All genres of music have someone who is well known for their talents and contributions towards their genre. Duke Ellington was a big hit during his time and continues to inspire people in the jazz industry. His career lasted about 50 years allowing him to move the souls of many with his ear for wonderful music. During this time he wrote many songs and even a contemporary songbook. Ellington was an amazing composer, pianist, and conductor. Ellington was born April 29th1899 in Washington, D.C. His parents were also musically inclined which allowed them to raise such a talented son. At the age of 15, Ellington began playing the piano again. This tome he stuck with it and ended up writing his first composition “Soda Fountain Rag”. …show more content…
Ellington began performing at the age of 17 then later progressed into preforming for nightclubs in Broadway. Starting out at such a young age Ellington was able to support his love for jazz by hanging out with music students who attended Howard University, and advance music in America early on. Ellington did not only compose music for his bands. He was involved with projects for films, musical comedies, stage productions, and symphony orchestras. Even during the last few years of his life Ellington was working on developing an opera. Ellington was not only advancing music, but he was inspiring fellow African American musicians. During this time African Americans were segregated and unable to play in “whites only” clubs. Ellington’s talent paved ways for other African American musicians to participate in musical groups. I feel that this relates to the mutual welfare and brotherhood of musical students because he was unknowingly helping out fellow musical students in the United States. Ellington was reviewed by many critics some saying ““incomparable powers of rhapsodic …show more content…
During his lifetime he received 9 Grammy awards and 2 after he died. Duke was loyal to his making of music as well. Even after getting married and having a child he continued to create music for his listeners. Dukes’ last words were "Music is how I live, why I live and how I will be remembered." Brothers in Phi Mu Alpha do not only rely on each other for support they have music as well. These men have come together for a common reason and that reason is music. Ellington’s love for music would have allowed him to contribute to some of the Fraternity’s ideals. A value of the fraternity states “Sinfonia champions the power of music”, meaning that music has the power to move you in ways that no other force can achieve. Dukes’ last words support this value it shows that music allowed him to live a life that he was satisfied with. In order to become a Sinofnian it requires a lot of hard work and presents itself with many challenges. Duke faced many challenges in his life, being an African American or just a man who wanted to play music in order to inspire those around him. These are not easy things to overcome in life. Not everyone was supportive of his
Born on October 21, 1917, in Cheraw, South Carolina, Dizzy Gillespie, known for his "swollen" cheeks and mark trumpet's ringer, got his begin in the mid-1930s by working in noticeable swing groups, including those of Benny Carter and Charlie Barnet. Famed jazz trumpeter and writer Dizzy Gillespie was conceived John Birks Gillespie on October 21, 1917, in Cheraw, South Carolina. He would go ahead to wind up a standout amongst the most well-known appearances of jazz music, with his "swollen" cheeks and mark trumpet's ringer, and in addition a standout amongst the most compelling figures of jazz and bebop. Dizzy Gillespie died on January 6, 1993, at age 75, in Englewood, New Jersey.
The purpose of this post is to discuss an aspect of jazz that was charged or influenced by race, gender, religion, or another social aspect. I chose to write about a Duke Ellington album, Black, Brown and Beige. Duke Ellington was known for expressing the feelings of African Americans without being angry. However, you could still feel the pain, sadness and angst, and it was always done through a filter, with a feeling of triumph at the end. The album debuted at Carnegie Hall in 1943 with mixed reviews.
Who was Edward Kennedy Ellington? “Duke Ellington was the most important composer in the history of jazz as well as being a bandleader who held his large group together continuously for almost 50 years” (allmusic.com). Edward Kennedy Ellington was born in April 29, 1899, to a middle-classed neighborhood of Washington, D.C., also known as U Street. “Duke Ellington grew up in Washington, D.C. during one of the most difficult periods for African-Americans” (gwu.edu). When Ellington was 14, he received the nickname Duke.
George Alazar Mr. Peets AP US History 3/20/22 Duke Ellington Duke Ellington was the most well-known musician composer and bandleader during the Harlem Renaissance. Born on April 29, 1899, in Washington D.C, Edward Kennedy Ellington group up in a stable middle-class family. His parents, Daisy and James Ellington, both were talented musicians, playing piano. They strongly encouraged him to play piano, and he began piano lessons at the age of seven. Throughout his young life, Ellington began interested in the arts and wrote his first piece, “Soda Fountain Rag.”
