“Sam was a prince of a man” were the words used to describe the late great by “the Queen of Soul” Aretha Franklin (Crossing Over). Sam Cooke was far more than a prince he was a king. Cooke’s life and legacy is one that will never be matched. He was a pioneer in the music business, an unmatched vocalist, the voice of the civil rights movement, and a man with an insatiable appetite for women. He was a musical pioneer creating a sound that the world had never heard before. Cooke successfully crossed pop music and gospel to create soul music. The mastermind that is Sam Cooke created a song that would “…exemplify the sixties' Civil Rights Movement” (Wikipedia). Sam Cooke was at the height of his career when he was murder. Cooke was an extraordinary man with an ordinary weakness, his desire for women. These desires ultimately lead to his untimely death. Sam Cooke was a man of many faces the artist, the activist, the administrator, and finally the adulterer.
The critical acclaimed “A Change Gonna Come” begins with Cooke’s smooth yet emotional vocals yelping “I was born by the river in a little tent”. The words are not very far from the truth. Cooke began his life on January 22, 1931 in Clarksdale, Mississippi. Born Samuel Cook, he was the fifth child of Reverend Charles and Annie Mae Cook. Reverend Cook moved his family from the “up from the Mississippi Delta” (Krajicek) to Chicago in 1933. Cooke was raised in a God fearing household were his father instilled the importance of working hard for everything you want in life. At a very young age Cooke made it clear to his family that he intended on being a being a singer; he never planned to work a normal job (Krajicek). Cooke by no means desired to live the life of an average job, bec...
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... Music - Observing Change: Sam Cooke and the Civil Rights Movement." Gapers Block - Slow down & Check out Chicago! 11 Feb. 2010. Web. 17 June 2010. .
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"Sam Cooke: Crossing Over." American Masters. Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). 11 Jan. 2010. Television.
Wikipedia contributors. "Sam Cooke." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 16 Jun. 2010. Web. 17 Jun. 2010.
James Earl Jones’s early life was difficult, and he was a part of the Great Migration. He was born in Arkabutla, Mississippi in 1931. Jones was raised by his maternal grandparents, for his father had left his mother when Jones was very young. She too left him at a young age, but visited from time to time. “I rejoiced in her visits, yet her impending departure brought me to grief” (Jones 18). Jones’s grief was routed in a feeling of abandonment. His did not see his father for many years, and his mother’s visits were infrequent, but his grandparents were very loving, and he would respect them as his parents (Jones 21). His attachment to his grandparents profoundly affected his life when he was nearly abandoned again. At age 5, his grandparents decided to move north to Michigan, and on the way they stopped by Memphis, Tennessee where they attempted to leave Jones with his paternal grandmother. ...
-Hebdige, Dick, “In Poor Taste: Notes on Pop,” chapter in Modern Dreams: The Rise and Fall of Pop (New York: ICA & London: MIT Press, 1988) pp. 77-85
Some people may call him “The King”, Elvis Presley is a well-known musician who stepped out of the norm and created a different kind of music. Presley combined pop, country, gospel, and black R&B to create his musical style. Presley caught everyone’s attention with his dance moves and musical talent. Elvis Presley led the way for many musicians, and has impacted the lives of many people.
Werner, Craig Hansen. 2006. A change is gonna come: music, race & the soul of America. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
The book, The Spirituals and the Blues, by James H. Cone, illustrates how the slave spirituals and the blues reflected the struggle for black survival under the harsh reality of slavery and segregation. The spirituals are historical songs which speak out about the rupture of black lives in a religious sense, telling us about people in a land of bondage, and what they did to stay united and somehow fight back. The blues are somewhat different from in the spirituals in that they depict the secular aspect of black life during times of oppression and the capacity to survive. James H. Cone’s portrayal of how the spirituals and the blues aided blacks through times of hardship and adversity has very few flaws and informs the reader greatly about the importance of music in the lives of African-Americans. The author aims to both examine the spirituals and blues as cultural expressions of black people and to reflect on both the theological and sociological implications of these songs.
