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How did jazz influence african american culture
Highlight any aspect of Louis Armstrong's enormous influence on jazz
Louis armstrong his importance to jazz
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We all know that Jazz is influenced by a lot of different cultures including African and European. This song was not any different, it included the cultures of both countries. To me, the circumstances in New Orleans that allowed this song to be created was gambling. When this song was circulated in America, it became popular by Louis Armstrong, and at that time gambling and alcohol was the leading cause of death for many youths. The lyrics in this song is sad, but the performance it itself is definitely not. The song is suggesting that a young man is looking at the dead body of his girlfriend/lover. I think this lyric has to do with gambling because the lyrics further goes to the arrangement of the boyfriend’s own body while looking at his
The dead black person hanging from a tree is described as “fruit for the crows to pluck/For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck/For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop.” During this portion of the song, one can hear the tremolo of the piano building in volume and ending with a staccato at the end of each line. Musically, this adds an element of suspense, and emphasizes the last dependent clause, effectively adding heaviness to the entire section. From the viewpoint of anyone other than racist white southerners in the 20th century, it is extremely troubling that the violent murder of black people had become so integrated into natural cycles, which seem to be more encompassing and absolute than societal customs. The lyrics attempt to transcend societal ingroups and outgroups, political issues of personal and peripheral interest and the concepts of time and place by describing how pointless violence, a moral rebellion against nature, has become part of nature. However, my interpretation of the intentions of the songwriter may be informed by my background information about the post-Reconstruction South and my hardline stance against systemic violence and white
...from the dullness of schoolwork to many possibilities. The next lines poke fun at the value of education and celebrate their street learning. ?Lurk late,? ?Strike straight,? ?Sing sin,? and ?Thin gin,? contradict any possibility for mental growth. Symbolism comes in the picture in the next line, ?We Jazz June,? which has many meanings. The word ?Jazz? signifies sexual intercourse. Then the word ?June? becomes a female. The tone of the poem dramatically changes when the reader learns the dropouts die soon. The group end in the last line, ?Die soon,? the final consequence of trying to be cool. Seemingly having fun in the beginning being cool, they are now completely powerless because they are dead. The poem really gives an obvious picture of what young African-American males are driven to do under the impression of trying to be cool. Since their minds are headed straight to corruption, they have no clue because they are having so much fun being cool. Leaving school, staying out late, singing sin, drinking alcohol, and having sex apparently are the only things that are important to them. With this mentality, more and more inner city males while continue hastening toward their death.
Throughout history, and even today, music has shaped America’s culture, society, and even politics. One of the most outstanding and enduring musical movement has been from African American artists, ranging from bebop to jazz to hip-hop to rap. During the 1920’s , jazz artists stepped into the limelight and began their impact on American and even world history. Louis Armstrong was one of the most influential leaders during the Harlem Renaissance and his jazz legacy and impact of American history is everlasting. A master of his craft, Armstrong and his music heavily influenced America’s white and black populations from the 1920’s and up until his death.
When the United States were showing signs of economical growth, the unimaginable happen. When the 1929 stock market crash marked the day that the United States slowly crept into the Great Depression. The Great Depression caused nationwide panic. There was a decrease of production and the sale of goods. Many businesses started to collapse and close. Banks closed down since they took people’s money and invest in stocks. When the stocks crashed, banks went bankrupt and people lost their money and savings. Then there was a rise in unemployment and thousands of workers lost their jobs. Countless amount of people were homeless and they were trying their best to save their money. People were trying to figure out how to deal with their economic difficulties. During that time, people wanted to escape from their problems. They would watch movies and listen to music. At the time Jazz music was very popular. Jazz music had musical freedom and the songs show the way many people felt. It had the power to lift the gloomy spirits of the people affected. Jazz music has a style that appeal to many people, both young and old. One of the earlier Jazz
To understand the genesis of Jazz one must also understand the setting of its origin, New Orleans. The city was founded by the French in 1718, then in 1763 the city ceded to Spain and remained under Spanish control until later being returned to the French in 1803, and then was immediately sold to the United States under the Louisiana Purchase. New Orleans was also heavily populated by African slaves making up 30% of the total population of the city at this time; so New Orleans was experiencing a lot of cultural diversity and was being shaped and molded by the many different fashions of people who lived in the city. These different social groups along with their culture also brought with them their deep rooted musical traditions, the fusion and combination of these traditions would give rise to what we know today as modern day Jazz. Jazz is a genre of music that could only have formed in America; it draws from many different cultures and art forms creating a cocktail of traditional European and African music, mixed with a blend of Spanish tinge, with a strong base of blues filtered through the American experience.
In the piece “St. Louis Blues,” sung by Bessie Smith with Louis Armstrong on the cornet, there is a notable distinction in the relationship that these two artists are displaying throughout the song. This piece, performed in 1925, incorporates a AABA chorus expressed through a very slow tempo. In the first 12-bars, Bessie conveys a melancholic, somber tone made to invoke memories of the past (“I hate to see the evening sun go down”) followed by Armstrong’s cornet response matching her tone. From the first chorus of the piece, there is a distinguished call-and-response succession heard between the two. His response to Bessie’s vocals can otherwise paint this picture showing off how much mournful and sadder Armstrong is than her.
