Benny Goodman

In New Orleans the origin of black population was diverse, being most of the time the western part of Africa or the Caribbean. It is in this diverse cultural context in which originated the appearance of musical styles as diverse as Jazz, Cajun music, Zydeco and blues. In many areas of the South of America the drumbeat was prohibited by law, in places like Georgia and it was forbidden the use of any musical instrument for part of the slaves. However in the early 19th century music festivals…

Billie Holiday, occasionally known as Lady Day, was a well known harlem renaissance singer. Billie Holiday's life was an intriguing yet very misfortunate story. Billie Holiday had gone through many obstacles in her lifetime. Even as she rose to fame, problems in her short life never seem to go away. Billie Holiday had to overcome through problems like addiction, prostitution, rape, etc... Throughout her entire life, from her early life to death Billie Holiday had to face and many struggles and…

The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement that lasted between the 1920s and 1930s. In more depth, this movement consisted of artistic explosions, including music, writing, and many others that helped African Americans emerge into a virtually white nation. The Harlem Renaissance was the only place of the 20th century where “racial solidarity was equated with social progress, and where the idea of blackness became a commodity in its own right.” . It is questioned however, that if the impact…

America was once described as baseball and apple pie. The Cold War forced Americans to choose the status quo of traditional American life or to face a new modernized age. The United States being a superpower in the Cold War locked horns with the very powerful Soviet Union over which form of economic and political system was best. The struggle for power in both countries was fought with espionage, nuclear deterrent, propaganda and a space race. The Cold War had formed a new frontier of changes,…

new dances which angered the older generation. These styles were called One Step and Black Bottom and these dances were typically only for the younger generation. During this time, the most famous jazzmen were Louis Armstrong, Fats Waller, and Benny Goodman. This combination of new music, new dances, and new fashion trends were highly unaccepted. The catholic telegraph, a famous catholic newspaper, said this about the jazz age, “The music is sensuous, the female is only half dressed and the…

Bald Eagle Times #58 Music in WWII To the faithful readers of the Bald Eagles Times: In contrast to the other recently published articles, this is not your typical war story. In fact, it is not even directly related to the war. It is actually a story of the evolution of music leading up to and even throughout the war. Music, it is safe to say, is what kept the nation together. It gave us a fallback which we could all enjoy, regardless of our situation in life, race, or economical status. In…

musicians have created many new styles, new arrangements, and put this genre of music on the map. Over the years, there has been an ongoing debate on who is the greatest contributor to jazz music. There has been many great jazz musicians such as Benny Goodman, Count Bassie, and Fletcher Henderson just to name a few. But, there are two jazz musicians who can be argued as the best of the best. These two jazz icons are Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. The question is, which one of these two…

The Mafia are some of America's favorite bad guys. They are the subject of countless television series, movies, and books. When people hear the term Mafia or Mob, they may often think of the violent and ruthless tactics they used to get what they wanted. What many do not realize is that, from the early to mid-twentieth century, the Mafia had a hand in many aspects of American culture that people still enjoy today. Prohibition arose out of the Progressive Era at the end of the eighteenth century…

The ingenuity of the individuals involved in the Harlem Renaissance continues to have an effect on modern culture. The Harlem Renaissance was a celebration of African American culture. Slavery and the Jim Crow Laws had oppressed Africans Americans for hundreds of years. The idea of white supremacy was popular quickly becoming popular in the South. Unfortunately, most African Americans lived in the South and were treated horribly. In 1890, the Great Migration began, in which many African…