The Bop And Bebop Era

The impact that Louis Armstrong had on jazz music and the Jazz Age was so immaculate that it transformed the genre of this new music for many generations to come. Through his multitudes of different performances during the twenties, he developed new ways and techniques to enhance his playing. Performances were never lacking for Louis he showcased solos, as well as in bands, which expanded his popularity throughout the country. Beginning his career and influence in the twenties, he started off with his solo performances, exhibiting his incredible trumpet and cornet playing as well as adding some singing in with the mix. These bountiful performances allowed him to become invited by his mentor “King” Oliver to be a part of his Creole Jazz Band. In accepting this position Louis was able to make a living off of his music and could eliminate working other day jobs. This new band Armstrong was involved in was among some of the most influential jazz bands out there at that time. This already influential band gave Armstrong the ability to continue his reign of influence on this music style and this time period. A while later Armstrong left Oliver’s band and began to play for a couple of different organizations. Louis played in orchestras, a few other jazz bands, and occasionally in church. All of these experiences allowed him to develop an amazing trademark sound for himself. The popularity Armstrong was receiving was so extravagant that in the mid and late twenties, he began creating records with a couple different bands throughout the different times he would participate in them. The next step Louis took in his climb to fame was to create his own band soon named the Hot Five. “The Hot Five became Armstrong’s first band that recorded music that was created under his own name.” (Unknown 1). The Jazz Age was his time to shine and he did. Never once did

The Harlem Renaissance,was an explosion of African American culture,especially in the creative arts, and the most influential movement in African American literary history. Making use of the literary, musical, theatrical, and visual arts, contributors to this movement sought to revive the attributes of the “African American” from the stereotypes that the white had labeled them. They also sought to let loose of conservative moral values and bourgeois shame about aspects of their lives that the white majority would have seen as an reinforcement of racist beliefs.The contributors to this movement did not particularly belong to a major school of thought.They came from all over the country to give rise to this movement. They were rather characterized

Initially, bebop jazz was characterized by significantly more complex chord progressions and melodies with a strong focus on the rhythm section. Although the irregular and unpredictable lengths of solos and increased sophistication made the music less suitable for dancing, it was nonetheless entertaining. Jazz had gained higher respect from a widestream audience, as it was no longer just dance music. Bebop lasted well into the 1950s, and the next stylistic revolution came during the revolutionary decade of the 1960s: fusion. Jazz fusion came into fruition when musicians combined aspects of jazz harmony and improvisation with styles such as funk, rock, rhythm and blues, and Latin jazz. It was during this time that many jazz musicians began to experiment with electric instruments and amplified sound as well as electronic effects and synthesizers. These instruments were common in other forms of popular music yet unprecedented in jazz. Many of the developments during the late 1960s and early 1970s have since become established elements of jazz fusion musical practice, perhaps the longest lasting stylistic showcase of jazz music due to its flexibility as a term. The development of American jazz is staggering and a fascinating study, but the music’s influence also transcends borders. On the tropical beaches of Rio de Janeiro in the late 1950s, students, artists and musicians came together to create a new sound called Bossa Nova. It was the result of

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 1920s saw the growth of popular recreation, in part because of higher wages and increased leisure time. Just as automobiles were mass-produced, so was recreation during the 1920s. Mass-circulations magazines like Reader’s Digest and Time (established 1923) enjoyed enormous success. Radio also rose to prominence as a source of news and entertainment during the 1920s: NBC was founded in 1926 and CBS a year later. Movies were the most popular leisure attraction of the times, making stars out of Charlie Chaplin, Rudolph Valentino, Gloria Swanson, and Mary Pickford. But with economic success and a cultural renaissance, came political isolationism, a wide gap between wealthy and poor, as well as new forms of racism.