A single artist can have a very strong impact on a whole genre of Music. We have seen this time and time again through artists such as Charlie Parker, David Brubeck, John Coltrane, Art Blakey, Miles Davis, and various others. All of these artists had tremendous influences on the different eras that evolved throughout the history of Jazz. Bill Evans, and American jazz pianist, was no different. Just as Charlie Parker had started the evolution of Bebop and influenced the subsequent generations of Jazz Artists, Bill Evans has influenced Modern Jazz and the generations of artists that followed him. Throughout his career and his works with various other artists, Bill Evans has cemented himself as one of the great influences on modern day Jazz.
A man with the “big noise” saw playing from the soul and heart. The place is New Orleans and the starting point of the wonderful world of jazz. New Orleans is where people are creative and not judged by the way they play their music. Buddy Bolden was one such of a person.
When it comes to jazz music, there is one name that everyone knows, whether they’ve never listened to jazz before or if they’ve listened to it their whole lives. That name is Louis Armstrong. Armstrong was one of the pioneers of jazz music, from his humble beginnings in one of New Orleans roughest districts, “the Battlefield”, to playing concerts for sold out crowds in Chicago and New York City, Louis left a massive impact on the way America listened to music for a long time. One of his premier tracks, “West End Blues”, left an impact on jazz music, which other musicians would try to emulate for years.
(Singer 216) With minstrel shows being popular at the time along with going “black face” on stage to make fun of colored people, its no surprise this song was intended to be humorous. The original idea for the song came from Dutch Shultz, the “financial angel” for Connie’s Inn where Hot Chocolates was playing. (Singer 216) He came up with the idea of the “funny number” and directed writer Andy Razaf to come up with the Lyrics. Razaf didn’t like the idea of the song but since he was essentially forced to write it, he did it his own way. He made the song about intraracial prejudice between blacks of lighter and darker skin and in doing that went behind Shultz back who just wanted the song for its comic appeal. The song was received well though, by people of all color, and Razaf unknowingly wrote America’s “first racial prejudice song”. (Singer 219) The song ended up being a hit and in 1929 Louis Armstrong recorded his own version of the song; however, in Armstrong’s version he “…dropped the verse and turned the chorus into a threnody for blacks of all shades.” (Teachout 139) Louis took the original songs hidden meaning and highlighted it in a way that made it more noticeable but still subtle. He turned it into a song that, as Ralph Ellington put it, “demanded action, the kind of which I was incapable of” in
Imagine you are walking the streets of New Orleans. You are standing right where jazz was established in the United States of America. Jazz wasn’t just about music, it also affected the culture involving social, economic, artistic and jazz leaders.
The Blues have long been a way of expressing one’s woes and hardships through music, and Alexander uses this genre of music to express the plight the Indian community has faced. A harsh journey over two-thousand miles, the Trail of Tears was a forced relocation of the Native Americans: “I hear you talking about your Trail of Tears/ If you feel the need I can help calm your feels”( Alexie 53). Although referring to the historical event, in this love song the Trail of Tears is used to describe how the woman he’s watching feels. Watching their loved ones die of disease,
In January of 1973, the Paris Peace Accords was signed and the United States forces were drawn from Vietnam. This war cost of country 58,000 lives. In 1973 the U.S. congress enacted the Wars Power Act. Our soldiers came home beaten, bruised and depressed after a hard fought loss. Springsteen wrote this song with the lyrics he used to make a loud statement about how veterans were not treated right after losing the war. People confuse the meanings of the song because Springsteen made it so upbeat to be a happy positive song. In all reality the song is upbeat to show people that it was a big deal. I also think he did this to show people that they were not even noticing what was going on and how it really should have been a better welcoming to these veterans.
The relevance of the song was portraying that using drugs and alcohol will help you escape life situations. Regardless of how hard or tough it is. All you need to do is to get drunk or get high, than your problems will flush away. But the video don’t explain the reality of the outcome of how drugs and alcohol will or could affect your lifestyle and how it could lead you to lose your job, family and life. All it shows is the fun side of being intoxicated. Which, it raises a big flag on kids or teens that do have access to the media like the
When words fail, music speaks, that is what they say, and it is the truth. People think to listen jazz and blues when they are sad with a broken heart or when they are in love, lose their job. However, in the begging, when jazz and blues were not jazz and blues yet, when everything was to start the rhythms full of happiness predominated. The first jazz and blues musicians where African slaves or ex-slaves, so there heritage it was strong, and the music used to accompany spiritual, works and social functions. The blues was the first one the base for the jazz, the rock’s roll and the country. It was born in the south, but then was moved to Chicago. Why Chicago? A city that in that time was full of rules with the prohibition with one bring the gangs that started to command the city. Nevertheless, Chicago a city with many possibilities for the African American that was looking for work. So all that young people moved to Chicago, making the city overflow with colors, good music and many rhythms, this movement influence till now not just Chicago, but people for all around the word, all this change all way to listen jazz and think about it.