Louis Armstrong: A Musical Revolution

Louis Armstrong shaping scat singing to make it achieve posterity Louis Armstrong (1901-1971) is surely one of the most famous and incredible jazz singer and trumpet player. He influenced widely, and still does, jazz music. But there is something that only jazz specialists or some aficionados know: he actually reinvented a brand new genre of vocal jazz, the scat singing. And I said “reinvented” on purpose. Indeed, though Louis Armstrong 's recording Heebie Jeebies in 1926 is often cited as the first song to use scatting, there are some earlier examples of artists ' pieces of work that could be considered as premises of scat singing.

Jazz being one of the few public forums for African American self expression, allowed musicians a platform to speak to their audiences and to transcend the barriers they faced in society. Beboppers ‘spoke’ at whirlwind speed, almost as if to say ‘you can’t catch me’ to their white counterparts. Although some elements of the music carried on from the Swing Era, such as the 32 bar song form and the 12 bar blues foundations, the harmonic and rhythmic complexity was stretching the boundaries further and further from the mainstream popular swing style. Heavy use of flattened ninths, sharpened elevenths and other altered intervals in solos and the speed at which they were used as well as the phrasing of these notes gave the music an off balance quality. Dizzy Gillespie’s tendency towards desceding whole or halfstep patterns such as in “Con Alma” and “A Night in Tunisia”, Charlie Parker’s favoured ii-V substitutions in the famous bridge to “Ko Ko” and “Confirmation” and the mastery of dissonance by Thelonious Monk shows the boppers preoccupation with developing their sound, making statements through their music.

The block parties, graffiti art, rapping, disc jockeying and diverse forms of dancing built Hip Hop by the black youth. They expressed their feelings, thoughts, but most importantly the problems they had to face, which were related to their race, gender and social positions. The rights that were given to black people during and after the Civil Rights Movement left the following generations at a lack of how to continue the fight for black rights. Hip Hop gave them this platform and with the usage of black nationalism, Hip Hop can explore the challenges that confront American-Americans in the post-Civil Rights Movement era. In the 1990’s Hip Hop lived its prime, sub genres started to appear and famous groups, MCs led the whole community, providing a voice to a group of people trying to deliver their message.

Another artist who had a large influence in the black freedom movement and the third world struggles during the 1960’s and 70’s is Sun Ra. Sun Ra is a revolutionary jazz musician who began performing professionally as a kid. Once Sun Ra moved to Chicago in 1945, he immersed himself in jazz. Throughout his life, Sun Ra was influenced by space, religion and radical social movements and he expresses his beliefs and ideals through his music. Sun Ra’s love of astronomy and spiritual awakening opened doors for his music because he started fighting the constraints in jazz.

Louis Armstrong is a phenomenal example of improvisation and is also considered one of the best trumpet players that there has ever been. It is very clear that improvisation is a strong suit of Louis Armstrong just by listening to his song “Heebie Jeebies” from 1926. Without the intermingling of European classical music and African traditional music in the early stages of America, jazz would not contain the distinct components that it does to this very day. Politics/government is a cultural influence that people seem to feel uncomfortable talking about but it is impossible to neglect the fact that politics had a huge impact on the way jazz was shaped. In 1803, the United States purchased a tract of land from the French that spanned from the bayous of Louisiana all along the Mississippi river up to the

While in New York, Armstrong made dozens of records as a sideman, creating inspirational jazz and backup singing for many blues singers. Moreover, he had records as a soloist including "Cornet Chop Suey" and "Potato Head Blues." These solos changed jazz history, by incorporating daring rhythm choices, swing and high notes on cornet(Source B). Furthermore, in 1926, Armstrong finally switched from the cornet to the trumpet. After 1926, Louis became more and more famous and broke more and more barriers through his music.

