Introduction
Louis Armstrong was a jazz musician and was nicknamed Satchmo. He was considered the founding father of jazz and king of jazz. He played a role in the civil rights movement and was known to be the first scat singer. His band the, Hot Five, was one of the popular bands known for making swing music trendy. His music set the standards for jazz till this day. Louis Armstrong is still known as one of the greatest African- American entertainers.
Anthropology: “Swing Culture”
The swing era ranged from 1935-1946. It was the most popular music in the history of the United States. It originated as an adaption of neo jazz. The swing era arrived when the great depression arrived. This era was popular because it is said to be that people started dancing off their anxiety and depression. In the swing era there were dyads, which are two people groups. In the club there were many couples dancing and singing as popular swing bands enlightened the club.
Since this era was part of the Harlem Reneissance there were stratified cultures present. These are layers that are present in the population, like rich and poor, in which each layer is given a certain status. When people went inside swing clubs, stratified cultures were broken down, as in it didn’t matter who you were, all that mattered at that time inside the club was just having fun. The swing era was not an era in which people could overpower others, it was an era where people can just relax and dance off all their stress.
Sociology
During the swing era a lot of slang words were created and popularized, some of which that Lewis was known for. Slang words like “muggles” (slang word for marijuana used by jazz musicians) and “Heebie and Jeebies” (slang word for depression, anxiet...
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... how to play the trumpet. Through the radio his influential music taught the public how to behave and additionally he influenced the population’s outlook on life with his hit single “ What a wonderful world”.
Psychology
It changed my appreciation of jazz music because of the amount of soul he put into his music is incredible. Usually music was prepared and was usually sung the same way every time. But with Louis Armstrong, his songs were improvised and this showed that his music really came from his heart. This why I not only appreciate him, I also appreciate jazz.
I consider him as a role model, although I am not going to be a musician, I still see him as an inspiration because of his work ethic. I consider of changing my work ethic because of him. Currently I do work harder, but I also play harder. The way he influenced me is like nothing else.
He took jazz and fooled around with it until he made it revolutionary I'm a way of just making stuff up. He also liked the playing style of improvised polyphony, which is when all of the instrument groups improved at the same time and they would feed of of each other and build off of each other. Oliver is also my American hero because he was the mentor of Louis Armstrong, whom followed some of Oliver's ideas and really just started stringing with the whole idea of improvised solos. Louis made improving so popular that improving is all that modern jazz or even just jazz in his era is made of. Oliver set the grounds for what would be modern jazz and his ideas influenced jazz musicians and musicians of all types all around the world
Swing, the predecessor of bop, was big, sweet, and hot. The performers were big bands, fronted by a charismatic bandleader, yet the success of a piece depended mostly on the unity of the ensemble as a whole, rather than on the showcasing of prodigious individuals. The requisite instrument was the saxophone, which was often smooth and mellifluous. Songs were old favorites, or simple jazz standards, that had been arranged to suit a large ensemble. Swing bands played in large venues, such as ballrooms, and to large audiences, who seized the opportunity to not just tap their toes, but to "jump, jive, and wail." The swing era became the most popular form of jazz, as it catered to audiences as a form of social and interactive entertainment.
By the 1930’s the movement had shifted yet again and began to incorporate larger bands in what came to be known as “swing.” Broadcast radio was also an important factor by this time, giving swing music a far-reaching national influence. The size of the bands had a standardizing ...
As is so often the case in jazz, when a style or way of playing becomes too commercialized, the evolution turned in the opposite direction. A group of musicians, who had something new to say, something definitely new, found each other reacting against the general Swing fashion.
