MILES DAVIS
This is my report on Miles Davis that I have written for band class. When I first started I didn't even have a clue who Miles Davis was. But for the past week I have been working on this report I have began to realize the amazing life that this famous musician has lived. So I hope you learn as much as I did on this wonderful trumpeter.
Even in the beginning he was already miles ahead. It's very evident that Miles knew and lived by that old axiom if it's named, then it's outmoded. Miles Dewey Davis was born May 25, 1926 in Alton, Illinois and grew up in East St. Louis. Miles collected records and for his 13th birthday was given his first trumpet. By age 16, Miles was playing professionally and received his first real taste of what playing jazz was like when Billy Eckstine's band was traveling through and needed to replace a sick horn player. At that time, the band employed Diz and Bird and for two weeks Miles soaked it up!
Undoubtedly, the fire had been ignited. After high school, Miles was off to study music and enrolled in Juilliard in September 1944. Practicing his ass off every day and feeding his mind every night Miles' sound was taking shape. As a sideman, Miles recorded his first recording in New York with singer "Rubberleggs" Williams and later recorded "Now,s The Time" & "Ko-Ko" in Parker's quintet.
Miles Davis was known to the general public primarily as a trumpet player. However, in the world of music he had a great deal of influence not only as a innovative bandleader but also as a composer. His music and style was important in the development of improvisational techniques incorporating modes rather than standard chord changes. Miles experiments with modal playing reached its apotheosis in 1959 with his recording of Kind Of Blue.
Brought up in the Bebop tradition and taught under the auspice of Bird and others, Miles was now ready to lead. After a few solo records, Miles transformed jazz into it's next phase with his BIRTH OF THE COOL sessions, which were recorded 1949-50. These sessions took Bebop, with it's fast running styled chords, which changed on every beat, to a more modal concept and chords that changed every other measure, like in the tune "Dig". As a experiment, Miles formed a nine piece band, with Mulligan, Evans and Lewis as arrangers and incorporating Gunther Schuller on French Horn.
Eventually in 1937, Dizzy Gillespie decided to head out to New York to carry out his dream of becoming a famous jazz player. During his time at New York he talked with many different bands and earned a job with Teddy Hill’s band. Hill was very impressed with Gillespie’s unique playing style. The group went on a tour from Great Britain to France shortly after Gillespie had joined the band. After getting back from the tour G...
Developed in the early 1940's, Bop had established itself as vogue by 1945. It's main innovators were alto saxophonist Charlie Parker and trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie. In this stage in jazz, improvisation differed immensely. Bebop soloists engaged in harmonic improvisation, often avoiding the melody altogether after the first chorus. Usually under seven pieces, the soloist was free to explore improvised possibilities as long as they fit into the chord structure. Popular and influential jazz artists include: Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, & Cannonball Adderley. Armstrong is most known for his involvement in hot jazz as a trumpeter, but is especially renowned for his improvisation capabilities. Louis Armstrong, born August 4, 1901 right in the beginning stages of the jazz movement, was originally from New Orleans. Armstrong was a bandleader, soloist, comedian/actor, and vocalist. Another famous, Miles Davis, is what some consider to be the best trumpeter of the era. Davis was born on May 26, 1926 in Alton, Illinois. One unique thing about Davis was that he was taught to play without vibrato, which was incredibly contrary to the popular way of
So, bop can be seen as a reaction to the eventual sterilization and ubiquity of swing music. The first bop records were made by in 1944 by Coleman Hawkins experimenting with his swing band. Several individuals were instrumental in the propagation of this new form, such as Charlie "Bird" Parker (alto sax), Dizzy Gillespie (trumpet), Thelonious Monk (piano), Bud Powell (piano), Miles Davis (trumpet), and Charles Mingus (bass). The standard ensemble became a quintet, consisting of piano, bass, drums, reed instrument...
I'm in the band. No, scratch that; I'm more than just in the band. I am the band. Unless, of course, that makes me sound conceited. In which case, I describe myself as an integral component to the marching band. The band would never be the same without me! I admit it: I'm a band nerd, a music nut, and a clarinet geek. You can describe me with whatever phrase you want. Regardless of how you look at it, I'll always be a band geek, and I'm proud of it!
...ts out. In fact that prompted them to play as loud as possible in order to overwhelm the Creoles. Buddy Bolden was one of the blacks that had the ability to do just that. Along with his strong sound that he strived for, he improvised standard ragtime and blues pieces. Unfortunately he didn’t have as much control over his life that he had over his trombone. He became an alcoholic, contracted syphilis, and then ultimately dies in a mental institution. It is sad that he died without knowing his contribution to the development of what we now call jazz. I made a conscious decision to highlight the information in this book that I had never read about in the past. On the contrary you should know that this book contains very detailed information on the parts of black American music history that is popular in today's society. It covers everything from slave songs to Motown.