The musical styles of each are the results of the collision of traditionally African rhythms and musical techniques with European classical and popular music genre. Each are adored American styles of music. Miles Davis “So What” and Robert Johnson’s “Cross Roads Blues” have some similarities and some differences. Miles Davis “So What” is Modal Jazz, used whole band tenor Saxophone, Alto Saxophone, Piano, Drums, trumpet, bass, and emphasis on melody and rhythms whereas Robert Johnson’s “Cross Roads Blues” is Delta Blues, used only slide guitar and vocals in his track (solo), and defining Racism, phobia and violence. The precise origins of each jazz - blues are quite covered.

And the music is a special aspect in cultural imperialism. It is easy to use music to influence people’s mind by the lyrics and rhythm. There are so many kinds of music being a trend during a certain time. For example, in the early of 20th century, the American music is the trend and its influence around the globe. Many peoples are more interested about and focusing on the classical music, blues, and country music, also jazz which from African Americans.

Trumpeters Louis Armstrong and Miles Davis became two of the most inspiring American jazz musicians of all time by accessing very differently to their art. In the analysis an album from each artist, I choose “What A Wonderful World” of Louis Armstrong and “Kind of Blue” of Miles Davis. Louis Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971) was the most influential performer to affect a lot of Jazz musicians. He influenced the whole jazz population with his amazing voice and energetic trumpet. And he played a great role in the modernization of jazz.

Langston Hughes was one of the most influential figures during the Harlem Renaissance, which was a time when African Americans were finding their role in American Society. During this era some of the best jazz musicians to this day such as Count Basie, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong heavily influenced this movement. One of Langston Hughes poems, “Trumpet Player” portrayed how these musicians used jazz to express themselves and escape from the racial inequality at the time. Part I: Scansion and Analysis Trumpet Player is a short poem with a very moving and deep message. It is composed of six stanzas, the first four stanzas consist of eight lines, and the last two stanzas are comprised of four lines and one coda.

Armstrong became a Jazz Ambasador for the U.S. government and ended up playing Black and Blue for people of other countries (Meckna,Satchmo: The Louis Armstrong Encyclopedia , 2004, p. 38). Many argue that Armstrong was an ineffective advocate for racial tolerance and equality due to the way he appeared to play into black stereotypes created by whites. One example of this is his performance as King of the Zulus. Though this was his boyhood dream come true, younger generations of African Americans were embarrassed and frustrated by it. Even Armstrong’s supporters clumsily tried to support his actions with no avail (Teachout, Pops: a life of Louis Armstrong, 2009, p. 324).

So many new entertainers, musicians, and inventions are becoming such a huge hit. From swinging jazz music to bright lights and the silver screen, this decade will get your shindig pumped up. A new type of music came out, it’s called “jazz music”, there are even different types of jazz just like “cool jazz” and “soul jazz’. This new music brings everyone a new happy atmosphere. Mostly people in black neighborhoods are listening to jazz because it was originated by African music and combined with band instruments and rhythm & blues.

Saxophone and piano were still important, but electric guitar and bass added a different vibe to the music. It was the beginning of a new sound. The main area they wanted to focus their R and B music was in Atlanta Ga. Chuck Willis is considered one of the founded fathers of R and B. He began singing at block parties, dances, and talent shows in Atlanta. In the midst of all this when he met Zenas Sears.

Brubeck was a major influence on the public being one of the most famous jazz musicians of his style. He used his publicity to give the public a view of what could be if the African American community was allowed to integrate with the rest of the American society. Brubeck uses the term color blind to describe jazz meaning that jazz has no racial prejudice. He expresses that jazz musicians working in harmony could wash away the tasted of Little Rock, referring to the Little Rock nine. Brubeck noticed that the incident in Little Rock had received global attention and was trying to remove the image of a racist America from the international eye.

In my opinion, as Jazz become one of the famous type of music, so knowing the history of Jazz is very necessary. Jazz music is very difficult to define mainly because there are so many different styles. When considering Ragtime, Stride and Boogie Woogie, these three styles was very essential in the development of modern jazz. However, the most essential that built Jazz in back then should be Ragtime, so I agree with you. In addition, Ragtime is primarily an African American invention and was a source of pride to African American composers, musicians, and listeners.