The Harlem During The Harlem Renaissance

If you listen to jazz today, you will hear expanded musical harmonies, musicians playing more complex chords, and musical harmonies borrowed from many different genres of music, including pop. Many new, mainstream jazz as artists use the same techniques that artists from the early 1900’s used. Joseph “King” Oliver was the father to many of these techniques, which changed jazz and the way we hear it today. During the 1920’s, Joe “King” Oliver was the most progressive and influential artist in jazz because of his musical innovations that influenced other jazz artists to incorporate his methods,which sparked a new type of jazz.

New Orleans Jazz is a genre of music during the 20th century that was in relation to the African American population.

Miles Davis, one of jazz’s most influential musicians with career that expanded six decades. Davis was known for his always changing style, from bebop to rock. He had been part of the bebop, cool jazz, hardbop, modal, rock-fusion movements, and shortly before his death working with hip-hop fusion. Throughout his entire career, Miles Davis preferred the audience recognize him for what he was doing then, not what he had done in the past. Over his sixty-year career he had earned several nicknames: The Sorcerer, the Prince of Darkness, and the man who walked on eggshells. In this paper, I plan to examine the influences that Miles Davis had on jazz. Starting with the bebop era, when his career first began, to his final collaboration released following his death.

It was 1915 and the music scene was just getting hot. New Orleans was busting at the seam with young cats prowling the streets, lurking in seedy after-hours clubs looking to get a wild jam session in before the night was through. An insanely talented and equally arrogant ragtime pianist by the name of Jelly Roll Morton began to play with a different kind of flavor that drove audiences crazy, and with that the invention of Jazz was born. The heavy syncopated beats making your pulse jump, the bluesy lilt of a melody lapping lazily at your senses; this was the time to be alive. 1915 also happened to be the year that brought us another small gift – the birth of Elinore Harris a thousand miles away in Philadelphia.

Jazz has shaped the world we know today. Jazz would have never been as popular without the help of the famous musicians: Jelly Roll Morton, Joe King Oliver, Sidney Bechet, Louis Armstrong, and Duke Ellington. These people helped spread the new genre through radio, railroads, and the records that they played. Where did this all start? The jazz age began in New Orleans where a certain King was born.

The purpose of this essay is to provide a thorough yet concise explanation on the ways in which The Harlem Renaissance helped shaped the culture and perceptions of the “New Negro” in modern era of the 1920s and early 1930s. I will analyze the socioeconomic forces that led to the Harlem Renaissance and describe the motivation behind the outburst of Black American creativity, and the ideas that continue to have a lasting impact on American culture. In addition, I will discuss the effects as well as the failures of the movement in its relationship to power and resistance, highlighting key figures and events that are linked to the renaissance movement.

For African Americans during the early 1900’s was a scary place. . People were filled with racism and hate towards those who are black. Ever thought of how much power a group of people have if they all unite for a similar purpose? The Harlem Renaissance shows exactly that. The African Americans of this time came together with the purpose of social change. Digging back into their roots to show the world just how beautiful it is. They chose to express their culture in writing, music, and art.

As America saw an end to World war 1 and entered the 1920s, the country was faced with rapid changes in American society. These changes challenged the old traditional American values and introduced tension between modernists and traditionalist. Tension grew in churches and schools after new scientific discoveries were being made which supported the idea of evolution, rather than the bible. American society saw dramatic changes in it’s old, familiar culture as the Harlem Renaissance emerged and women gained more rights, which began taking affect on the customary American lifestyle.

One only hopes to be born into an era like the 1920s. Until, the Stock Market Crash of 1929, Prohibition, and until coming into contact with the KKK. There were many exhilarating parts of the 1920s that everyone knows about, such as, the Harlem Renaissance, Women’s Rights and inventions that made everyday life so much easier. From 1920 to 1929, life was the “bees-knees”.

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

“Duke Ellington’s composition was a musical history of African Americans, ‘Black, Brown, and Beige”(Pop Culture of 20th-Century America). He took jazz in a new direction. Duke wrote more elaborate pieces of music that mixed classical and jazz music together. The popularity of jazz led younger black musicians to break into new techniques. Soon after jazz became popular, African American musicians soon became very successful. Playing to audiences of all races. During the depression, big jazz bands gave an upbeat and lively beat for dancing. People often danced to it to forget the

The Harlem Renaissance was a period of great cultural growth in the black community. It is accepted that it started in 1918 and lasted throughout the 1930s. Though named the ‘Harlem’ Renaissance, it was a country-wide phenomenon of pride and development among black Americans, the likes of which had never existed in such grand scale. Among the varying political actions and movements for equality, a surge of new art appeared: musical, visual, and even theatre. With said surge, many of the most well-known black authors, poets, musicians and actors rose to prevalence including Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Louis Armstrong, and Eulalie Spence. The development of many unique styles of such art was also started due to the Harlem Renaissance, much

In life, there are few things as organic as jazz music. With its raw sound and scrappy roots, one cannot help but feel life head-on whilst witnessing players produce such a sound right before their eyes. Its origins and arch are a product of the United States’ national culture and identity. Jazz exists not only as a deeply rooted form of art but as a cultural marker, particularly during its commercial peak in the first half of the 20th century. Its impact transcends borders, and it is one of the most beloved musical genres worldwide. The history, popularity and influence of jazz on human culture make it the seminal American art form.

Throughout the history of this country, the music of African-Americans has had a strong influence upon our society as well as our culture. This music started by carrying the slaves from Africa and is still with us today. The youth of today have retained certain elements within the music to form other unique styles of music. Jazz and hip-hop are two of the most widespread and popular forms of black music ever created. They were both strictly created by black musicians. These forms of music were popular among both the young and older generations of African Americans. However, outside of the African American race, jazz and hip-hop has become a performance by people of all race and ages.

Due to the reputation of Herbie Hancock, there are publications about him, ranging from books, journals, interviews to dissertations. Topics of these literatures cover almost everything about him from Herbie Hancock to his language of music.