The Jazz Singer

played in several New York nightclubs including in New York’s Tin Pan Alley.After three years of composing tunes on the piano for customers, he had transformed into a very successful and hardworking composer. He also worked as a pianist for Broadway singers. In 1916, he composed his first published song, “When You Want 'Em, You Can't Get 'Em; When You Have 'Em, You Don't Want 'Em.” One of his best known songs…

The songwriting team of songwriter Eubie Blake and Lyricist Noble Sissle were the ones who found success with shuffle along. Blake was born and raised in Baltimore. Blake had a religious mother but a drunken father. Blake began by performing hymns in church to later preforming at clubs and later Blake joined Sissle as a “Hell fighter member. Later the pair began performing in Vaudeville acts where they created the act Shuffle Along. Shuffle along was a huge success both colored and the white…

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 and segregated South. Vocals dripping with melancholia were the black community’s spokesmen and spokeswomen for expressing social and political…

product of our souls…” – James Reese Europe. Jazz is a popular style of music that emerged around the late 1800’s in New Orleans, a city of great ethnic diversity and unique musical styles. New Orleans’s cultural environment became the center of music which ultimately influenced the essence of jazz. Jazz music not only entertained the ears of many but also possessed the capability of bridging racial differences. If a listener was able to seep into the core of jazz, they would recognize that its…

they loved. This all came with a price though, many struggles and problems started appearing as America switched from traditional and rural values to more modern and urban values and beliefs. Jazz, The Harlem Renaissance, and the roles of women were three topics that truly brought the debate to life. Jazz was a big thing that became apparent…

communication in the 1920s allowed the genre to be played on radios and records throughout the country. Since the “race” recordings of jazz proved successful, record executives made plans to sell the Southern white man’s music to the remaining white population of the South. Unfortunately, though, during this time, few Southerners thought to make music a profession, so the singers were amateur at best. However, the music was fueled by the rural lifestyle, which gave the recordings the greatest…

What exactly is jazz? According to Virgil Thomson, the American critic and composer, “Jazz, in brief, is a compound of (a) the fox-trot rhythm, and (b) a syncopated melody over this rhythm” [1]. An understanding of the elements of jazz allows the listeners to further appreciate the very art that has defined American culture for generations. Critical to the development of jazz are African and European music, brought by the foreigners who sought a better life in the New World and who were sold to…

many important works, many of which are performed to this day (ABiography.com (Eds.), n.d.). His music has resonated throughout the world from his time to our time. Louis Armstrong was one of the most prolific jazz artists of the 1920s and 30s and had a profound influence on future of jazz. Louis Armstrong was born to a single mother on August 4, 1901 in New orleans, Louisiana. The area he was born in was so poor, it was nicknamed “The Battlefield.” His mother often times turned…

Listening to the music produced by Bessie Smith called St. Louis Blues, some musical aspects come out clearly. Coming to be known as one of the fundamental jazz plays in history, it has comprised of the blues aspect in the rhythmic flow, a quality that had not been explored. The song by Bessie Smith uses the famous saxophone as the foremost redundant melodic flow that accompanies by Bessie Smith singing. There is also the vibraphone that is played in the background. The combination of these…

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…