The Evolution of Music in Black Music in America by James Haskins

726 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Early forms of music in Africa

The Evolution of Music in Black Music in America by James Haskins I have definitely learned a lot about the Evolution of Music in this class. I found it to be very intriguing. So when I was faced with the chore of deciding what I would do my report on, I chose to use the book Black Music in America by James Haskins. This book gave a detailed account of not only the music genres but it’s performers. American music is made up of music from many different types of ethnic backgrounds. What gives this book a plus is that it highlights aspects American music, and its performers. The people and events that really caught my attention were the concert singers, Minstrelsies, Jubilee songs, and brass bands. Born as a slave, a girl by the name of Elizabeth Greenfield moved to Philadelphia. She moved there with her Mistress and her parents. Luckily while in Philadelphia they were set free. At the age of forty-two she moved to buffalo New York in order to embark on new opportunities as a singer. When she reached New York opportunity came knocking. She began a career of concert singing. With a range of three and one quarter octaves you would think that opportunity kept knocking, but it didn’t. Therefore she moved to Europe where she would get the attention and credit that she deserved. While in Europe Elizabeth was shown great appreciation for her talent. Even Queen Victoria demanded that she performed for her at the Buckingham Palace. She gained newfound popularity in the states, because of her new accomplishments. As we know, it wasn’t easy for blacks to make a living in the U.S. That forced blacks to either perform in Europe or the northern states of the U.S. Some blacks even had to resort to performing in Minstrelsies. Minstrelsies... ... middle of paper ... ...ts out. In fact that prompted them to play as loud as possible in order to overwhelm the Creoles. Buddy Bolden was one of the blacks that had the ability to do just that. Along with his strong sound that he strived for, he improvised standard ragtime and blues pieces. Unfortunately he didn’t have as much control over his life that he had over his trombone. He became an alcoholic, contracted syphilis, and then ultimately dies in a mental institution. It is sad that he died without knowing his contribution to the development of what we now call jazz. I made a conscious decision to highlight the information in this book that I had never read about in the past. On the contrary you should know that this book contains very detailed information on the parts of black American music history that is popular in today's society. It covers everything from slave songs to Motown.

Show More
Related

  • West End Blues: Louis Armstrong's Impact On Jazz Music

    455 Words  | 1 Pages

    When it comes to jazz music, there is one name that everyone knows, whether they’ve never listened to jazz before or if they’ve listened to it their whole lives. That name is Louis Armstrong. Armstrong was one of the pioneers of jazz music, from his humble beginnings in one of New Orleans roughest districts, “the Battlefield”, to playing concerts for sold out crowds in Chicago and New York City, Louis left a massive impact on the way America listened to music for a long time. One of his premier tracks, “West End Blues”, left an impact on jazz music, which other musicians would try to emulate for years.

    Read More

  • Impact of Music of the Harlem Renaissance Upon the Artists of Today

    1614 Words  | 4 Pages

    By the end of World War I, Black Americans were facing their lowest point in history since slavery. Most of the blacks migrated to the northern states such as New York and Chicago. It was in New York where the “Harlem Renaissance” was born. This movement with jazz was used to rid of the restraints held against African Americans. One of the main reasons that jazz was so popular was that it allowed the performer to create the rhythm. With This in Mind performers realized that there could no...

    Read More

  • Summary: All That Jazz

    551 Words  | 2 Pages

    Musically and culturally, the black community impacted America. Musicians, like Duke Ellington, King Oliver, and Louis Armstrong, spiced up the

    Read More

  • The Impact Of Louis Armstrong's Influence On American History

    1133 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout history, and even today, music has shaped America’s culture, society, and even politics. One of the most outstanding and enduring musical movement has been from African American artists, ranging from bebop to jazz to hip-hop to rap. During the 1920’s , jazz artists stepped into the limelight and began their impact on American and even world history. Louis Armstrong was one of the most influential leaders during the Harlem Renaissance and his jazz legacy and impact of American history is everlasting. A master of his craft, Armstrong and his music heavily influenced America’s white and black populations from the 1920’s and up until his death.

