Émile Durkheim

and personas. Miles Davis and Kanye West, despite having so much between them, contain many parallels when observing what made them into icons. Miles Davis is one of the greatest, if not the greatest jazz musician ever. His album, “Kind of Blue”, is the best selling jazz album of all time, going platinum four times. That is nearly four times the sales of the runner up. The second best,…

Louis Armstrong was born on August 4th 1901 in New Orleans. His tough and painful childhood began when his father abandoned the family Shortly after he was born. Over the next 12 years Louis lived with his grandmother, Josephine Armstrong. At six years old Louis, and three other boys, formed a vocal quartet, It was here where he first felt his love of music grow, sometimes making up to $10 simply from those passing by tipping him, and his friends, in mere pennies. At twelve Louis was sent to…

Hanya Holm’s ideology, as well as her movement quality, is woven throughout Gus Giordano’s career and his approach to movement. Giordano successfully established a technique that, like Holm’s approach, took advantage of other dance techniques, such as ballet and modern, and morphed components of each into a new art form (Sabo, Made in America 44). Not only did Gus use others’ techniques, but he also anticipated the manipulation of his own technique to fit into his students’ personal style.…

On Tuesday April 25th, I attended a Bakersfield Jazz Workshop concert at The Mark. The group’s name that performed that night was J.T. Butler and Friends. The men who performed in the group that night were Steve Eisen, John Calo, J.T. Butler, Paul, Daniel Lopez, Doug Davis, and Rick Lincoln. Steve played the trumpet, John played the saxophone, J.T. Butler played the guitar along with Paul, Daniel Lopez played the drums, Doug Davis played the keyboard, and Rick Lincoln played the bass. The style…

Wednesday, November 16 at 12:00 noon was hosting the Studio Jazz Ensemble in Building K, room K413. One of the numerous buildings of Miami Dade College, Kendall Campus. The Studio Jazz Ensemble consists of 9 members. When there are less than 10 members it is called a Jazz Combo. The young Musicians who performed were Yami Ayala- Vocal, Alex Arias- Bass, George Fernandez- Guitar, Christian Martinez- Drums, Charles English-Drums, Christian Romero- Piano, Andrew Collado- Tenor Sax, Marcel Diaz-…

Dizzy Gillespie was initially influenced and dreamed to be a famous jazz musician like his idol Roy Eldridge. Dizzy was highly influenced by Roy after hearing him play his song on the radio and immediately wanted to become a jazz musician like Roy. Roy Eldridge John Birks Gillespie was born on October 21st 1917 in Cheraw, South Carolina. He is the youngest of nine children in his family and began playing Piano at the age of 4. At 10 years old his father passed away and not long after, by…

The first real jazz concert that I saw was a Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola. Now this may not be one of the most ideal spots to listen to jazz but it’s still an experience I will never forget. I attended one of the late night sessions which began around 11pm. The featured musician that was going to play was Josh Bruneau. After some research I found that Josh Bruneau is a fairly new jazz musician. Although he has been playing jazz for a long time he wasn’t recognized until the release of his…

The saxophone proved to gain acceptance when it came to America. Oddly enough, a woman by the name Elise Boyer Hall (1853-1924) was the first to perform on and let the United States know how truly incredible the saxophone is. She began learning the saxophone while she was recovering from typhoid fever. She commissioned many solo works from world renowned composer that had written for this new instrument. A few of these composers include Richard Strauss, Claude Debussy and Georges Bizet.…

Shaw ‘Nuff by Dizzy Gillespie and His All-Star Quintet may come across as swing after only a single play but, as the ear parses out what it is actually hearing, it begins to sound more like a combination of the best parts of swing and traditional jazz. The quintet is composed of a saxophone, trumpet, piano, double bass, and drums. The trumpet has its own unique sound, which could come from either a mute or the style in which the musician is playing. The bass does more than keep time, which is…

Louis Armstrong is the father of jazz. Personally, I am not a music aficionado by any means but even I know who Louis Armstrong is. For him to collaborate with Earl Hines meant a lot to the development of jazz. The reason for this they were two of the most talented jazz musicians ever. What really made this important however is their different skill sets. Louis Armstrong was a wizard at the trumpet while Earl Hines was a magician at the keys. This collaboration showed how you can seamlessly…