Angela Davis

Music has always been world music, it’s not just old concert pieces from dead men of the past. Here we like to think of world music as music from outside the United States, but in other countries we become the other people, we become the world music to them or at least part of it. My dad when I was growing up listened to a lot of jazz. He grew up in south Louisiana, moved to north Louisiana and then finally moved to Texas, so he grew up in a culture of jazz. We always had some kind of it playing…

Frankie Blue Eyes Frank Sinatra a actor/singer from Hoboken, New Jersey, started off with nothing but a ukulele and his back yard, to bright lights and all the fame a man could want. (“Frank Sinatra Biography”) Frank Sinatra was a mastermind when it came to singing and acting, he was one of the most famous men in the world. He was called the “Swing Eras” (1935-1946) best singer and actor (“Frank Sinatra Biography Film Actor, Singer”). Frank Sinatra was known by everyone back then, everyone…

The song “Flamenco Sketches” by the Miles Davis Sextet has the cool jazz sound with the modal jazz style. The song has a light and soft sound with simple melodic improvisations. A traditional rhythm section maintains a steady rhythm throughout the song, but this rhythm section uses countermelodies to add colorations during the improvisations. The pianist is constantly playing a soft melody underneath the improvisations and sometimes mirroring the melody played by the improviser. The bassist…

Trumpeter-composer Wadada Leo Smith owns an inimitable avant-jazz voice and an out-of-the-box creativity that is patented throughout a prolific career. If last year he delighted me twice with A Cosmic Rhythm With Each Stroke (duo record with pianist Vijay Iyer) and America’s National Park, this year he strikes again with another couple of powerful albums, Solo Reflections and Meditations on Monk and Najwa, the object of this review and a bow to major American jazz artists. The album’s acute bite…

Charlie Parker’s Ill-Fated West Coast Trip Charlie “Bird” Parker is one of the most iconic figures not only in the modern jazz history, but also in the jazz history overall. Charlie Parker had an extraordinary melodic gift and regularly created solos that consisted of ling-lined melodies, each of which was elegant improvised composition unto itself. This gained a wide following among jazz musicians and greatly influenced the Jazz community in the iconic shift is music. Parker’s self-destructive…

was considered more emotional and had a harder drive to the music. As in bebop, there was a large focus on improvisation. A few of the pioneers in hard bop were Art Blakey playing drums, Horace Silver on piano, Sonny Rollins playing saxophone, Miles Davis playing trumpet, and John Coltrane playing tenor saxophone. Some differences between hard bop and bebop are that the melodies are much simpler and more soulful; there is a looser feel in the rhythm section with the bassist not limited to the…

are a number of extremely influential jazz musicians over the years, but I argue to say that the most influential of them were trumpet players. I believe that the most influential trumpet jazz players were Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong, Milles Davis and Roy Eldridge. These four artists were all musically gifted and were involved in the early days of jazz, where each of them innovated and influence the evolution of jazz. Dizzy Gillespie was one of American’s greatest jazz trumpeters in the…

Charlie Parker Jr. better known as the Bird was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. He is accredited for being an influential part in the development of bebop. This style of jazz had a much faster tempo, specialized technique, and advancement in the harmony that is used. His playing style made way for faster chords, variants to altered chords, and substitution that are made to it. Although he had a difficult upbringing and maybe obstacles were placed in front of him, he still succeeded…

Dylan Scallo Mrs. Glaser English 3 Honors 29 May 2015 Jazz comes in a variety of genres: dixieland, bebop, blues. Each genre contains its own unique quality that distinguishes itself from the rest, whether the difference is the steady beat of a drum, the focus on a pianist’s melody, or the fast tempo kept throughout a piece of music. The influx of jazz styles was welcomed by the people in the late twentieth century who appreciated a variety of music to choose from. The music reflects what was…

Miles Davis also known to some as Prince of Darkness was said to be the top musician during his time with a plan set out to change the concept of jazz and how the world see it. Davis was born 1926 in Alton, Illinois. He was a leader of a band named Miles Davis Quintet as well as a well-known jazz trumpet player. This paper will be going into details of the jazz artist Miles Davis from the beginning of his music career to the end. In 1926 a well-known jazz artist by the name of Miles Davis…