Duke Ellington

Lead by jazz director Marko Marcinko, with Jazz being one of my favorite forms of music, it was an honor to listen to Centre Dimensions Jazz Ensemble. Unfortunately, since I didn’t get the chance to listen to it live, I made sure to wear my beats headphones so I can hear every last instrument clearly. Instantaneously when the band started to play, I felt like I was in a 1920’s New Orleans club. The harmony was very upbeat and dance like, I began to tap my foot to the three beat tempo. The band…

Louis Armstrong was a trumpeter, bandleader, vocalist, soloist, film star and humorist. Considered a standout amongst the most powerful specialists in jazz history, he is known for melodies like "Star Dust," "La Via En Rose" and "What a Wonderful World." Louis Armstrong was an American jazz trumpeter and vocalist who was a standout amongst the most powerful figures in jazz music. Well known for his inventive strategies for playing the trumpet and cornet, he was additionally an exceedingly…

Count Basie, an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer, was born on August 21, 1904, in Red Bank, New Jersey as William Basie. He is considered one of the best bandleaders of all time and changed the entire jazz landscape. He also shaped the mid 20th century pop music and earned the title “King of Swing”. Both of his parents, Harvey and Lillian Basie, were musicians. He started piano at a very early age with his mother giving him his first lessons and played the drums in his…

Shiyao Anna Luo MUS Z315 Music for Film The Graduate Viewing Assignment Part I: Generally, the uses of non-diegetic popular songs make up the majority part of film music in this film. I think those pop songs serve more like foreground music and instrumental ones is more likely to be background music. There are fewer time that non-diegetic instrumental music can be found in this film; however, there are some diegetic instrumental music which occurs at the time when Ben is at the bar of the…

Acknowledged as original and creative, the experimental vocalist/composer/dancer, Jen Shyu, meritoriously earned the trust of groundbreaking jazz luminaries such as Steve Coleman and Anthony Braxton. Born in Illinois to Taiwanese and East Timorese immigrant parents, the New-York based singer brings her musical heritage and other multi-cultural influences into nine original compositions, which she calls doors (to other worlds). Although heavily steeped in the world music genre, her work also…

The Harlem Renaissance, was a time where art, music, poetry, and theater came alive. Jazz could be heard from every corner , the sounds of poetry lifted every ear. The migration of African Americans from the south to north in search of a better life. Changing art from something basic to a masterpiece full of color, design, and rhythm. Since the spark of the Harlem Renaissance, music, art, and poetry of African-Americans has evolved. “Driven from their homes by unsatisfactory economic…

What does it mean to have the blues? It can be described as a feeling of grief or loneliness and having internal despair. Having the blues can be temporary, just due to having a bad day. One can feel permanent blues due to emotional baggage from the past or outside forces causing stress to a person. Nevertheless, the feeling of blues was first expressed through various worksongs and spirituals sung by displaced Africans during the American slavery period. Black writers soon expressed the blues…

Western Swing Music From the 1930’s to the 1950’s a new genre had taken the spotlight. Consisting of country, jazz, polka, mariachi, pop, and blues, Western Swing had become very popular in the state of Texas. Known for dance music, Western Swing has continued to play an important role in Texas history. People of all cultures were influenced by this type of western music. It created joy, as well as energy to Texas. In the early 1900’s Bob Wills, who later became known the “King of Western…

It is amazing to think about when Louis Armstrong was born. Louis Armstrong was born on August 4, 1901 in New Orleans,Loiusiana in a section so poor that it was nicknamed the Battlefield. Louis Armstrong had a difficult childhood, his father was a factory worker and abandoned the family soon after Louis’s birth, his ,other often turned to prostitution, She left him with his grandmother.Amrstrong was obligated to leave school in the fifth grade to begin working. Contributions: So after all after…

The book begins with a modernist architect, Le Corbusier, visiting New York City. Le Corbusier marveled both the city and the musical culture of African-Americans. He believed, “jazz is an event representing the forces of today” (p. 3). The forces of today are the industrialization and mass production of American society. He even goes on to state that American society is a “machine for living” (p. 3). Le Corbusier believed jazz reflected and contained chaotic yet continuous rhythmic flow that…