Stanley Newcomb Kenton is one of the most influential figures to be found in all of jazz history, even being called "the most significant figure of the Modern Jazz age" by Frank Sinatra (Agostinelli, 6). Kenton's progressive concepts of how music is written and performed greatly affected the genre of jazz, and created something new and unique. Always under controversy, Kenton and his band always strove to do something different, never settling into a niche for long periods of time. Even today, when hearing modern jazz performers (particularly big bands) one can often hear the influence from Kenton's music.
... Bohlman, Philip V. Music and the Racial Imagination. University Of Chicago Press, Chicago. 2001. Print.
Many African-Americans consume what is known as “soul food”, for which, it is very popular within the black community. Soul food is an African-American cuisine that can be traced back as far as African, however, the term itself was not coined until the mid-1960s. It also comprise an important element of the cuisine of the general American south. Soul food was adopted and modify during the African slave trade and it was during this time food African cuisine and southern European cuisine became one big melting pot.
For example, the 1st song “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Bessie Smith, who of which was nicknamed “Empress of the Blues” was a mainstream African-American female Blues singer. The 2nd song “When you’re smiling” by Louis Armstrong, King of Blues, was an African-American trumpeter, composer, singer, and an occasional actor. Furthermore, he was the most prominent figures in jazz. The final song “East of St.Louis Toodle-oo-” by Duke Ellington is, once again, an African-American composer, pianist, and bandleader of a jazz orchestra that lasted about 50 yrs. Additionally, he was known for his nickname “The King of Jazz”.
Louis Armstrong, born August 4, 1901 in New Orleans, was a jazz musician with gifted performing skills ranging from playing the trumpet and composing music to singing and occasional acting. His career was most prominent from the 1920s through the 1960s playing songs such as “What a wonderful world” and “Hello, Dolly”. Armstrong had multiple nicknames such as Pops, Big Papa Dip, and Satchmo his extraordinary jazz performances not only influenced jazz but American culture and the world as a whole. His perfect pitch and rhythm spread throughout America like a freight train. His music supplied such revolutionary vocabulary it soon became commonplace, like forks and knives. Armstrong once said “If you have to ask what jazz is, you'll never know”.
To begin, Louis Armstrong was born in 1901 in the worst part of New Orleans, the “Battlefield” in black Storyville (Harker, 2005, p. 68). Right from the get-go, life wasn’t easy for Armstrong. His father left shortly after he was born, and his mother worked
top 40 hits between 1957 and 1964, plus three more posthumously. Major hits like "You Send Me", "A Change Is Gonna Come", "Cupid", "Chain Gang", "Wonderful World", "Another Saturday Night", and "Twistin' the Night Away" are some of his most popular songs. Cooke was also among the first modern black performers and composers to attend to the business side of his musical career. He founded both a record label and a publishing company as an extension of his careers as a singer and composer. He also took an active part in the Civil Rights
Louis Armstrong was a revered multitalented jazz musician and a charismatic performer who had an illustrious career as a jazz musician for more than fifty years. Widely regarded as the greatest jazz musician of his time, Armstrong rose from an obscure and insignificant background to become one of the greatest musicians of the 20th century. Armstrong was many things; he was a renowned trumpeter, vocal gifted singer and soloist, and a bandleader. Armstrong’s unique approach to jazz music had a profound influence on not only jazz musicians but musicians from other genres as well. Arguably Armstrong is considered to have been the epitome of jazz music through his improvisation in playing the trumpet, singing, and rhythm (David 9). Armstrong played a central role in promoting the acceptance of jazz music as a quintessential genre that embodied the American culture. This paper will discuss Armstrong’s contribution to Jazz music and how his career faired
Henderson, Jeff. Chef Jeff Cooks: In the Kitchen with America's Inspirational New Culinary Star. Simon and Schuster, 2008.
Louis Armstrong’s rendition of “(What Did I Do to Be So) Black and Blue” altered various components of the original tune as he incorporated several jazz techniques typical of the 1920’s and pulled the piece out of its original context of Broadway. Doing so greatly changed the piece as a whole and its meaning, to call attention to the necessity of civil rights for the black population. Armstrong’s life was not purely devoted to music. As a civil rights advocate for the black population in the U.S., he grabbed the attention of the government through his fame and helped to bring equal rights to his brethren. But at times, Armstrong allowed his actions to undermine the importance of African American civil rights, which created negative sentiments