Louis Armstrong Civil Right's Movement Analysis

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In order to analyze the impact that Louis Armstrong had on American jazz and the Civil Right’s Movement, there has to first be an understanding of the contributions of jazz to American culture. Jazz is a genre of music that was created in New Orleans by African Americans around the 1920’s. This form of music is based off of syncopation and improvisation, and comes in the style of dixieland, bebop, free jazz, and swing. Louis Armstrong, a famous jazz musician, had brilliant trumpet playing skills and a voice that made him widely popular across America, and well known by every race. Armstrong’s amazing abilities transformed jazz from being ensemble music into being a soloist art along with widely popularizing the use of scat. As a result …show more content…

Armstrong has more of a gravelly/rough tone in his singing voice, and showcased his agility with improvisation where he would change the flow of the songs. Before Louis Armstrong, jazz was highly orchestrated, or was more loosely structured like “dixieland” , where no one solo went on for an extended period of time. He took jazz from being a 2/4 beat, and made it 4/4 which made it easier for solos to take center stage during a performance. Louis Armstrong himself had a very charismatic stage presence that helped him connect with the audience directly and ease racial barriers. “ Armstrong was considered one of the first truly popular African-American entertainers to “cross over”, and whose skin color was secondary to his music in an America that was severely racially divided. “ (Cole …show more content…

He expanded the styles and forms of jazz so far to where it integrated Black and White people all across America. Armstrong spent his last couple of years still entertaining different types of audiences across the world, and died of a heart attack in New York City in 1971. Although there were many influential and innovative musicians, Louis Armstrong had more of an effect on the movement than anyone else. Armstrong’s commitment to producing new styles of jazz and sincere performances will represent music during the 20th century for years to come. “Louis Armstrong is jazz. He represents what the music is all about.” (Marsalis

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