A leading pioneer in jazz music and education was drummer Max Roach. He is considered to be one of the leaders of bebop along with Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk and others.
Max Roach was born on January 10, 1924 in North Carolina and was raised in Brooklyn. He grew up with his mom singing gospel in the church, which led to the start of his foundation for music. Piano was the first instrument he picked up until he started to play drums at the age of ten. He played the sideshows in Coney Island at the age of 15, playing 12 to 14 shows a day. Additionally, he filled in for Duke Ellington’s orchestra at 16. Roach played with saxophonist Charlie Parker at Monroe’s Uptown House in Harlem to form the grounds of bebop.
A significant
“We Insist! Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite,” released in 1960 is one instance of that. The record was released around the time of the civil rights movement. It was considered to be one of the first pieces of music to address social and political issues. With bassist Charles Mingus, Roach held a festival in Newport, Rhode Island to stand against the Newport Jazz Festival’s treatment of performers. He said to Down Beat magazine that he “will never again play anything that does not have social significance,” at the time of the release of “We Insist!” Later in a 1985 interview with “Fresh Air,” interviewer Terry Gross asked if Roach if he was an activist. Roach says “I’ve always been an activist. I’ve got - at that time, of course, my children were young. But you’re always thinking about, you know, their future as well. And there has to be - if they’re going to come up and be responsible human beings, that have to have education and the things like everyone else has. And the society have to accommodate that. So I guess I’ve always been an activist because of
From there, his arms moved across the set playing on and off drum heads. After the first listen, his rhythms seem to not connect together. But after another go-around, they fitted just right. What makes his style unique is that he sees a melody in a drumset. When he hits the drums and switches back and forth to demonstrate the individually different pitches, it comes out as an improvised phrase just like any other brass instrument would give in a
Eventually in 1937, Dizzy Gillespie decided to head out to New York to carry out his dream of becoming a famous jazz player. During his time at New York he talked with many different bands and earned a job with Teddy Hill’s band. Hill was very impressed with Gillespie’s unique playing style. The group went on a tour from Great Britain to France shortly after Gillespie had joined the band. After getting back from the tour G...
Joan Baez, a famous folk singer, sang her most famous song “Oh Freedom” during the civil rights movement. She expressed her want and need for equality and freedom f...
Developed in the early 1940's, Bop had established itself as vogue by 1945. It's main innovators were alto saxophonist Charlie Parker and trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie. In this stage in jazz, improvisation differed immensely. Bebop soloists engaged in harmonic improvisation, often avoiding the melody altogether after the first chorus. Usually under seven pieces, the soloist was free to explore improvised possibilities as long as they fit into the chord structure. Popular and influential jazz artists include: Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, & Cannonball Adderley. Armstrong is most known for his involvement in hot jazz as a trumpeter, but is especially renowned for his improvisation capabilities. Louis Armstrong, born August 4, 1901 right in the beginning stages of the jazz movement, was originally from New Orleans. Armstrong was a bandleader, soloist, comedian/actor, and vocalist. Another famous, Miles Davis, is what some consider to be the best trumpeter of the era. Davis was born on May 26, 1926 in Alton, Illinois. One unique thing about Davis was that he was taught to play without vibrato, which was incredibly contrary to the popular way of
Segregation and discrimination in America was a serious social issue that affected the lifestyle of African-Americans in the 1960’s and the civil rights movement was a social movement that had an aim of ending racial inequalities. As a result of the segregation between these two cultures, there was a lot of rising racial tension which consequently led to the culmination of race riots. The social issues at that time played a significant part in Gordy’s success in the production of Motown as he wanted to produce the “sound of young America” regardless of one’s colour or race and to take this sound to wider audiences including Baby Boomers. “Motown was about music for all people- white and black, blue and green, cops and the robbers…I was reluctant to have our music alienate anyone…” (Gordy, 2011). According to Boyce (2008), the image and sound of Motown was all about the promotion of “cross over” music without the involvement of politics, but Gordy ended up showing some support for the civil rights movement as he recorded and distributed Martin Luther King Jr.’s ‘The Great March to Freedom’ speech in 1963, later founding a Black Forum
Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe, more commonly known as Jelly Roll Morton, was born to a creole family in a poor neighborhood of New Orleans, Louisiana. Morton lived with several family members in different areas of New Orleans, exposing him to different musical worlds including European and classical music, dance music, and the blues (Gushee, 394). Morton tried to play several different instruments including the guitar; however, unsatisfied with the teachers’ lack of training, he decided to teach himself how to play instruments without formal training (Lomax, 8). ...
