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The jazz age music
Written assignment: john coltrane
History of jazz music timeline essay
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Jazz was created in the early 20th century as a way for African-Americans to express themselves during a time of adversity. Since that time, a plethora of talented jazz artists have been put into the spotlight. Duke Ellington, Miriam Anderson, and the very famous John Coltrane. Although Coltrane came later than some of these great acts, he is still known as a pioneer and trailblazer in the jazz industry. Even though now, he is now seen as one of the greats, not everything was always smooth sailing for this legend.
John William Coltrane was born in Hamlet, North Carolina on September 23,1926. He lived with his mother and father in his early years. His father was the first person to fuel his love for music. With music being a driving force in his household, Coltrane soon learned to put his love into action. He taught himself how to play the saxophone when he was 13, and subsequently how to sing tenor. Sadly, the happiness that music brought him was suddenly overshadowed by tragedy. In 1939, his father, grandparents, and uncle all died within the same year. His mother was left to take care of
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During that time, he was never sent into combat. Therefore, he spent most of his time working on his music. After his time in the army, he moved to Philadelphia to pursue a full-time music career. Soon after the move, her started performing for Joe Webb Band. From that time until 1948, he performed with a multitude of different jazz bands, until he resigned from Jimmy Heath’s band and started performing as a solo artist. On March 1, 1951, he performed his first solo performance of the song “We Love to Boogie” with Gillespie. However the success that his music brought him, was beclouded by the horrible turn his heroin addiction took on his life. This addiction was truly life altering. Because of this addiction, he was not able to keep a job. Over the course of three years, he jumped from band to band
John Birks, also known as “Dizzy Gillespie” was born October 21,1917. He grew up in Cheraw, South Carolina. Gillespie was the youngest of his nine siblings. Gillespie’s father was a bandleader as well as a bricklayer. His father died when he was only ten years of age. Several years after his father passed away Dizzy Gillespie became a self-taught trombone and trumpet player (“David”). His skills increased so much over time that he later learned how to play the cornet. Gillespie had a special talent for playing these instruments. He was enrolled into the Laurinburg Institute of North Carolina in 1932. The school told him that they wanted him to play for their band. During his time at the school, he practiced his instruments mostly by himself.
John Philip Sousa was born in 1854, the third child of ten. He was born in Washington, D.C. His parents were immigrants. John
Jazz music did not become successful on its own. Its huge success during the 1940’s and 1950’s is due to the talented jazz singers and musicians who contributed to music. One of the successful musicians who contributed to Jazz was Louis Jordan. Jordan was an African American singer, bandleader and best known for his amazing technique and style while playing the saxophone. What set Jordan apart from all the other Jazz singers of his time was his appearance; being a comedian before going into music helped him appeal a wider and a more diverse audience. Appealing a more diverse audience was especially important during a time where segregation was an ongoing problem. His success was also due to his amazing band, the Tympany Five. The band included
Jazz is referred as “America’s classical music,” and is one of North America’s and most celebrated genres. The history of Jazz can be traced back to the early era of the 20th century of the U.S. “A History of Jazz” presents From Ragtime and Blues to Big Band and Bebop, jazz has been a part of a proud African American tradition for over 100 years. A strong rhythmic under-structure, blue notes, solos, “call-and response” patterns, and
Robert Johnson is more than just another Blues man with a sad story. To sing the blues with as much soul as Robert Johnson did, you know his life was rough. The life of Robert Johnson was memorable but short. Robert Johnson was born on May 8, 1911. Robert was a product of an extramarital affair. He lived with many different father figures before moving 40 miles south of Memphis to Robinsonville, Mississippi, where he would live till his early adulthood.
It is impossible to think about the influence of jazz without thinking of Miles Davis. He was a game changer and innovator who altered the direction of jazz and transformed the musical landscape more than once. Miles Davis changed the course of jazz in result of his experience with oppression and prejudice. He represented a model for future musicians, and granted listeners a glance into the world of an oppressed American through his music.
Sousa was born on November 6, 1854 at a small place on 636 G Street, in southeast Washington D.C., near the Marine Barracks that would later have some influence on his music. (Sousa) His father played trombone in the Marine Band. Sousa was the third of ten children from John Antonio Sousa and Maria Elisabeth Trinkhous. Young Sousa grew up around military band music, and when he was just 6, he began learning a variety of instruments, such as; violin and piano. He also played flute, cornet, baritone, trombone, and alto horn. (Sousa)
Jazz was a unique form of music, there had never been anything like it before. It was rebellious, rhythmic, and it broke the rules- musical and social. It started a musical revolution, “With its offbeat rhythms and strange melodies, jazz was blamed for everything from drunkenness and deafness to in increase in unwed mothers.” Jazz was seen as immoral and worried the older generation that their kids would lose interest in classical music. It was also seen as against society because it came about from the African- American culture, but despite all of that, jazz led to a new era of music that still prevails today.
