Kennedy Ellington: Annotated Bibliography

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.

Throughout 1920 and 1940, the Harlem Renaissance flourished. Also known as the “Roaring Twenties” and the “Jazz age,” the Harlem Renaissance's roots came from African American’s culture spreading throughout America, teaching everyone their fun filled life of singing, dancing, and writing. The Jazz industry exploded, introducing performers and writers like Louis Armstrong, Langston Hughes, and Aaron Douglas to the world (History.com Staff). Women were searching for the more rights and they finally received the gift of a lifetime, the right to vote. In addition, inventions like the airplane were improving exponentially. In 1927, Charles A. Lindbergh the first person to successfully fly a plane across the Atlantic ocean. Also in that same year,

He started playing music in the 4th grade and he still plays to this day. Before i started my musical career, I always used to sit in his room and watch him play. The beautiful sounds of his alto saxophone always made me feel better after a long day. The sweet harmonies he played used to intrigue me so much that it encouraged me to start play the alto saxophone. My brother has always been my biggest inspiration because seeing what he can do and seeing what he has accomplished has always made me strive for excellence and to do the best that I can.

The Harlem Renaissance was a the time that took place between the end of World War I and the middle of the 1930s. During this time Harlem was a cultural center, drawing black writers, musicians and artist. This was the most influential movement for African Americans. Many people in the African American literary movement were either descends from slaves or were part of the great migration out of the South. The Harlem Renaissance gave black people the opportunity to become something important. The rest of the country began looking at the black community as humans and they became more than just slaves.

Since he liked music so much he kept going and started playing more and more until one day it changed his life. Billy Joel became interested in music

They played many performances and recorded many songs until the band went their separate ways. Jelly, Oliver, Sidney, Louis, and Duke all moved to New York since the city is the capital of mainstream. They all traveled around the country and even the world. These musicians had many similarities, but they also had differences too. One difference is that Duke Ellington was born in Washington DC.

Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington was a phenomenal bandleader and composer, who rose to fame by pioneering jazz, a style of music that has stood the test of time today. It is evident that the theme of the biography, “Duke Ellington: Bandleader and Composer,” written by Ron Frankl, is that Duke Ellington has left behind with him a long lasting legacy on the musical style of jazz.

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 Harlem Renaissance was the development of African American culture, particularly in the creative arts, and the most influential movement in the African American history. It started in the early 1920s and lasted up till the mid 1930s. During this time period, there was a lot of advancements in African American literacy, music, theatre and and visual arts. The African Americans became significant figures in the American society. The Harlem Renaissance was beneficial and had a positive impact on the African Americans because they became important figures with creativity in the American society.

After falling into a rut of alcohol, his health started to decline. He experienced headaches, anxiety, and paranoia which led to his enrollment in the Louisiana State asylum. Logically, alcohol was the cause of his behavior but some people think he was under a voodoo curse. In 1931, he died at the asylum where he was capable of playing the cornet until his last breaths. His legacy inspires every upcoming jazz musician today.

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.

The Impact of the Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance was an artistic and cultural movement during the 1920s and the 1930s. It was sparked by a migration of nearly one million African-Americans who moved to the prospering north to escape the heavy racism in the south and to partake in a better future with better tolerance. Magazines and newspapers owned by African-Americans flourished, poets and music artists rose to their feet. An inspiration swept the people up and gave them confidence.

Along with this, I have received many band awards including Marcher of the week,

Langston Hughes was first recognized as an important literary figure during the 1920s, a period known as the "Harlem Renaissance" because of the number of emerging black writers. Du Bose Heyward wrote in the New York Herald Tribune in 1926: "Langston Hughes, although only twenty-four years old, is already conspicuous in the group of Negro intellectuals who are dignifying Harlem with a genuine art life. . . . It is, however, as an individual poet, not as a member of a new and interesting literary group, or as a spokesman for a race that Langston Hughes must stand or fall. . . . Always intensely subjective, passionate, keenly sensitive to beauty and possessed of an unfaltering musical sense, Langston Hughes has given us a 'first book ' that

“It [the Harlem Renaissance] was a time of black individualism, a time marked by a vast array of characters whose uniqueness challenged the traditional inability of white Americans to differentiate between blacks.” (Clement Alexander Price). Price’s mentality describes the tradition of American society persecuting African Americans. This reference to tradition forces the audience to consider how this persecution began. African Americans were abducted and forced into slavery. After going through many years of being imprisoned and forced to work, African Americans were emancipated after the Civil War, but they were still not completely free. This lead many African Americans to move to the north where there were more jobs and less oppression.