In the mid 1930s, Benny Goodman sparked the beginning of the Swing Era of jazz music shortly after leading his first band, which was monumental to the development of jazz. This marked a transition from the early Jazz Age, which resulted from combining aspects of ragtime and blues music over the previous two decades. Through Goodman’s live performances at various gigs and NBC’s radio show Let’s Dance, he gained increased recognition as a jazz performer and band leader. Following his pivotal Palomar Ballroom gig in Los Angeles, Goodman’s music inspired teenagers to create dances to accompany his new jazz style. As a result, his music grew to gain national acclaim and popularity among many different types of people. Goodman greatly influenced
By this time a major change in jazz was afoot, and a young trumpet player named Dizzy Gillespie formed his own small prototype group at the Onyx Club in New York. This group met regularly and played original music based on popular swing tunes, with improvised melodies, and modified chordal structure. This new music was called bebop,
Of course, Armstrong 's achievements in jazz music could not be summarized by the above description. He is the greatest and most important musician in jazz history, and he made an innovation of jazz music. It is no exaggeration to say that, in a sense, Armstrong pioneered jazz
Monson, I. (2010).Freedom sounds : civil rights call out to jazz and Africa. New York Oxford: Oxford University Press.
The brass instruments in the background are played in ostinato form. This piece was written by Puerto Rican Juan Tizol, who played the trombone solo. Cootie Williams would later improvise on the piece, coming up with his own version of "Caravan."
Tomasky, Michael. A. Bob Dylan, Joan Baez & More Music at 1963’s March on Washington. 27 August 2013.
A single artist can have a very strong impact on a whole genre of music. We have seen this time and time again through artists such as Charlie Parker, David Brubeck, John Coltrane, Art Blakey, Miles Davis, and many others. All of these artists had tremendous influences on the different eras that evolved throughout the history of Jazz. Bill Evans, an American jazz pianist, was no different. Just as Charlie Parker had started the evolution of Bebop and influenced the subsequent generations of Jazz Artists, Bill Evans has influenced Modern Jazz and the generations of artists that followed him.
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.
Music has been around for thousands of years. Music has progressed since that time and has slowly become what it is today. Though music has been around for such a long time, protest music just started to develop in the Vietnam Era, the year 1954. The war started the era of protest which, in turn, created a new form of music which incorporated a specific type of lyric that was a way of expressing protest through the song. Since music in this era was already a big thing, artists thought it would be a good idea to get their political viewpoints out there. They did it through something that affected everybody in that time and space. The artists view spread quickly through the country because of the catchy tune and the viewpoints that are listed. In the United States of America, it is a very common thing to conform to others in a group (Conformity…). Since conformity is such a common occurrence in a large group, all the artist has to do is find a couple of people in the group, group being an audience, who agree with the artist and the rest will unfold on its own. The artist will keep on performing while the word of him and his music will spread from person to person. Conformity will ultimately bring people together on the same viewpoint until eventually, there are thousands of people there with the artist to protest. These artists have grown over time along with the style of music that they bring along with them. Protest music still exists today and is one of the most effective forms of protest that we have.
Andrews, John. (1998). What bebop meant to jazz history. A review of Scott Deveux’ book “The Birth of the Bebop: A Social and musical history.”