Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (1899-1974) is a well renowned and respected figure as an American performer and composer.
Ellington fundamental character was based by the bonds from his family and establishments of the city 's large African American community. He states that in his memoirs, Music is My Mistress, Ellington emphasizes values inherited from his parents and from the black community that produced many achievements. He also records down Washington 's rich musical life and profiles some of its leading figures, among them Doc Perry, Henry Grant, and Louis Brown.
His musical interests were passive as he found more interests in baseball and sports, his parents had no qualms about his obsession with baseball as he was doing well with
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The first jazz work considered more than just dance music, this piece brought attention to Ellington 's genius in orchestration. Its "A" Section has the first melody, a dirge-like minor key, and piano accents. Section "B1" has the second melody in a major key, with variations and blues-like accents and growls, and section "B2" presents a variation on the second melody. Section "C" features sustained trumpet, high notes, and growls. Section "D" provides a piano solo. Section "E" features "neighing" trombone sound effects accented by drums. The composition ends with a funeral-march theme from Chopin.
An interesting development in Duke Ellington and his orchestra, was the use of special jazz mutes spontaneously constructed by the black musicians, the plunger mutes. As some of these musicians were not from well to do families, one could not afford a proper mute and used anything they could get their hands on. These sounds were unfamiliar and created a unique color that not anyone in those days have heard of. The sounds created were nicknamed jungle sounds, and this became an identity of Duke Ellington 's jazz
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He began from here experimenting with this new sound which was stressed on sonority of instruments. This eventually evolved the transformation of the sound of brass instruments through the use of newly modified mutes.Saxophonist Russell Procope said that "Mood Indigo" was the band 's greatest popular number, and they played it every night for twenty-eight years. It is a sincere tone poem, and its original sound shaped the
This time period blossomed and had an exploration of creative arts that were performed by African Americans and one of the most influential in African American History. During this time, African Americans paraphrased the stereotype of “Negro” that influenced black people relationship with their heritage. The Harlem Renaissance has been explored through literature, music, art, drama, and poetry. The sound of the saxophone and the trumpets contributed to the Jazz and Blues Music. After the civil war, many African American soldiers came home and they decided to “migrate” from the South due to the discrimination and prejudice received by laws and codes.
Duke Ellington and The 1920’s The most important part of the roaring 20’s would have to be the “cultural Civil War,” from the conflicting religions, Harlem renaissance, Women's rights, “the new woman,” versus the old fashioned housewife, all played a key role in the roaring twenties. At the height of the Harlem Renaissance in the late 1920s, Duke Ellington was a pioneer of a new form of jazz music that can be heard in the song “Black and Tan Fantasy.” The 1920’s were full of cultural and economic change as well as increased self expression and nightlife along with dance and the birth of jazz music. “The nation’s total wealth more than doubled between 1920 and 1929, and this economic growth swept many Americans into an affluent but unfamiliar
Diminuendo in Blue is the longest track in the album at fourteen minutes, it has one of the best saxophone solos ever put to record. Skin Deep brought the frenzied passion of the crowd to the end with its outstanding drum solo; ending the show and leaving the audience with uncontainable energy. It’s the best forty minutes someone could spend listening to
George Alazar Mr. Peets AP US History 3/20/22 Duke Ellington Duke Ellington was the most well-known musician composer and bandleader during the Harlem Renaissance. Born on April 29, 1899, in Washington D.C, Edward Kennedy Ellington group up in a stable middle-class family. His parents, Daisy and James Ellington, both were talented musicians, playing piano. They strongly encouraged him to play piano, and he began piano lessons at the age of seven. Throughout his young life, Ellington began interested in the arts and wrote his first piece, “Soda Fountain Rag.”
TO THE DIRECTOR This piece was commissioned several years ago by the Evanston Township High School Jazz Ensemble in Evanston, IL, in honor of one of its alums, bassist Bob Cranshaw, who recently passed away. Cranshaw came to prominence during the Hard Bop era and was involved in almost every aspect of jazz and commercial music performance in his lifetime. He also spent his later years involved with the Musicians Union, advocating for the rights of jazz musicians. Dr. Fodor suggested this title because of its double meaning; musicians who have played lots of less than desirable gigs are said to have “paid their dues” and the word “dues” also refers to the payment of union dues. This composition is written in the hard style of the hard driving shuffles so prominent in the Hard Bop era.
