Jazz Age

To millions of Americans, jazz was the most notable part of the Harlem Renaissance. Borrowing from blues, ragtime, and other popular forms, jazz musicians developed an ensemble style in which individual performers, keeping a rapid ragtime beat, improvised over and around a basic melodic line (Henretta 674). Such as all good music it has a way of bringing people together. Most of the early jazz musicians were black, but white performers, some of whom had more…

Facts Birthplace of jazz: New Orleans in the early 1900s As more job opportunities opened in the North, jazz started to move to Chicago and the midwest. Black Bottom dance and the Charleston were invented. Known as the Dance Age and Jazz Age. The Jazz Age was a post World War 1 movement. The birth of jazz music is credited to African Americans, but both black and white Americans alike are responsible for its immense rise in popularity. Female singers emerged during this period. African and…

Thelonious Sphere Monk was born on October 10, 1917 at Rocky Mount, North Carolina. Thelonious Monk was a famous jazz musician and composer that fell in love with music at a very young age. Before Thelonious Monk was known as a genius, he was judged by many observers for a decade, yet while receiving all the judgment he never changed his music once. Monk never gave up on himself and he loved his music so much, that's why he saw no need to modify his style. Thelonious Monk was around five…

Early jazz is a combination of different musical styles, most of which are associated with African-Americans. The central figures were Early Blues Singers (Robert Johnson), Jazz moved "up the river" to Chicago (Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton), and Dixieland - New Orleans (King Oliver). The blues, which had influenced jazz from the beginning, became increasingly popular due to singers like Ma Rainey, Mamie Smith and Bessie Smith---the latter selling thousands of discs, including a national…

Courtney Amon Jazz Band Mr. McCarthy 04/07/2017 A Master Jazz Trumpeter In the world of music, especially Jazz, we have heard of many great musicians over the years, such as Nat King Cole and Louie Armstrong, but there is one that I think stands above all especially when it comes to trumpeter’s. One does not usually need to look to far down a list of greats before they find this world class trumpeter, Chet Baker. Chet has had many accomplishments in the music world, but also has had…

Temple College Jazz Combo I attended a Brown Bag Event featuring the Temple College Jazz Combo, on November 29, 2016 from 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM. The recital took place at the Mary Alice Marshall Performing Arts Center in the Jackson-Graeter Backstage Theatre. The combo consisted of four members of the Temple College Jazz Ensemble, who “weren’t getting enough jazz” so the smaller group was put together, per their director, Dr. Benjamin Irom. The quartet is comprised of Jacob Armstrong from Belton…

Duke Ellington Duke Ellington was a famous jazz musician in the 1920s. He was the leader of a band and composed songs such as “Ko-Ko”, “It Don’t Mean a Thing if it Ain’t Got That Swing”, and “Cotton Tail”. The jazz he played was distinctive just like his band was. Ellington was more than just a musician, however. Many people thought he was an apolitical man, however this was untrue. Ellington, like most Americans, practiced his rights in politics. Duke Ellington spent his life focused on…

Billie Holiday is considered one of the most influential jazz singers of all time. Holiday was born on April 7, 1915 in Philadelphia and died on July 17, 1959. Billie Holiday struggled in her early life which was why she moved to New York and began her career, but she encountered problems even though she was successful. Billie Holiday did not live in a peaceful home while growing up. Born in Philadelphia, her birth name was Eleanor Fagan. She spent much of her childhood in Baltimore with her…

name of Art Tatum is said to be the greatest jazz pianist of all time, known for his famous two-handed runs. Art was born in October 13, 1909 in Toledo, OH to pianist Mildred Hoskins and Guitarist Arthur Tatum Sr. Completely blind by cataracts in one eye and nearly blind in the other, Art played music by ear, mimicking the sounds he heard from other musicians such as Fats Waller. He played so well that by age three he was considered a prodigy. At the age of fifteen, Tatum attended Columbus…

entertainment to avoid being detected. Many local African American musicians were hired, giving jobs to hundreds of working musicians. Speakeasies soon ushered in the age of Jazz music. The simultaneous introduction of the commercial radio which first opened up in 1920 accelerated the spread of Jazz. Speakeasies paved the way for great Jazz musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Bonjangles Robinson and Ethel Waters. In a Text of Interview in 1938, worker Frank Byrd describes the…