Blue

All music genres and styles have their beginnings, some better documented than others. Whether it be an effect of time period or geographical location of the birth of a music styling or it be related to the culture of a music that may practice and oral tradition as opposed to a written down, notation style of music. Regardless of the reasons, all music has it’s start. One of the more recent developments in music history is that of Jazz. Jazz is one of these styles that’s dawn is somewhat up in…

Empress of The Blues The 1920s were an exciting time to be alive, the economy was flourishing, everyone was throwing extravagant parties and the music industry was booming. There weren't many black singers of the time period but those who were, made their presence known. One of the best blues singers of the 1920s or maybe even of all time, Bessie Smith. She has set the stage for not only African-American singers but female black singers who came after her. Although Bessie Smith may have…

condition and keep them from despair and suicide (Collier: The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz). These experiences would come to shape customs of resilience, with the African American musical culture affirming this. Beginning with the development of Blues and Ragtime, this paper will discuss the…

Without African music we would not have some of the most popular genres of music that we have today. African music influence helped create genres like jazz, gospel, blues, soul and even hip hop and reggae. The traditional song and dance created by native Africans spread all over the world as its fusion with other type of song helped create the music we all know and love today. The spread of the African music can be traced to the slave trade that shipped Africans all over the world. The one thing…

This is an image of a famous model, Ashley James, holding a skinned animal out with one arm. The image was created by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), which is the largest animal rights organization in the world, boasting over 5 million members and followers. The ad is meant to bring to light how the company, Harvey Nichols, abandoned their decade-long fur-free policy, to increase their revenue and consumers. Harvey Nichols hides behind a marketing ploy called Origin Assured,…

thoughts, Hughes felt a deep sense of passion to poetically write of the struggles faced by many impoverished African Americans. During the Harlem Renaissance, Langston Hughes used poetry to convey the African American cultural through a rhythm and blues style about dreams, suffering, the soul, and America. Langston Hughes expresses his concerns of deferred dreams, which were lost during a depressive time in a short masterpiece called “Harlem”. This poem was published in 1951 when blacks…

Due to this revelation, blues music flowed out of bluesmen and blues-women as a way to vent the disappointments and disillusionment of African Americans. Blues music related to both spirituals and work songs in its musical form and rapidly became popular during the nineteen-teens and twenties. The music also chronicled many blues singers’ personal issues with racial problems/discrimination associated with being black in the prejudiced…

The History of Jazz Music. What I Already Knew / What I Wanted to Know I Have always liked jazz music. When I got older, I realized there were plenty of different kinds of jazz. Last year in music, I was briefly able to research the topic. I wasn't able to find very much in that small amount of time, so I thought it would be a good idea to do it now. I know there are many different types of jazz music. I also know that there are many artist that influenced the evolution of jazz. Now I want…

Joe Smith’s cornet accompaniment relates to Fletcher Henderson’s piano accompaniment by that they both focus on supporting Bessie Smith rather than over powering her voice. This is because blues is more of vocal genre, in the song I noticed that what was being sung and the lyrics was what was dominantly heard. For me, I tended to concentrate on what melody on the song and tone of her voice rather than the instruments playing. Both the cornet and piano accompaniment exemplified the practice of…

song Crossroads by Robert Johnson does have a powerful meaning to his lyrics and his voice. The song Crossroads is about Robert Johnson walking to the crossroads and selling his soul to the devil to be able to play blues music. Legend has it that Robert Johnson learned how to play the blues very quickly. While looking through the lyrics "I went to the crossroad, fell down on my knees Asked the Lord above "have mercy, now save poor Bob, if you please", Bob is obviously short for Robert which…