, composer and bandleader, but also to the fact that he has extended the boundaries of jazz more than any other musician, without abandoning the true essence of the music. Perhaps no other American musician left such a massive and challenging legacy in composition and performance. Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington
“The essence of jazz- making something new out of something old, making something personal out of something shared- has no finer exemplar than Armstrong.” (Hasse par. 3) During the 1920’s a young African American man, otherwise known as Louis Armstrong, helped create and represent a new twist on popular music. This music that became so famous and well loved today is also referred to as jazz. Louis Armstrong had a very successful jazz career performing and composing popular jazz hits in the 1920’s
clubs, restaurants, and radio stations is now heard only in elevators or when we go to a grandparents house to visit. What is left of jazz are small portions of the music that people take and sample with in a new song. Jazz and its historical figures have mistreated and forgotten by today's society. One of the figure most forgotten is John Birks Gillespie, known to the jazz world as "Dizzy" Gillespie. "Dizzy" Gillespie was a
Early Jazz The earliest easily available jazz recordings are from the 1920's and early 1930's. Trumpet player and vocalist Louis Armstrong ("Pops", "Satchmo") was by far the most important figure of this period. He played with groups called the Hot Five and the Hot Seven; any recordings you can find of these groups are recommended. The style of these groups, and many others of the period, is often referred to as New Orleans jazz or Dixieland. It is characterized by collective
trumpet became their way into Jazz. Louis Armstrong was born on August 4th 1901 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Louis had a hard and painful childhood. In 1922 at the age of 21 Louis moves to Chicago to play cornet in a band lead by Joe Oliver. In September 1924 he leaves Oliver and moves to New York City to join
for success to find them. Louis Armstrong’s life was similar to this. Armstrong strived and strived until he reached to a point in his life where he was comfortable with his fourth wife, Lucille Wilson. Armstrong is ultimately known as the creator of jazz and blues. He was awarded this title by using his talents when he was a young boy growing up in a rough neighborhood. Armstrong’s talent was a result of his childhood and young adult life. Growing up, Armstrong was exposed to music in his surroundings
to describe the story. The “light” being the ‘good’ and the “dark” being the ‘bad’ qualities. Unlike Tackachs, Clark uses these terms to refer to the emotions felt by Sonny when he was on drugs, thinking about his life or when playing his piano; his jazz music. In “Sonny’s Blues”, the narrator writes “I feel like a man who’s been trying to climb up out of some deep, real deep and funky hole and just saw the sun up there, outside. I got to get outside.” Clark uses the “funky hole” to describe the darkness
possibility lies that Sonny’s passion for jazz music is the underlying reason for his drug use, or even the world of jazz music itself brought drugs into Sonny’s life. The last statement is what the narrator believes to be true. However, by delving deeper and examining the theme of music in the story, it is nothing but beneficial for Sonny and the other figures involved. Sonny’s drug use and his music are completely free of one another. Sonny views his jazz playing as a ray of light to lead him away
era. Jazz became the cornerstone of popular culture during the period known as the swing era. The swing era influenced clothing styles, retail marketing, fashion, dance, and even language. Swing fans had their own clothing style and built a social phenomenon around it. With many dances coming and going the swing fans kept on dancing. 3. Name some of the specific innovations Duke Ellington brought to jazz in the 1930’s and 1940’s. Duke Ellington brought some specific innovations to jazz in the
the same as any modern popular genre with a tendency to make use of simple modal chord progressions. For example: I - bVII7 and I - ii - iii - ii are both common progressions in reggae and both examples of the kind of chord structures used in modal jazz. The vocals in reggae