    Read More

  • Rock n Roll & 20th Century Culture

    1464 Words  | 3 Pages

    According to Albert Murray, the African-American musical tradition is “fundamentally stoical yet affirmative in spirit” (Star 3). Through the medium of the blues, African-Americans expressed a resilience of spirit which refused to be crippled by either poverty or racism. It is through music that the energies and dexterities of black American life are sounded and expressed (39). For the black culture in this country, the music of Basie or Ellington expressed a “wideawake, forward-tending” rhythm that one can not only dance to but live by (Star 39).

    Read More

  • Duke Ellington

    1118 Words  | 3 Pages

    expanding, sharing it’s enthusiasm throughout the world. The evolution of jazz aroused the curiosity of the nation. As Blacks received their freedom, they were able to

    Read More

  • Sonny's Blues

    1744 Words  | 4 Pages

    Jazz music prospered in the 1940’s and 1950’s. Jazz was created by African Americans to represent pain and suffering and also represented the adversity that racial tension brought. (Scholastic) African American performers like Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie “Bird” Parker came to be recognized for their ability to overcome “race relati...

    Read More

  • Jazz Concert Report

    777 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • The Harlem Renaissance Essay

    1255 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Black Jazz Musicians

    947 Words  | 2 Pages

    The popularity of jazz musicians by black artists has experienced particularly high levels of advancement in Kansas City throughout history. "For a brief period from the late 1920s through the late 1930s, Kansas City was a mecca for Midwestern and southwestern black jazz musicians. Some extraorginary music resulted from the healthy competition and collegiality that grew among musicians of significantly different backgrounds and styles. Among the musicians who marked the sound of Kansas City then were Bill "Count" Basie, Bennie Moten, Lester Young, Eddie Durham, Jesse Stone, Walter Page, Oran "Hot Lips" Page, Mary Lou Williams, Eddie Barefield, Henry "Buster" Smith, Ed Lewis, Jimmy Rushing, Joe Turner, Pete Johnson, Jay McShann, Claude "Fiddler" Williams, Dick Wilson, and Charlie Parker. It is an extraordinary role call for a relatively small city of the period," (Pearon 182). With consideration for these individuals, it is apparent that the most significant time period in Kansas City history, in regard to the spread of black jazz music, is the 1920s and 1930s.

    Read More

  • Influence of Jazz on American Culture

    1953 Words  | 4 Pages

    New Orleans has always been a big music town, for there has always been brass bands that played in the streets for parades, or for families to give comfort during a funeral.... ... middle of paper ... ... (The Influence of Jazz & Blues on Modern Music.”).

    Read More

  • Music Played Key Role in US Civil Rights Movement

    3700 Words  | 8 Pages

    Music nurtured the African American tradition and their struggle towards equality in the same century.... ... middle of paper ... ... Greensboro, N.C.: Morgan Reynolds Pub. Carter, D. (2009).

    Read More

  • Black Music in Toni Morrison's Jazz

    1730 Words  | 4 Pages

    As it mentioned above, the title itself, draws attention to the world-renowned music created by African Americans in the 1920s’ as well as to the book’s jazz-like narrative structure and themes. Jazz is the best-known artistic creation of Harlem Renaissance. “Jazz is the only pure American creation, which shortly after its birth, became America’s most important cultural export”(Ostendorf, 165). It evolved from the blues

    Read More

  • My Cultural Identity

    1009 Words  | 3 Pages

    Powell, A. (2007). The Music of African Americans and its Impact on the American Culture in the 1960’s and the 1970’s. Miller African Centered Academy, 1. Retrieved from http://www.chatham.edu/pti/curriculum/units/2007/Powell.pdf

    Read More

  • Evolution Of Jazz Music: The Evolution Of Jazz

    707 Words  | 2 Pages

    Before I take this class, the jazz music is familiar as well as unfamiliar to me. I am pretty sure that I heard jazz performance at many times, but I cannot tell what jazz is. And there was a time when I thought jazz music was belong to the upper class, however I understand the jazz music is regardless of class and race, so much even it more tends to lower middle class. In the early of 19th century, the New Orleans was owned by the French, and due to the lax management, lots of African-Americans got away from slaveholder from America’s south. They got married with French under the “mixed marriages”, therefore there were huge amount of mixed-race know as Creoles. The Creoles had the same rights with white people, they got

    Read More

More about The Evolution of Music in Black Music in America by James Haskins

Open Document