African-American culture was spread through several artistic forms and mediums through the decades that the Harlem Renaissance took place in. One of the biggest and arguably the most important forms that Black culture was spread in was the form of music. During this era, music was an indispensable form of artistic expression that conveyed the thought and feeling of the Black people occupying Harlem and the surrounding areas. Music was an important art form at the time as “No aspect of the Harlem Renaissance shaped America and the entire world as much as jazz. Jazz flouted many musical conventions with its syncopated rhythms and improvised instrumental solos. Thousands of city dwellers flocked night after night to see the same performers”. This music created by the African-Americans in Harlem transformed the negative outlook of many into a positive one or one of some understanding toward the Black populus. This introduction of Jazz and Blues into the society of the era gave birth to several influential and pivotal artists such as Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong. This popularized the Jazz and Blues music genres and brought major notoriety to African-American bringing much needed change in the perceptions of Black
All types of music require musicians. In the H.R (Harlem Renaissance), there were many who contributed to this new style of music known as jazz. These musicians all have their own style and form. Each of these styles has in some way influenced the evolution of jazz. Louis “Sachmo” Armstrong is recognized as the most famous trumpet player of this time. His “hot bop” style was heard in places like the Cotton Club and the Apollo Theatre. Everyone from all over the country would come to see him. Armstrong recorded such works as I’m in the Mood for Love, and You Rascal you (http://library.thinkquest.org/26656/english/music.html). Another famous person during this era was Coleman Hawkins, a saxophone player. Hawkins is recognized as the first great saxophonists of Jazz. His most famous work was a piece named Body and Soul (http://library.thinkquest.org…). Hawkins has also recorded with artists such as Thelonious Monk and Duke Ellington. Other people such as Bessie Smith, Josephine Baker, Duke Ellington, and “Dizzie” Gillespie have also made many contributions to the development of Jazz.
...e a few different people that influenced Coltrane. Some of these people were Charlie Parker, Coleman Hawkins, and Lester Young.(A) Coltrane inspired things other than music. He inspired sculptures and poetry.(B p. 160) His own style was known as “Sheets of Sound.”(C) His tone was known as rough and dark. He played fast and kelp the notes as close as possible.(B p.161) John Coltrane was the “most revolutionary and widely imitated saxophonist in jazz.(E)
In its beginnings jazz represented a high point of black musical achievement with its coming about in the 1890s (Kebede, 149). Jazz was first classified as a musical genre that uses solos, duets, and simultaneous improve as a way to express the players mood and current circumstances to create a cohesive song (Kebede, 149). Because both blues and jazz were at one time considered the music of slaves and other lower class ethnic groups the children of white America were often warned to stay away from it due to its low status, vulgar language, and primitiveness (Kebede, 150). Two of the biggest examples of the appropriation of jazz are the Original Dixieland Jazz Band which made its first recording of a jazz song in 1917 and the 1927 movie The Jazz Singer starring Al Jolson (Kenobe, 150) both of which spun jazz into the spotlight of the world but at the same time took away from its beginnings of racial and social revolt and distress that was felt by a large population of black America. So by time people like Louis Armstrong came into the spotlight of America jazz was already in the minds of many a predominately white dominated industry. By the 1920’s symphonic jazz had become popular thanks to a man named Paul Whiteman who’s musical abilities further pushed jazz away from the very people who had created it by “taming
Now a days, many believe that jazz is not that important of music genre, but with our history, jazz plays a big role. “Jazz does not belong to one race or culture, but it is a gift that America has given to the world.”, quoted by Ahmad Alaadeen. Jazz in the 1920’s opened the eyes of whites and invited them into African American culture; it evolved Americans to where we are today since it brought a change to the music scene, an acceptance of African Americans, and a change of lifestyles.
Through his contribution to early Jazz, he had a direct hand in developing the new field of academic jazz scholarship, although it had been extensively debated on his contribution. None the less, his talent formed a popularity that was surpassed by none, even to the point that once in his career; he was more popular than the Beatles. Undoubtedly, he was the first, if not the only to present Jazz to the public as a form of art. This changed the direction of Jazz to not just leisure listening music, but a teachable and complicated
Starting in December 1938, Coltrane tragically lost his uncle, grandparents, and father all within months of one another, leaving John behind to be raised by his mother, aunt, and a close cousin. In June 1943 he moved to Philadelphia. A few months later, his mother bought him his first alto saxophone, originally playing the clarinet and alto horn in a community band before taking up the alto saxophone during high school. Coltrane very briefly attended the Ornstein School of Music and continued to study at Granoff Studios. His first professional gigs in early 1945 were as a part