Neil Armstrong

Intro “There are two kinds of music, the good and the bad. I play the good kind” (Armstrong). Millions of people, starting in the 1930s until today, have agreed with Louis Armstrong’s famous words and have been huge fans of the famous musician. Louis Armstrong was an outstanding jazz musician during the Harlem Renaissance Era. He was especially known for his spectacular trumpet playing, unmistakable voice, and exceptionally recognizable, broad smile. The beginning of his inspirational life set…

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…

Sonny’s Blue and How it feels to be Colored Me Music plays a prominent role in both “Sonny’s Blues” and “How It Feels to Be Colored Me” because it allowed them to find their freedom. During “Sonny’s Blues”, Sonny takes all the hurt and misery that he went through, and displayed it through the art of music. Zora in “How It Feels to Be Colored Me” expresses her freedom by listening to jazz music to escape her reality. Music saved Sonny’s life because he saw it as a breakthrough from all the pain…

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…

Chick Corea is an American jazz and fusion pianist, keyboardist, and composer. Chick Corea received the privilege to be part of the electric jazz fusion movement back in the 1960’s along side Miles Davis. From 1941 until today Chick has recorded a total of eighty-eight albums alongside some of the greatest musicians of his time. Chick Corea has become a master of his craft being nominated sixty-three Grammy Awards, and out of which he has won twenty-two. Out of his eighty-eight albums he’s…

Around the turn of the 1930s, music took an interesting ride with the earliest fully documented particular style of Jazz music emerging, which was centered in New Orleans, Louisiana; swing. It was not only a musical pastime, but a way of life; as those who brought it to us will live on forever. Duke Ellington was a pioneer of Renaissance jazz and one of the great elite jazz artists of his time. His most popular 1930 piece was "It Don't Mean a Thing if it Ain't Got That Swing". Around 1931,…

Swing and Jazz of the 30s and 40s How do you feel about Swing and Jazz? Well even if you have never heard of them or don't like them , there were many people in the 30’s and 40’s that were interested in this type of music. Nowadays people think it's the music that old people listen to, but it's got a sweet rhythm. Jazz was popular before swing, but musicians like Benny Goodman mixed Swing and Jazz. Both genres are part of an important part of time because they were popular during the…

The Livestrong Foundation is an organization that was founded in 1997 by American cyclist Lance Armstrong and since that time has generated $580 million worth of funds, according to their website “livestrong.org”, to provide free services to help those affected by cancer. This includes people diagnosed with cancer, their families, friends, loved ones and the health care professionals who work with them. The Livestrong Foundation is an organization that is committed to helping people with any…

Louis Daniel Armstrong, or as others more commonly call him, Satchmo the Great. Louis Armstrong was born on August 4, 1901. However, he told people he was born on July 4th, 1900 to sound even cooler. He was raised by his mother, Mayann, and lived in a poor small apartment in New Orleans with her and his sister, Beatrice. Growing up, his mother often went to dances. Louis and his sister would often peek through the door to watch everyone dance, so he practically grew up listening to the Blues…

John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie was born in South Carolina in 1917 and died in 1993. He was a jazz trumpet player, bandleader and composer. He received a music scholarship to the Laurinburg Institute in North Carolina. He was one of the pioneers in bebop and had performed in Minton’s Playhouse and Monroe’s Uptown House. He worked with Charlie Parker in 1945, and performed in New York and Los Angeles. After the Los Angeles performance in December 1945, Gillespie returned to New York and Parker…