Jazz went from only playing in New Orleans to becoming a staple of the America airwaves, dance halls and homes”

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

My name is Duke Ellington I was born on April 29,1899. My parents names are Daisy Kennedy Ellington, James Edward Ellington. I had one brother his name was Ruth Ellington.My birth name was Edward kennedy Ellington

He was foundational influence in jazz. In addition, he demonstrated great skills as an improviser by using lyrics and melodies in a unique way for expressive purposes. When Louis Armstrong was a child, some decisions helped shaped his music career. At age 11, Armstrong fired a pistol into the air and was sent to Colored Waif’s home, a reformatory for black youth. At his stay, Armstrong learned how to read music, play the cornet and became the leader of the home band. Armstrong started to draw attention by his cornet playing, thus the start of his music career. According to biography.com, it states, “On New Year’s Eve in 1912, Armstrong fired his stepfather’s gun in the air during a party and was arrested on the spot. He was then sent to Colored Waif’s Home for boys. There, he received musical instruction on the cornet…Armstrong began earning a reputation as a fine jazz player.” Louis Armstrong was a musical legend. Armstrong as known for his innovations as a trumpeter and vocalist. He is considered to be one of the greatest musicians in American history. Louis Armstrong shaped jazz music to where it

Charles Joseph Bolden was a contemporary African-American cornet player; he was a key inspirational contributor to the jazz style, which earned him the title: the "Father of Jazz." By 1895, when Bolden was merely 18 years old, he led his own semiprofessional band. His nickname was “King Bolden,” and the band he led was extremely popular in New Orleans during the years of 1901-1907. Before Bolden’s boom and bust, the term “jazz” was rarely used to describe music; afterwards, the musical style became extremely prominent. Unlike other cornet players, he played music by ear and was renowned for fusing the rhythmic, ragtime music, with the more liberated and

“During 1925-28, Louis Armstrong’s recordings with his small groups (the Hot Five, Hot Seven and his Savoy Ballroom Five), revolutionized jazz, containing some of his most brilliant trumpet playing”. Louis Armstrong’s voice was different than the others musicians and singers, there were times in which Louis didn’t memorize the lyrics of a song and instantly he will invent words and

Blues can be called as the generational origin of Jazz. Blues is a kind of jazz that was evolved from style of music and musical form, originated on the American South (Mississippi Delta). Guitar, piano and harmonica (mouth harp) were considered as major instruments of early blues songs. Lyrics were especially related about daily life, sex, love, and money. Blues pieces often express sadness and melancholy. Along with this, Jazz music is a type of music which was originated by interaction between black and Creole musicians and is characterized by improvisation and syncopation, emerging in the beginning of 19th century. Drum set, cornet or trumpet, trombone, clarinet were major instruments played with jazz songs. The Blueberry hill and Cross

One stereotype talked about by Gillespie was that, “only beboppers wore beards, goatees, and other facial hair and adornments.” (Walser, 157). Gillespie had an issue with this because when he shaved it the stubble that grew back made it uncomfortable for him to play with his mouth piece (Walser, 157). Dizzy therefore decided to grow it out to prevent the mouth piece problems and he liked the fact that it attracted the women around him (Walser, 157). Another stereotype was that, “beboppers spoke mostly in slang or tried to talk like Negroes.” (Walser, 157). The issue with this one is that the artists would use the slang in their music, but the fact that it was used a lot in the black population and the fact that they used to replace words made it frowned upon.

On August 21st, 1935 Benny and his band played at the Palomar Ballroom in LA. That gig was the beginning of Benny’s ascendancy to King and the swing era. Benny was very popular for being racially colorblind, which was hard to find while in the mid 30’s when racial segregation was a big problem. Teddy Wilson who was an African American pianist, was first seen in the Benny Goodman Trio at the Congress Hotel in 1935. The next year Benny added Lionel Hampton to create the Benny Goodman Quartet. Benny’s huge success during the Swing Era is what led Time magazine in 1937 to name him the “King of Swing”. The next year, during the peak of the Swing Era, Benny Goodman’s band, with musicians from Count Basie and Duke Ellington’s bands, reached a big milestone to be the first ever jazz band to play at the esteemed Carnegie Hall in New York. After the concert, the Benny Goodman Band went through a few changes in cast. The swing era came to a close as World War II raged on, and that aided a change in styles. Benny continued to play swing style

His professional career began in 1969 when he joined the Buddy Rich Big Band. And after stints with the Lionel Hampton Big Band and the Doc Severinsen Big Band, Cole formed his own quintet and toured worldwide, doing a great deal to popularize bebop and his own “Alto Madness” style in the 70’s and early 80’s.