Ellington And Jazz In The 30′S Essay, Research Paper

Duke Ellington and the Harlem Renaissance:

The term Harlem Renaissance refers to an artistic, cultural, and social time of writing about race and the African American’s place in American life during the early 1920’s and 1930’s. It is hard to put a specific time and date in terms of social criticism, protest and political advancements, because of the fact that it took a long time for it all to develop. Overall, the Harlem Renaissance was a time of African American’s expressing talent and ideas, and was the center of urban black life in America.

All oppressed African American’s knew that if they wanted to express themselves, they would go to Harlem. Harlem was your best chance at changing your life. Harlem was considered the heart of the Renaissance in African American letters, creating the name The Harlem Renaissance. Harlem was the center of African American life. Most black literature of the time referred to Harlem as Home. Harlem stands as a symbol for the best and worst qualities of African American life during the early twentieth century. The Harlem Renaissance was a time where blacks would show their true identities, emotions, feelings, opinions, etc. Blacks expressed themselves socially, culturally, and through various forms of arts, such as paintings, literature and music.

The main music of the time was Jazz. Jazz music began sometime around 1895 in New Orleans. It combined the elements of Ragtime, marching band music, and Blues. The main difference between Jazz and these other types of music was the widespread use of improvisation, often played by more than one player at a time. Jazz represented a break from Western musical traditions, where the composer wrote a piece of music on paper and the musicians then tried their best to play exactly what was in the score. In a Jazz piece, the song is often just a starting point or frame of reference for the musicians to improvise around. The song might have been a popular line or blues that they didn’t compose, but by the time they were finished with it they had composed a new piece that often showed little resemblance to the original song. Many of these jazz musicians were not good sight readers and some could not read music at all, never the less their playing thrilled audiences and the spontaneous music they created captured a joy and sense of adventure that was an exciting departure from the music of that time. The first Jazz was played by African Americans and Creole musicians in New Orleans. The cornet player, Buddy Bolden is generally considered to be the first real Jazz musician. Other early players included Freddie Keppard, Bunk Johnson, and Clarence . Although these musicians’ names are unknown to most people, then and now, their ideas are still being elaborated on to this day. Most of these men could not make a living with their music and were forced to work menial jobs to get by. The second wave of New Orleans Jazz musicians like Joe “King” Oliver, Kid Ory, and Jelly Roll Morton formed small bands, that took the music of these older men and increased the complexity and dynamic of their music, as well as gaining greater commercial success. This music became know as “Hot Jazz”, because of the often break neck speeds and amazing improvised polyphony that these bands produced. A young piano player named Edward “Duke” Ellington was discovered in New Orleans. Ellington soon grew to become the greatest Jazz musician of his era and eventually one of the biggest stars in the world. The impact of Ellington and other Jazz musicians altered the course of both popular and Classical music. African American musical styles became the dominant force in 20th century music.

Duke Ellington was born in 1899. His interest in music began when he was very young. As he grew older he began to become more and more recognized for his talent on the piano. He became interested in jazz and started to expand on that interest. He brought style and sophistication that the world of Jazz had never seen before. He considered himself a composer and arranger; not just a regular musician. He arranged and composed most of his own songs. He began playing music professionally in Washington in 1917. His piano playing influenced well-recognized musicians such as James P Johnson, and Willie Smith. He formed his first group in Washington and called it the Washingtonians. The Washingtonians stuck together for a long time. They easily changed with the trends from the hot jazz of the 20’s to the swing music of the 30’s. During the 40’s and 50’s, Ellington reached the peak of his fame. He was more famous than he had ever been in his entire career. During his prime, Ellington played with famous groups such as The Luis Armstrong Quartet and Count Basie. In the 70’s most of The Washingtonian’s band members had died off, but the band in its later years still attracted musicians even after Ellington died of cancer in 1974. When Edward Ellington (Duke) died, his son, Mercer Ellington took over the band and kept it going. Overall, Duke Ellington was one of the leading figures in the history of Jazz Music. He was also one of the chief innovators of style and change. His fame and accomplishments attracted people to Harlem early on until he got big and famous and began to travel away to share his music with the world.

Duke Ellington, as well as many other people thrived during the Harlem Renaissance. As you can see, the development of music during the Harlem Renaissance greatly affected the change in style, even up to this very day. Rap music is a way of expression, just like Jazz. It is just a new style developed in the same manor as Jazz. Today the music industries are thriving, just as they were in the 1920’s and 1930’s. Music is not recognized as it should be. Without music, life would be dull, and people would have less inspiration. Music has a powerful effect on people, and is a large factor in the change of today’s societies.

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