The Harlem Renaissance was a literary, artistic, and intellectual movement that kindled a new black cultural identity, spanning the 1920s and to the mid-1930s. While reading the article “Black Renaissance: A Brief History of the Concept” I learned that the Harlem Renaissance was once a debatable topic. Ernest J. Mitchell wrote the article, explaining how the term “Harlem Renaissance” did not originate in the era that it claims to describe. The movement “Harlem Renaissance” did not appear in print before 1940 and it only gained widespread appeal in the 1960s. During the four preceding decades, writers had mostly referred to it as “Negro Renaissance.”…
"Put it up for adoption, lay low for awhile and not tell our fans. We could do that... Couldn't we?" That's what the famous couple thought, but it didn't seem so simple in the end. What happened to them you ask? Well our story starts nine, almost 10, months back.…
He saw that the new mechanism for recording and amplification could augment coloristic exploration. He used this new idea when recording “ Mood Indigo “ which was written on October 17,1930, but was written especially for microphonic transmission of a radio broadcast. From 1931 to 1971 when the Pittsburgh courier declared him “king of jazz” he became the first jazz musician invited to join the Swedish Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm. Ellington served as the reference point for the 20th century American jazz and has remained a prominent composer of the…
Edward Kennedy Ellington was born April 29, 1899 in Washington, D.C. Ellington's parents James and Daisy actively supported his educational development. Duke had his first piano lesson at the age of seven or eight; this did not fancy him too much. At this time he was interested in baseball, which brought his first job as a peanut salesman at the Washington Senator's games. This helped Duke overcome stage fright, which was of use for the future to come. With his piano lessons fading in the past, he showed interest in the art. As a result he attended Armstrong Manual Training School to study commercial art instead of attending and academics-oriented school. As time went by Duke began to listen and seek out pianists in Washington,…
It was the year of 1899 on the day April 29 when Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington was born. This talented musician was born in the city of Washington D.C. Growing up Edward had two big musical performers that had a big influence on his life, which was his mom and dad. At an early age Edward took liking to playing the piano. “Young Edward started piano lessons with a local teacher, unforgettably called Mrs. Clinkscales, at the age of about eleven.” (Bradbury, 2005). For his smooth playing of instruments and gentlemen ways Edward would soon earn the nicknamed Duke. At a very young age of fifth-teen Duke had written his very first composition known as the Soda Fountain Rage. This great composition was inspired by his first job being a soda jerk.…
When Duke Ellington was fifteen years old he played the piano at the Philadelphia club. He learned about Brooks when he was with his uncle from a waiter. One accomplishments he was known for is that he was the first jazz player. Another accomplishment is…
Edward Kennedy Ellington, American jazz composer, orchestrator, bandleader, and pianist, is considered to be the greatest composer in the history of jazz music and one of the greatest musicians of the 20th century. He composed over 2000 works and performed numerous concerts during his musical career. A compilation of some of his most popular music is collected on a CD called, “The Popular Duke Ellington.” Duke Ellington can be considered important for numerous things. To choose a few reasons, Duke Ellington is important for his music, influence on people, and being a superfluous composer in his century and now.…
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American writer, piano player, and bandleader of a jazz symphony, which he drove from 1923 until his demise in a vocation traversing more than fifty years.[1]…
May 26, 1926 in Alton, Illinois, a true legend of Jazz music was born. Miles Dewey Davis III, son of Miles Dewey Davis II and Cleota Mae Davis, was the middle child in the family. Miles had an older sister, Dorothy Mae Davis and a little brother, Vernon Davis. Both of his parents worked, making enough money live a middle-class lifestyle in a household which was located in a white neighborhood. His dad was a dental surgeon and his mother worked as a music teacher and a violinist, which justifies that it was in his blood to posses musically inclined skills. At the age of 13, miles received his first trumpet and as most historic musicians do, he learned to play at a supernatural rate. He joined his high school band and began to take private lessons…
Coming from a poor community where blacks just wanted to prove themselves, Duke Ellington lived in an era and environment where African Americans were looked down by one another. The lighter skin color a person was, the higher they thought of themselves and put other darker skin African Americans down. Duke Ellington never talked about his childhood life living in Washington, but he often said that Washington was good to him but he got out of there as soon as he could without turning…
He was born in 1899 in Washington, D.C., and came to Harlem in 1922. His composing style at the time contrasted deeply with that of two of his contemporaries, Fletcher Henderson and Don Redman. While they were developing the stereotypical big band style of Brass vs. Winds vs. Rhythm, the Duke attempted…
The Harlem Renaissance was a huge cultural movement for the culture of African Americans. Embracing the various aspects of art, many sought to envision what linked black peoples’ relationship to their heritage and to each other. Langston Hughes was one of the many founders of such a cultural movement. Hughes was very unique when it came to his use of jazz rhythms and dialect in portraying the life of urban blacks through his poetry, stories, and plays. By examining 2 poems by Langston Hughes, this essay will demonstrate how he criticized racism in Harlem, New York.…
One of the greatest jazz bandleaders, arrangers, recording artist, and composers of all time is none other than Duke Ellington. Born on April 29, 1899 in Washington, D.C., Ellington was destined for musical talent. His family was musically talented; both of his parents could play piano even though neither could read music. Ellington did not grow up in a poor family; and he had educational advantages that many black musicians in his time didn’t have. He received the nickname “Duke” from a fellow classmate, because of his elegant way of dressing and his regal behavior. While in school elementary school, he received piano lessons, and by the time he reached high school, he was already performing locally. He was also a fairly good painter and won a scholarship to the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. But his art career was overshadowed by his love for music. Music won his heart, so art wasn’t in the picture. At the age of 17, he wrote his first song, “The Soda Fountain Rag”, which was his debut. In 1919, Ellington’s son Mercer was born. With encouragement from Fats Waller, Duke moved to New York with his newly formed group, The Washingtonians. He later formed the Duke Ellington Orchestra, which by 1930 had grown to include 12 musicians. During these early years in New York, Ellington developed skills that he would carry throughout his entire career. He evolved from band member to leader and performed in a variety of clubs. His writing and arranging skills also evolved and became more defined. These new skills would be his unique compositional style. Some of Ellington’s new influences were stride piano players like Willie “The Lion” Smith and James P. Johnson and ragtime piano players.…
August Wilson is a man who, outside of the theatrical world, is not very well known. Yet there are those, like Paul Carter Harrison, who would rank him in "the same 'artistic continuum' as Langston Hughes, Toni Morrison, and Thelonius Monk."1 When I began research on August Wilson I asked myself, so what? So what if he's won awards and recognition? What has he done to merit them? What makes this man important enough to do a research paper on? Why not Langston Hughes or Martin Luther King, Jr.? What makes this man matter in this society? As I continued my research I realized that, throughout my entire life, I had been deprived of knowing about such a man as August Wilson. I realized he stands for what Martin Luther King, Jr. stands for. He writes in the ways of Imamu Amiri Baraka, Langston Hughes, and Ralph Ellison. Through what Wilson has accomplished, and continues to strive towards, the black community will benefit a million-fold should they heed his words.…
Powell’s overall thesis is, “The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural and psychological water-shed, and era in which black people were perceived as having finally liberated themselves from a past fraught with self-doubt and surrendered instead to an unprecedented optimism, a novel pride in all things black and a cultural confidence that stretched beyond the borders of Harlem to other black communities in the Western world.” Powell’s overall point in this article is the beauty of the Harlem Renaissance and the cultural influence in brought to North America, not only to African American communities but to communities of other racial ethnicities as well. The utilization of black arts (literature, visual arts, and music) brew throughout the United…