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The Darktown Strutters Ball By Alberta Hunter

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The Darktown Strutters Ball, released in 1917, and written by Alberta Hunter, was one of the more popular songs during the era known as the Harlem renaissance. It was a great period for African Americans, but it was also a great period for new types of music. The blues was a musical form that stemmed from the post-civil war started in the south and slowly moved north. Jazz and blues were the music that was heard in Harlem’s nightlife. (Renaissance and Music, para. 1) Because of people like Louis Armstrong, Ceril Mack, or Eva Jessye Jazz and blues were able to blossom with several instruments and subgenres. The following information will be about how jazz started, those people's contributions, and the instruments/subgenres.

Jazz is a music that is still around today, and it was started over 100 years ago around New Orleans. Because New Orleans is a port city, Jazz and blues could be heard by many. People were going from here to there which allowed for the clash of ethnic cultures. The blues were started before Jazz, it came from work songs, field hollers, minstrel show music, ragtime, church music, and folk music. (Blues, para. 5) Unlike Jazz, the blues were first …show more content…

(Open Ears: Eva Jessye and the Harlem Renaissance, para 1) Eva was a talented musician, at a young age, she was a singer, choir director, composer, actor, teacher, and poet. “Eva lead a choir that was one of the top gospel, folk, and spiritual groups of the time…Known as ‘Original Dixie Jubilee Singers’ but they later changed the name to “Eva Jessye Choir”. (Open Ears: Eva Jessye and the Harlem Renaissance, para 2) To have your choir as a black woman during the early 1920s was a feat that should not be dismissed. She belonged to two groups that were disseminated during this time, women and African Americans. Without people like her, the renaissance wouldn’t have meant much, she was one of the few who was willing to risk for the

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Throughout her career, “Mills earned a reputation for her wondrous, high-pitched voice, unique dance movements and comedic timing that allowed her to become an unparalleled force during the Harlem Renaissance. With Mills quite aware of the racial dynamics of the day and wishing to make a difference, she also served as an icon for African-American performers and audiences of all backgrounds.” (Bio.) Mills was well recognized for amazing talents, and became more popular as she starred in “Shuffle Along”, “Plantation Revenue”, and “Blackbirds”. Starring in mostly musicals, Mills was recognized more for her beautiful voice, and was a huge star in Britain by 1926.

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“In a 1999 interview in The Paris Review, Mr. Wilson cited his major influences…the blues was the primary influence, followed by Jorge Luis Borges, the playwright Amiri Baraka and the painter Romare Bearden” (NY Times). The blues is different from other forms of music because it was only recorded by memory and was passed down through generations of African Americans. It began in North Mississippi in post-Civil War times. The blues music was influenced by African roots, church music, and rhythmic dance tunes which were called jump-ups. An evolution of African music created in the United States by slaves influenced the blue.

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She began to sing the gospel at a very young age and enticed her to become a singer. She sang many spirituals in light of the great oppression African Americans were facing at the time. This singing greatly tested her vocal range and prepared her for the high notes she would have to sing as a contralto in Europe. This is where she would become extremely popular and open the door for more African americans to pursue

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In the realm of music, African Americans celebrated blues music. The blues music that spread during the 1920s “expressed the longings and philosophical perspectives of the black working class” (). In addition to blues music, jazz became a dominant musical form which established Harlem as an exciting cultural center, resulting in abundant dance halls created where famous musicians such as the trumpeter Louis Armstrong, pianist Duke Ellington, and pianist Fats Waller could perform their unique solos and share their musical talents in an environment that embraced the freedom of self-expression. These developments that occurred in this period called the Jazz Age indeed empowered African Americans to use their musical talents in an effort to strengthen their traditions, culture, and racial status in an anti-black prejudiced society: “"Wild Dreams of Bringing Glory and Honor to the Negro Race," addresses the composer's difficulties in overcoming negative stereotypes, myths, and perceptions that were most often based in racial prejudice” (). Similarly, African Americans contributed to the field of drama, forming all black theatre groups and creating productions that often focused on portraying the folk experience (the experience of blacks in the South) and protesting racial oppression and black stereotypes.

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She proved that women can alter the course of political events, and she was very popular in the fight for equality because she had personal experience with slavery and talked about it in detail. She also showed people that limits on women's rights were also in the same system as slavery. She was very wealthy, which gave her an advantage over the people. Later, she kept fighting for women's rights and equality. This goes to show just how brave and determined she was.

