Duke Ellington

Swing combined harmonic sophistication with danceable rhythms and compelling individual improvisations. Swing bands ranged from groups like Count Basie with his “Kansas City” style that emphasized blues and was very “riff” oriented, to the Duke Ellington and Glenn Miller bands with more of an orchestral range. (Between the Wars: The Swing Era.)…

The BBC film documentary The Swing Thing, discusses the history of the Swing era and its process of inspiration among the music industry, American culture, and the revolution of the youth culture; along with stories of how this style of jazz became the first and most globally popular form of music in history. The film also depicts the overall development Swing had towards dance and the elements of music, such as creating a compelling rhythmic feel to the melody, for instance, “The riffs starts…

Since everything has a start, the best way to explain anything, for the least amount of confusion, is to start at the very beginning. My question for the history books, is where did swing music come from? After research, since the United States is a relatively young country, I decided to extend my question to include the influence that the world has had on the development of swing music in the United States. The main source that will be used to discuss “swing” includes When Swing was the Thing…

Many African Americans became quite popular due to their personal style in the aspects of photography, painting, drama, poetry, and prose during the Harlem Renaissance. Each aesthetic person had their own purpose for their works of art. Many of them wanted to depict the beauty of Harlem as well as emphasize the importance of equality between races and classes. The Harlem artists produced many great works of art in the black community from the 1920s and beyond. There had been a few…

James Baldwin’s “Sonny Blues” and Katie Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” are two short stories showing conflict characters feel as though they have been release free from. Baldwin’s character Sonny conflict with his family not understanding his life struggles and was release by the show of him playing jazz music to help them understand. Jazz music was used to help reveal the stories. The character Louise Mallard from “The Story of an Hour” had the conflict of being not her own person and viewed…

Count Basie was a swing big band leader who began playing piano in the 1920s. He was born in New Jersey, and took stylistic influences from New York musicians such as Fats Waller (Yanow 155). He rose to prominence as a part of the Bennie Moten Orchestra, and then led his own orchestra after Moten’s death in 1935 (Yanow 155). As a bandleader, Count Basie was able to develop his own innovative style that significantly influenced the way jazz developed past the 1940s. His band was one of the top…

I found this passage in the last section of the novel to be very applicable to the personalities of Morrison 's characters. The quote can be interpreted in many different ways; however, I believe that Morrison is trying to explain a cycle of the “powerless” black man due to coming from a broken past. Many of the characters in Toni Morrison 's Jazz (1992) originate from “broken pasts.” Their pasts have been negative due to the lack of a stable foundation in their childhood. The characters in the…

Introduction: In this research task I will be focusing on “Ko-Ko” by Charlie Parker's Ri Bop Boys which was recorded in November 26, 1945 at WOR studios in New York City. Charlie Parker's Ri Bop Boys consisted of Curly Russell on bass and Max Roach on drums. Trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie played piano on most pieces while 19-year-old Miles Davis played trumpet. This song was in the Bebop genre which is part of jazz. The song I will be comparing it with, is “Take 5” composed by Paul Desmond and…

Angeles performance in December 1945, Gillespie returned to New York and Parker stayed in Los Angeles. His songs include “Salt Peanuts,” “A Night in Tunisia,” and “Groovin’ High,” among others. “No Dancing” started with Gillespie’s experience with Ellington and his bands. According to Eckstine, the audiences may not have any ideas what they just heard, but Gillespie could explain what he played for days. In the song “Woody ‘n You” consisted with minor-sixth chords with dominant that was under…

Do you know what Scat is or how to scat sing? Just look up Louis Armstrong, he created this masterpiece. Louis Armstrong was born on August 4, 1901, he was born in the birthplace of jazz--New Orleans, Louisiana. He was in foster care throughout his teenage years. His father abandoned the family right after Louis was born, and his mother resulted to prostitution, so he was often left with his maternal grandmother. He began working in fifth grade where he developed a interest in music, this…