James Brown: The Hardest Working Man In Show Business

“The good ole days weren't as always good, and tomorrow ain’t as bad as it seems.” Billy Joel went from an average class worker to a well know piano player. He impacted pop music by focusing on his piano, won multiple Grammys and awards, was inducted into the Songwriters and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, making him one of the most influenced pop artists in the 20th century.

Motown was a transformative sound that arrived just at the height of the civil rights movement. Such success coming from a black business and black artists forced the rest of America to reexamine their racial prejudices that they still clung to. It seemed that it’s founder, Berry Gordy, knew from the start that Motown was something special when he hung a sign that read “Hitsville USA” above the recording studio’s headquarters. The success was almost instant for most Motown artists with song after song becoming number one hits on major music charts. However, the success was not easy, as it took strenuous amounts of work to mold the artist’s looks and sounds into something that would popularize them among the white population. The artists were expected to look and act the part at all times and at all places. The hard work eventually did pay off as Motown will have forever influenced history, the civil rights movement, and the music industry by catapulting black culture into a primarily white civilization.

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.

Not to mention, jazz music had been struggle against society. The 1960s and 1970s’s black power movement influenced on jazz musicians and Hancock was not an exception. That’s why sociological factors influenced on Hancock’s styles, sounds and messages in songs or albums.

James Brown is another person in my era who was very popular and well known for his influence on music as well the introducing of a drug into the lime light PCP. Brown was born extreme poverty but worked his way to be one of the greatest of the funk and R&B music making people give him the nick name "The Godfather of Soul." His musical style influenced many artists to come. Brown was also known for his crazy personal life, as well as role in activism for the black community in combination in his songwriting and advocating for the benefits of education to the

“Recognizing their contribution is essential to understanding fully the significance and impact of Kansas City jazz” (Pearson 197). Whether they were born in Kansas City, or they travelled to perform there, the influence they brought affected Kansas City greatly. Using their lyrics to speak their minds to the community made a large impact. Some of the greatest jazz musicians in Kansas City during this time would even perform for white audiences. This was a striking opportunity to use that to their advantage. “Musicians took their fame and music to promote racial equality” (Gross 1). Two of the many great jazz musicians during this time were Louis Armstrong and Charlie Parker. Louis Armstrong lived a life of jazz and made a career of it from the 1920s to the 1960s. “...by performing for mainly white audiences, Louis Armstrong had a subtle way of dealing with racial issues” (Gross 1). Louis Armstrong became a face for the whole jazz community fighting against segregation. One song he sang in Kansas City was titled, “What Did I Do To Be So Black and Blue?” And included lyrics saying, “My only sin, is my skin, what did I do, to be so black and blue?” (Gross 1). Performing these deep lyrics to a white audience forced them to hear what they are going through. Another important jazz figure during this time was Charlie Parker. Charlie Parker was born in Kansas City which made him connect with the black community there much more profoundly. “Charlie Parker was, after Louis Armstrong, the second genius of jazz, profoundly influencing all the musicians who followed him” (Pearson 197). Charlie Parker was inspired by events in his life and put forth that inspiration into his music. Parker once said, “Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your own wisdom. If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of

Those who were once dominating the charts began to fall. According to Peter Grendysa, one of America’s leading R&B historians, “For the first time, a bunch of new acts on new labels began to dominate the R&B tallies at the same time black artists were vanishing from Pop charts” (qtd. in Bjorn and Gallert 170). Labels during this time period were focused on creating names for white artists such as Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly. In order for African Americans to remain present in musical affairs R&B emerged. Arnold Shaw, a songwriter, described R&B best when he said, “R&B was liberated music, which in its pristine form represented a break with white, mainstream pop. Developing from black sources, it embodied the fervor of gospel music, the throbbing vigor of boogie-woogie, the jump beat of swing, and the gutsiness and sexuality of life in the black ghetto” (qtd. in Bjorn and Gallert 170). This unique sound of music was new to the world and would only reach its success if new labels

James Reese was also known as “ The King of Jazz” or “Big Jim”, at this time he was the leader of the military band. In this book, he was yelling at a band member for being disrespectful. He came off hard but from my understanding, he had an even harder inside. James, however, was a strong believer in the Harlem Hellfighters. Eugene Bullard was America’s first black military aviator after he flew to France he became one of the most decorated military leaders. These are two Hellfighters that fought their hardest and took a stand.

