America's bands became more advanced in many ways from the mid-eighteenth through the mid-nineteenth century. Music was first introduced to America when military bands were brought to America by the British Army. These military bands brought their music and marches to America. Military songs first gave influences to America when the Continental Army was designed. It was made up of regiments and companies and each company had 2 fifers and 2 drummers.
Edward ‘Duke’ Ellington, a name synonymous with jazz, is considered still to one of the most influential Big Band Swing composers and arrangers. Ellington identified himself as a composer and arranger primarily and then a musician, although he played in bands before becoming an arranger. Ellington’s work and arrangements were instrumental in shaping Big Band Swing and helped to create the longevity of this sound. Ellington learned to lead a band and arrange pieces when he formed his first band, the Washingtonians. Under Ellington’s guidance the band slowly increased in size and popularity and once he began touring he did not stop for almost fifty consecutive years.
The early 1900s came and his band continued to be the regarded with high excellence in New Orleans (Charles “Buddy” Bolden Creator). It seems that a staple part of being a musician is involvement with drugs or alcohol; Chet Baker had his heroin addiction, along with many others; Charles Joseph Bolden had troubles with alcoholism. As the start of the new century dawned, it marked the golden era of Bolden’s band. He was famous for his improvisation, fusing marching-band style, blues, ragtime, and spiritual Black music (Charles “Buddy” Bolden Creator Charles “Buddy” Bolden National). From 1900 to about 1905, Bolden’s band performed many gigs at parks and New Orleans’s City Hall (Buddy Bolden PBS).
In George Wallace’s 1963 Inaugural Address he declared, segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever" – wrong he was! The law might have prevailed - the foundation for Wallace’s message was engrained into the fabric of American society. Segregationist Southern political leaders galvanized support from marginalized poor whites for their own political benefits through the tactic of fear, xenophobia, and racism which they supported with false allegations of “moral corruption” and weakness of Christian and traditional values, the rising of Civil Rights activism and the infiltration of communism into the American society. These politicians were demagogues, stirring up racial tensions allowed them to deviate from the real economic and
Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington was a phenomenal bandleader and composer, who rose to fame by pioneering jazz, a style of music that has stood the test of time today. It is evident that the theme of the biography, “Duke Ellington: Bandleader and Composer,” written by Ron Frankl, is that Duke Ellington has left behind with him a long lasting legacy on the musical style of jazz. For instance, text states, “Today, his majestic name still reigns over the jazz world as surely as it did a half century ago” (Frankl 105). It is obvious that the author means to state that Ellington has a fantastic legacy, even lasting today, thus supporting my thesis.
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
Today in class we viewed the fifth episode of Ken Burns Jazz documentary, Swing Pure Pleasure. In the late 1930’s Swing became the new Jazz among the young teenage Americans. With its popularity came fame for band leaders and bands. Bands started touring, band leaders were seen as rock stars, and swing became the obsession of many young Americans. This new fame wasn’t all flashing lights many bands and band leaders faced hardships in their career.
Camille Burton Dr. Greene English 1010-3 22 November 2014 Jazz Artists in New Orleans The early development of jazz is closely tied with the community and is a very important part of the history of New Orleans. New Orleans is seen to be the home of new jazz during the 1900's.
Print. Geoffrey C., and Ken Burns. Jazz: A History of America's Music. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2000. Print. Kallen, Stuart A.
One single activity that I am most proud of is my ability to contribute to the orchestra with my French Horn. As a vital part to the orchestra’s overall tone quality and melody, I play my French Horn proudly and powerfully. In marching band, I play powerful low notes to keep the band in rhythmic time and move the band along as a whole at a steady pace; in orchestra I play mellifluous melodies that gives songs its’ zest and vividness. Whether it be stolid, proud pieces such as Coast Guards or blissful, ecstatic songs such as Happy the horn finds its’ unique way to contribute. However, I have also sometimes overstepped my boundaries as a Horn player.
In this paper, I plan to examine the influences that Miles Davis had on jazz. Starting with the bebop era, when his career first began, to his final collaboration released following his death. While in school Davis had learned how to play the trumpet, and following graduation he attended Julliard in New York. However, he dropped out of Julliard in 1945 in order join one of bebop’s pioneers, Charlie Parker. It was
Tejano music seemed to be in a hiatus in the WWII years, since there was little interest and little resources. After the war, however, the interest reignited focusing on female duets and orquesta tejana genres. The main sponsors of these musical revival were Paco Betancourt and Armando Marroquin, who founded Discos Ideal in 1947. In the post war years, Mexican American music needed a push and jukeboxes were a great tool to provide everyone with the chance to listen to some good songs.
In life, there are few things as organic as jazz music. With its raw sound and scrappy roots, one cannot help but feel life head-on whilst witnessing players produce such a sound right before their eyes. Its origins and arch are a product of the United States’ national culture and identity. Jazz exists not only as a deeply rooted form of art but as a cultural marker, particularly during its commercial peak in the first half of the 20th century. Its impact transcends borders, and it is one of the most beloved musical genres worldwide.
Omar Gonzalez One of the most beautiful sounds a human being will ever hear is that of a finely tuned concert band. The lovely sounds that come out of instruments played by fifty or so musicians who are precisely in tune and have practiced their part can be appreciated by even the mechanical engineer or the trash collector who somehow manages to split your trash can in half or leave it rolling half a mile down the street. Although it seems obvious that to reach that level of artistry one must practice at least weekly, somehow there are people that believe the human ear can withstand the screeching of a dying cat through a megaphone larger than a commercial cruise ship . Yes, these are the ones that do not practice. These are the members
The phenomenon of contemporary jazz composition is not well represented in jazz literature and academic sources. Although composers in this genre have shown an enormous development and a clear evolution in terms of style, form, technique and orchestration in the last forty years, there is little scholarly material in print on the subject. With the culmination of the swing era and the near-disappearance of the big bands, jazz composition morphed rapidly leaving almost no trace in academic writing of its evolution, more evidently since the 1960’s. Ron Miller states, “traditionally, a jazz composition was an arrangement for big band that was composed by the arranger. Most of the earlier jazz composition textbooks (and there were few) took that approach.”