The first bar he started playing at was The Eagle Saloon around 1908. When he first started playing here it was said his playing was loud and horrible, therefore the customers sent him home. This horrible reaction from his audience forced Oliver to return home and practice more in hopes of becoming much better. Between 1910 and 1917 he played in numerous clubs and built his reputation and image. During this time period he also brought together some of the most well-known players of the new jazz music.
The glitz of the symphony paired with the tones of African Americans secular and sacred music propels Ellington’s arrangement in the direction of cultural integration and demands social recognition of the mistreatment of black Americans in both the past and Ellington’s present. Combining the technical skills of his musicians and the symphonic elements of music, including the frequent crescendos of sound and complimenting melodies, with the raw polyphonic sounds of the swing and jazz style, Ellington shows the audience his message through the non-traditional arrangements and
Charles Ives was born on October 20th, 1874 in Danbury, Connecticut. His father, George Ives, was the Union’s youngest bandleader in the Civil War. After the war, George came home to Danbury to pursue a career as a musician and bandleader. Due to all of his musical efforts, George Ives was known as the leading musician in the region, and Danbury was recognized as a musical mainstay in Connecticut (and possibly in the entire New England region). Charles Ives first showed interest in piano when at a young age he started percussively playing on it with his fists.
His music got African Americans through such rough times. His voice gave them hope as well. He was the one that shaped the way that jazz is today. The Harlem Renaissance was an important movement that showed the talents of gifted African American musicians, poets, artist, and many
Music can bring the brightest of joys that keeps us moving through our dull and boring lives. An example of this joy is Ishmael Beah’s life as a boy soldier in his book A Long Way Gone. As he tells you his story, he tells of his dance group with his friends, the times he heard music in the middle of war, and how music saved him from the madness that brewed within him. Music has the unique ability to create peace in a person’s life despite the difficulties surrounding them, and to bring a constant reminder of who they are as a person.
Duke Ellington was a jazz author, conductor, and entertainer amid the Harlem Renaissance. During the developmental Cotton Club years, he explored different avenues regarding and built up the style that would rapidly bring him overall achievement. Ellington would be among the first to concentrate on melodic shape and sythesis in jazz. Ellington composed more than 2000 pieces in his lifetime. The Duke Ellington Orchestra was the "house" symphony for various years at the Cotton Club.
Jazz is most often thought to have been started in the 1920s as this explosive movement, but that is in fact not the case. Starting in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century many African American musicians have started to explore their taste in improvising, and where better to do that than New Orleans (Anderson). Before the 1920s these jazz musicians have already been going around sharing the unique sound, but up until then, jazz had remained majorly in New Orleans. Interestingly during this period, a common jazz band would consist of a cornet, a clarinet, a trombone, and a rhythm section when at this period of time the clarinet is not commonly associated with being a jazz instrument, it moved into being the saxophone rather. A big
Benny Goodman also pushed for a diverse band, being the organizer of an interracial group (Swing). In this instance, it was through this connection to music that black and white people came together. At the time that swing was popular, World War II was taking place. It seems legit that people would want to get their feeling out somehow. Swing music did just that.
Duke Ellington was born on April 29, 1899 in Washington, DC. He died of lung cancer on May 24, 1974 in New York City, New York. 12,000 people attended his funeral. Duke Ellington was raised by two talented, musical parents in a middle-class neighborhood of Washington DC. At the age of 7, he began studying piano.
His music masterpiece, Blue Train, he expresses his thoughts and feeling through the rhythm and tone of the instruments throughout the song. However, there was another musician who saw another way to write music and still express himself as powerful of a demeanor as both Duke Ellington and John Coltrane. The musician who could do this was Chick Webb with his playful and fast rhythm that really gave people hope and compassion in what they were doing. This different flavor often would also entice those of the white community and have both groups grow closer. In the end, music played an essential role in inspiring people and keeping the Harlem Renaissance alive by playing to their feelings about the African American
He was born into a middle-class family which allowed him to be able to have the ability to have access to music at an early age. His mother was a key figure in his life when it came to music. She encouraged him to seek out a musical instrument when he was young. He started playing the piano very early in life, around the age of six, and it soon became clear to his family that he had a natural talent for it. He went on to study the piano and take piano lessons, per his family’s suggestion, soon after his talent was discovered.