Popular Jazz musicians included King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Kid Ory, and Duke Ellington. No one had quite heard anything like it before in America. Dances were made to accompany the music - mostly to "take advantage" of the upbeat tempo's. Before Jazz became popular in America, it was considered "the devil's music" by some of the public. Some people, like Ernest Newman, "debunked Jazz" in a 1927 magazine article.
“Beginnings to 1917” was the first episode of Burns' remarkable Jazz miniseries segments. So it was natural to discuss the origin of the jazz as a new musical style. The jazz rooted from a city in New Orleans where had a rich and diverse musical culture, including the Caribbean rhythms, Italian opera, etc. In this northern American era during the nineteenth century, the black also had chances to listen to music, which was less likely in the widespread slave-holding South. For slaves, singing could help them spend the heavy and arduous labor work in the fields, which later developed into “work songs”.
The Harlem Jazz Revolution No trend in the ever changing world of art has ever lived up to the rich symphonies brought to our nation during the 1920’s Harlem jazz revolution. Many take for granted the elaborately drawn out notes and passionate saxophone of their music today, remaining completely oblivious to the humble roots these musical aspects have. If you were to trace back their lineage, you’d end up in the poverty-stricken black communities of New Orleans in 1900. Drawing upon their ancestors’ days between rows of cotton plants and vegetable fields, these descendants, now sharecroppers, combined European and African styles and meshed them with the work songs and African chants of their history (the people history). Thus, jazz blues
Studies say that in spite of the fact that Ellington 's music originates from the jazz convention, it is inappropriate to mark it as simply jazz music. Ellington believed that he didn’t create jazz music, he says he creates music for black folks when people asked him about his music. Truth be told quite a bit of his music is closer to European traditional music.
Some of them included Duke Ellington, Fletcher Henderson, and Jimmy Lunceford. Interestingly enough, because of the popularity of the music, African Americans were able to produce music and bring it into white society for them to listen to. These African American musicians also influenced many of the white musicians as well. White jazz musicians had taken inspiration from black jazz music for many years, but because of swing, they became even more deeply devoted to integrating this music to blacks and whites. Benny Goodman was one of these white musicians.
A sonnet is a poem which contains 14 lines. Usually, sonnets are about love. The Italian sonnet, or the Petrarchan sonnet, has an abba-abba, cde-cde rhyme scheme, with an octave and a sestet. The octave either asks a question or tells the reader a problem, while the sestet indicates a solution or comment. Additionally, traditional sonnets are written in an iambic pentameter rhythm.
Ellington was concerned with the people relating his slave descendants and his music. He confessed that he did all the music and performance for dignity. In the film “Love you madly” he displayed his responsibility as a Swing Era bandleader to poetry and use jazz-oriented big band music to push the musician movement after the world war II. Ellington paid tribute to the black artists figures, centers of autonomy and achievements to people such as Liberia and Harlem, amidst the intense criticism that he was not fighting for the black liberation. In the film, he shows his moving against its strictures, where he documented and celebrated black history and culture.
Duke Ellington was a musician active during the Harlem Renaissance. In the 1920s, Ellington moved to Harlem and started to play shows at The Cotton Club. Though he mainly focused on jazz, Ellington 's music spanned many genres, including blues, gospel, and classical. During his 50-year career Ellington composed over a thousand pieces and was a widespread influence on jazz music. Duke Ellington represents the Harlem Renaissance theme of pride.
In the early 1900’s, white people composed, performed, and listened to music. The black population created a democratic art form called Jazz which allowed them to compose and write their own music. Two artists, Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, challenged tradition and expanded jazz music by encouraging individuality and by integrating black culture into their compositions. Louis Armstrong pushed the boundaries of musicality by emphasizing individualistic expression and integrating black culture into his music. Armstrong served as a voice for the black community.