and the people around him. His mother did not even care enough to keep his birth
“His relaxed phrasing was a major change from the staccato style of the early 20’s and helped to set the stage for the Swing Era” (“Life & Legacy”). And as such a prominent artist, and in particular, jazz artist, Armstrong did not only change the perception of jazz and swing, but the views on African Americans and their culture. Armstrong and the Harlem Renaissance reflected black history and culture, and it became popular, even in white communities and clubs. Jazz as a whole genre helped further society’s views through the universal language of music, where any ethnicity could partake in it. And the revolution of jazz was lead by the stylings of Louis Armstrong. The duration of the jazz and swing era, lasting decades past the 1920s, symbolized the civil rights movement directly through the lyrics, sounds, and artists
His boisterous personality influenced many aspects of American culture, and his contributions and influence on Jazz are immeasurable. Nobody has done more for Jazz than Louis Armstrong, without question he is a Jazz legend (Friedwald). Armstrong excelled at everything he performed. A renaissance man of our time, his appreciation for music and life showed in his performances, and his talent showed his techniques and improvisation. Louis’s technique and improvisation on the trumpet set the standard for Jazz musicians (Friedwald). Fellow trumpeter Dizzie Gillespie credited Armstrong with this honor stating, “If it weren’t for him there wouldn’t be any of us.” This reputation would lend him to be referred to as Jazz royalty. With his trumpet and his scat singing he revolutionized Jazz. Though vocally limited, his understanding of how to use his voice beyond his natural abilities led to his perfection of scat (Edwards). Scatting allowed him to perfect his improvisational skill. Scatting, or scat singing would come to be known as the “House that Satch Built” and Armstrong the “Original Man of Scat.”
Beginning with Goodman’s monumental performance at Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles, the Swing Era gained immense popularity that helped the jazz genre rise to the forefront of popular music in America in the 1930s to 1950s. Furthermore, Goodman’s performance at Carnegie Hall brought the jazz genre to new peaks as it gained acclaim high-class music. The highly popular music form, along with its newfound recognition as a sophisticated music genre at Carnegie Hall, inspired the next generation of jazz musicians and brought many opportunities for jazz musicians to launch their music careers. In addition, Goodman crossed racial barriers in jazz by making his mixed jazz bands mainstream, which normalized mixed jazz groups and brought together previously segregated musicians. Goodman significantly impacted jazz by popularizing the Swing Era, which launched the careers of future generations of jazz musicians, and by unifying musicians of different ethnic backgrounds through jazz
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 history.
Louis Armstrong was the first great trumpet soloist in jazz. His unmistakable trumpet and vocals allowed him to continue doing what he loved most, making people happy. Armstrong was loved by many people, whether they were white, Africa...
The first thing I will talk about is the type of music he is know for which gave him that name. Most people listen to the type of music he composed but next to none know who or how it was composed. There seems to be an abundance of music fans who know little or nothing about the origin of their music. By discussing what he has accomplished it will explain why he is considered to be so important to his type of music.
The Roaring Twenties a period when a dramatic social and political change happened. Researching about Harlem was learning about how the people contributed more the music to America’s New Urban Culture. The Harlem Renaissance was a significant movement during the 1920s were African American artists were brought together, explored what it means to be an artist, what it is to create art and literature, as well as what it means to be a proud African American in a community, that influence each to stand-up together in a white-dominant culture, furthermore Harlem was a hotbed of political, cultural and social activity. While researching about the 1920’s, I found out so
The swing style was greatly influenced by jazz and also a multitude of popular dances from before it’s time, for example the Black Bottom, Big Apple and the Turkey Trot. The style of Swing dancing is named after the type of jazz music that swing dancing is traditionally danced too. Swing dancing is said to have been created at a club called the Savoy Ballroom. The Savoy Ballroom was a block-long dancehall in New York City and was so popular that it was frequented by many of the greatest dancers of the 1920’s and 30’s such as “Shorty George” Snowden. The Savoy was so large that it had 2 bands playing Jazz at all times, one on either end of the dance floor. Another thing that made the Savoy Ballroom so unique is it was one of the few places at that time that were desegregated, so the black and whites were dancing in the same room. A typical night at the Savoy ballroom would entail the patrons starting the evening doing line dances then pairing up according to ability and continuing to dance the night away in pairs. Usually the better dancers would gather, dance together, and try new moves in one corner of the dance floor known as the “cat’s corner.”
At the same time, he experimented with different ensemble instrumentation: “In the 1920s, Armstrong … began to revolutionize the jazz world with his introduction of the extended solo. Prior to his arrival, jazz music was played either in highly orchestrated arrangements or in a more loosely structured “Dixieland”-type ensemble[s]” (PBS, 2005). Well into the 1950s, Armstrong’s career flourished. His dry vocals and his swinging trumpet playing became internationally recognized, sparking jazz movements in France and in various Latin American
4. The style is American! The style of swing music was created in America and will help you better understand the culture of the 20s and 30s in our country. Even though there might be a little music from other ethnic origins or different time periods, the majority of it will be from the 20s and 30s in