By this time a major change in jazz was afoot, and a young trumpet player named Dizzy Gillespie formed his own small prototype group at the Onyx Club in New York. This group met regularly and played original music based on popular swing tunes, with improvised melodies, and modified chordal structure. This new music was called bebop,
Gatsby had been working for so long to make Daisy his, that somewhere along the way his love turned to obsession. His Dream is not the pure thing it started out to be. His first step in fulfilling it was to become wealthy, which he did through corrupt means. He was filled with hope that once Daisy saw his wealth and how much he still loved her, that she would leave her husband Tom and come be with him. He even “bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay” (Fitzgerald 83). In an attempt to make this come true, he and Daisy began to have an affair. The amorality and dishonesty of this only solidifies the fact that Gatsby’s dream was corrupted by his desire to have Daisy, as if she were an object not a person. Gatsby also never took into account that Daisy may have already fulfilled her dream. She was, even throughout her affair with Gatsby, content with her life with Tom because he gave her the life of luxury she had always dreamed of. Daisy’s dream was corrupt from the beginning. Her desire for money won over her desire for love. As for Gatsby’s dream with Daisy, “it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city…” (Fitzgerald
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 many others. All of these artists had tremendous influences on the different eras that evolved throughout the history of Jazz. Bill Evans, an 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.
“West End Blues” begins with a 12-second trumpet solo that displayed Armstrong’s wonderful range and demonstrated the syncopated styling unique
He was known as the Father of Jazz. He was most notable as an entertainer, however, he was a soloist that provided improvisations in regards to tunes. Louis Armstrong's “What a Wonderful World” is the first song that comes to many minds when discussing jazz. He is also well known for his scat singing, However, he also had a political side. In his song “What Did I Do To Be So Black and Blue,” Armstrong talks about the color of his skin as a bad thing and how blacks were treated. In World War II he fulfilled by performing for the soldiers during a recording
Jazz, which evolved from African American folk music, has developed and changed over the last century to become an art form in America. It places particular importance on inventive self interpretation. Rather than relying on a written piece, the artist improvises. Jazz has taken many forms over the past seventy years; there is almost always a single person who can be credited with the evolution of that sound. From Thelonius Monk, and his bebop, to Dizzy Gillespie’s big band, to Miles Davis’ cool jazz, or to John Coltrane’s free jazz; America’s music has been developed and refined countless times through individual experimentation and innovation. In my opinion the most noteworthy artist in the development of modern jazz is John Coltrane. In this paper, I will focus on the way in which Coltrane’s musical originality was related to the sounds of his predecessors and to the tribulations and tragedies of his life.
Mary Shelley, the author of the novel Frankenstein grew up in the early 1800’s with her father, a radical philosopher that believed in the equality of the sexes, and her mother, a vindicator of women’s rights. Shelley followed the footsteps of her parents and became a strong feminist advocate, and supporter of gender equality. The development of her novel granted her with the opportunity to express her feminist ideologies in a subtle, and realistic way, unlike any other authors during her time period. Thus, in the novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley incorporates her feminist beliefs with the purpose of portraying the realities of a woman’s life during the early 1800’s.
Through the theme of birth and creation, Shelley criticises Victor not only for creating the new being, but also for abandoning it when it comes to life. Victor first wishes to create the being because he thinks:
The next song played was “River” which is originally by Joni Mitchell. This song included the beautiful vocalists Sonya Kitchell and Amy Keys. “River” took a very different approach and was a lot mellower than the first, definitely not in the jazz fusion genre. Although, jazz fusion is my favorite I do have to say Herbie Hancock originally started off with classical music and like I mentioned before was not introduced to fusion until joining Miles’s band. This being said, Herbie Hancock played very slowly and softly in the piano. And everyone else followed the same
Jazz is a form of art music developed by Black Americans in the early twentieth century and was emerged from many cultures that branched out into many different styles. The development of jazz was influenced by some great musicians. One of the prominent one was Lester Young, an American jazz tenor-saxophonist and occasional clarinetist. His style has influenced many other well known musicians in the jazz history, leading him to play a significant role in the development of jazz. He undoubtedly was a masterful innovator from the mid 1930’s to the mid 1940s, not only because he changed the way saxophone was played, but also because he changed the art of jazz itself.