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Jazz is most often thought to have been started in the 1920s as this explosive movement, but that is in fact not the case. Starting in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century many African American musicians have started to explore their taste in improvising, and where better to do that than New Orleans (Anderson). Before the 1920s these jazz musicians have already been going around sharing the unique sound, but up until then, jazz had remained majorly in New Orleans. Interestingly during this period, a common jazz band would consist of a cornet, a clarinet, a trombone, and a rhythm section when at this period of time the clarinet is not commonly associated with being a jazz instrument, it moved into being the saxophone rather. A big

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It was music created by African Americans during the World War II era and extended to the beginning of the early 1960s. It became extremely popular during that time. Employment began to increase during World War II era. It evolved and began to bring poor people to the suburban cities. It created a younger and more urban black audience.

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Her music was very popular during a time of war and listeners reached out to her style of music in order to forget the bad happenings and enjoy good music. Today, she is still considered one of the best jazz vocalists to ever

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Sonny's Blues was written in 1957, 37 years after the roaring twenties had come to an end. Long after the great Migration, where millions of blacks moved to northern cities to escape Jim Crow, and embrace the new found possibilities offered. During this period African-Americans in New York, collectively gathered in Harlem mainly, it was usually alluded to as the black capital. There blacks shared culturally and also, influenced music greatly. This is also where the "new negro" persona was crafted, blacks were no longer going to be referred to as someone's mammies or boy.

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Jazz, on the other hand, grew out of ragtime and New Orleans style music, slowly making its way up the Mississippi River and on to Chicago where the term Jazz was first coined in 1913. “Blueberry hill”, one of the most famous early jazz songs, was composed by one of the most famous jazz music players, Louis Armstrong, nicknamed “Stachmo” and “pops” would be the best example to demonstrate the term “Jazz.” Armstrong was famous for playing trumpet. Blues and Jazz are interrelated most likely because of the fact that they are originated from the American South which means it is an African American style from the south. Improvisation is a major performance method for both Jazz and Blues.

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What are The Blues? Where the Blues Started The Blues originated in the early 19th century as a form of a field hollers, a form of singing with quick or jumpy pitch changes, slaves would sing about their troubles, plans, and emotions while working in the fields in a call and response pattern. After the emancipation of the slaves, the genre almost completely vanished because of the lack of record keeping of African American culture during the 18th and 19th centuries. The lack of record keeping should have spelled the end for the Blues; however, all was not lost.

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The blues as an art form is an example of the socio-economic and cultural limitations placed upon African Americans in the 1920’s and 1930’s. Discrimination and segregation limited African American’s opportunities to have well-paying jobs that allowed for social exchange in traditional forms and equal representation in cultural products of the time. One of the few opportunities to work against this system was a performer and song writer for African American music. In this way the blues were used as a meeting ground for African Americans to share in their common plight. Many songs, while not directly focused on social issues, would focus on the day to day sufferings of a suppressed people and their sorrows.

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Introduction: This website will inform you on the impact of iconic blues musicians changing the initial sound of blues. Involved in this accidental situation were many blues musicians who outbroke in the 1940s, but specifically artists like Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Willie Dixon, Etta James, and many others. This situation occurred due to many different individuals migrating to Chicago and joining Chicagoans already in the area to create music, creating a new sound that was somewhat very much appreciated by the South and West communities of Chicago. Overall blues musicians came to Chicago and changed the initial sound of blues, causing conflict, which eventually became resolved due to how the new song created a relatable genre for black people. Body Paragraphs: According to Primary and Secondary Sources collected blues has been altered and changed over the years creating different versions of blues, an offspring of the genre rock & roll, and much more all in efforts to create one body of music.

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Prior to the Emancipation Proclamation, most music was work music or spirituals which were sung without musical instruments. While students of history know the musical classes that moves the blues, there isn 't much data regarding why the class was made. Modest and convenient instruments including the harmonica and guitar was effortlessly acquired and added to the spirituals as of now made by African Americans. The expansion of instruments could be the making of the blues. The blues rapidly got to be prominent among the African American audience members and the sound would in the long run be perfected bringing about sub-classifications including the Delta blues which started in the Mississippi Delta.

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