“I’ve always been drawn to gospel music and the roots of African American music. It’s the foundation of rock and roll.” Hozier, an Irish musician, was right when he claimed that Gospel music laid the foundation for rock and roll, but how did gospel get such an influential role? What figures popularized gospel so that it became a known genre of music worldwide? Who transformed the once tame church music into the emotional music that is now heard? While gospel may have started with other musicians, Thomas Dorsey changed and defined gospel as we know it today. Through the Pilgrim Church, the National Convention of Gospel Choirs, and Dorsey’s song, “Precious Lord, Take My Hand,” Thomas Dorsey became the “Father of Gospel.”

Referred to as the "Black Liberace", James Carroll Booker III was an anomaly of prodigious talent and self destructive behavior. He was obsessive, he had one-eye, and he was absolutely prolific. He encapsulated the spirit of New Orleans through his playing and advanced piano vocabulary. He played a mix of gospel, blues, R&B, jazz and boogie-woogie. He was absolutely out of his mind. Born in New Orleans on December 17, 1939, James Booker spent most of his childhood on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. He began studying piano at the age of six. He grew up playing classical music, playing anything from Chopin etudes to Bach preludes, and picked out music, mostly jazz and pop standards, by ear from listening and emulating what he heard on the radio. James Booker was also a great fan of Erroll Garner, a jazz pianist popular throughout the 1940's and 1950's, and consistently attempted to emulate Erroll's playing style.

Claude Brown begins Manchild in the Promised Land with himself (Sonny) at the age of thirteen, shot on the streets of Harlem for stealing sheets from a clothesline. The autobiography then retraces Brown’s life from the age of eight up to the shooting and goes on to chronicle his stays in the Warwick Reform School and his eventual escape from the street life of Harlem. A gang member at the age of nine, Brown was sent at eleven to the Wiltwyck School for Boys, returned to the streets, was shot, was sent to the reformatory and then gradually moved from Harlem as he earned his high-school diploma, became a jazz pianist in Greenwich Village and ultimately began college. Manchild, which was written while Brown was still in his twenties, was for

John Brown (May 1800- December 1859) was a Militant American Abolitionist and an antislavery martyr.Brown worked many jobs such as a tanner, sheep driver, wool merchant, farmer, and land speculator, in order to take care of his family, but he was, most importantly, helpful in setting hostility that lead to the Civil War (1851-1856). Being an enemy of slavery, Brown did not mind living in a black community in New York and even wanted to win justice for slaves. He assisted antislavery forces in Kansas (1855) and become the leader of antislavery guerillas. Brown led a raid on a settlement that was for slavery and became "Old Osawatomie Brown", a man feared by slavery apologist. In 1858, Brown wanted to establish a refuge for slaves in the mountain

Ray Charles was an outstanding performer, a piano player, and a songwriter. Despite the fact that he had been blind from early childhood, Ray Charles had managed to become a brilliant pianist. At the beginning of his musical career, he happened to accompany the rising star, Ruth Brown, with a piano play. Ray Charles stunned her with the ability to perform as if it was in a recording studio in spite of his blindness. Besides his masterly piano playing, Ray Charles had a remarkable baritone voice and the ability to feel and express music. In 1950’s, Ray Charles had changed the course of Blues music by inventing his own style that combined Jazz, Gospel music and Blues. He revolutionized the music business and inspired future artists such as Elvis

Some people may think that African Americans are usually the grassroots in a society, which means they are not rich and infamous. But this is just a stereotype of them. There are lots of African Americans that have made a lot of significant contributions for the States or even the World. In this essay, I’m going to mention about 3 of the African Americans that affect us most: they are Michael Jackson, Martin Luther King and Barack Obama.

We all know that the power of the Black community in America came from deep in their soul. Their strength and will to fight segregation , and their love can be felt in the civil rights movement. Their ability to express their minds in a non- violent way connects to the soul music that James Brown created. James Brown’s music was a mixture of R&B and gospel. Which in a way connects to what Dr. Martin Luther King was trying to do during the civil rights movement.