Which of These Artists is Associated with Jazz Music?
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We take a look at some of the biggest names in jazz history and explore their contributions to the genre.
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong was an American jazz trumpeter and singer who was one of the most influential figures in jazz history. Armstrong was a great innovator, and his style of playing influenced many other jazz musicians. He was also known for his original and distinctive voice.
His Life
Louis Armstrong was an American trumpeter, composer, singer and actor who was one of the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades, from the 1920s to the 1960s, and he was a mentor to many younger musicians. Armstrong was known for his distinctive and powerful voice as well as his innovative playing style, which incorporated elements of both European classical music and African-American vernacular music. He was also a highly skilled improviser, often taking musical risks that paid off handsomely.
Armstrong was born in New Orleans in 1901, and he started playing the cornet when he was just 11 years old. He quickly developed into a virtuoso musician, and by the 1920s he was leading his own bands and touring extensively. He made his first recordings in 1922, and over the next few years he released a series of critically acclaimed records that cemented his reputation as a leading jazz artist. In 1931, he made his first trip to Europe, where he toured with great success.
Armstrong continued to perform and record throughout the 1930s and 1940s, although his health began to decline in the 1950s. He made his final recordings in 1966, and he died two years later at the age of 69. Armstrong’s influence on jazz is incalculable; he helped to make it a truly international art form and paved the way for future generations of musicians.
His Music
Louis Armstrong was born in New Orleans in 1901 and learned to play the cornet in the Waif’s Home Band. He won a number of local competitions as a teenager before joining Kid Ory’s band in 1920. He began to sing while with Ory and soon became one of the most distinctive and influential vocalists in jazz. He moved to Chicago in 1922 to join King Oliver’s band and made his first recordings there with Oliver’s group.
In 1924, Armstrong returned to New Orleans and began fronting his own band, which recorded for the Okeh label. In 1925, he traveled to New York City, where he recorded some of his most famous songs, including “West End Blues” and “Potato Head Blues.” He also made his first appearances on Broadway during this period, appearing in the revue Hot Chocolates (1929) and Cobwebs and Nuts (1932).
Armstrong continued to perform and record throughout the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s, playing both traditional jazz and swing music. He also appeared in a number of films during this time, including Pennies from Heaven (1936) and High Society (1956). His career began to wind down in the 1960s, but he continued to perform until shortly before his death in 1971.
Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington is considered one of the most important figures in jazz music. He was a composer, bandleader, and pianist. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions and his music was influenced by ragtime, blues, and European classical music.
His Life
Duke Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and bandleader of a jazz orchestra, which he led from 1923 until his death in 1974. His career spanned more than 50 years and included leading his orchestra on worldwide tours. Ellington’s music was unique in that it combined elements of African-American and European classical music. He also wrote film scores and stage musicals, and his work influenced many other jazz composers.
His Music
Duke Ellington is remembered as one of the greatest figures in jazz history. A pianist, composer and bandleader, Ellington led his own band for nearly 50 years. He wrote more than 1,000 compositions, including such classics as “Take the ‘A’ Train” and “Satin Doll.” Born in Washington D.C. in 1899, Ellington began playing piano at an early age and soon began picking up gigs around town. By the 1920s, he had become a well-known figure on the New York City jazz scene. In 1924, he assembled a band that would soon become world-famous.
Over the next few decades, Ellington and his band traveled all over the world, performing for royalty and commoners alike. They appeared in numerous films and made hundreds of recordings. Ellington won numerous awards and honors during his lifetime, including 13 Grammy Awards and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He died in 1974 at the age of 75.
Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker was a jazz saxophonist and composer who was one of the most influential and successful musicians of his time. He is considered to be one of the founders of bebop, a style of jazz that was characterized by fast tempos, improvisation, and complex harmonic progressions.
His Life
Charlie Parker was an American jazz musician, composer, and bandleader. Parker was a highly influential saxophonist and is considered to be one of the greatest jazz musicians of all time. He pioneered the bebop style of jazz music in the 1940s and was a major influence on the development of cool jazz in the 1950s.
Parker was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and began playing the saxophone when he was just 11 years old. He played in various bands around Kansas City before moving to New York City in 1929. Parker struggled to find work as a musician in New York, but he continued to practice and hone his skills. In the early 1940s, he began to develop his own style of music, which came to be known as bebop.
Bebop was characterized by its fast tempo, complex harmonies, and innovative improvisation. Parker’sPlaying (1946) is considered to be one of the first bebop recordings. In the late 1940s, Parker formed his own group, the Charlie Parker Quintet, with which he recorded some of his most famous works, includingNow’s the Time (1947) and Confirmation (1947).
In 1955, Parker suffered a nervous breakdown and was hospitalized for several months. After his release, he struggled with drug addiction and mental health issues for the rest of his life. He died at the age of 34 in 1955.
His Music
Charles Parker, Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), also known as “Yardbird” and “Bird”, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Parker was a highly influential jazz soloist and a leading figure in the development of bebop, a form of jazz characterized by fast tempos, virtuosic technique and advanced harmonies. Parker was a blazingly fast virtuoso, and he introduced revolutionary harmonic ideas including rapid passing chords, new variants of altered chords and chord substitutions. His tone ranged from clean and penetrating to sweet and somber.
Parker acquired the nickname “Yardbird” early in his career; this was later shortened to “Bird”, which remained Parker’s sobriquet for the rest of his life. At 13, Parker began playing the saxophone in his school band. He attended Lincoln High School in September 1934, where he participated in Black student activist organizations for periods of time including leading a sit-in at an all-White Oakland movie theater. He quit high school on January 1, 1935.
In December 1939, Parker moved to New York City; he immediately joined Jay McShann’s band. The band toured throughout the eastern United States until it disbanded in Kansas City at the end of August 1942; Parker had already returned to New York several weeks before this date. During his time with Jay McShann’s band, they played bebop music composed by MCshann with rearrangements by alto saxophonist Hilton Jefferson; this was one of Parker’s first introductions to bebop music.
Miles Davis
Miles Davis was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th century music. Davis adopted a variety of musical styles throughout his career, which included bebop, hard bop, post-bop, modal jazz, and jazz fusion.
His Life
Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926 – September 28, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of musical styles throughout his career that encompassed a broad range of influences from European classical music to rock and roll.
Born and raised in Illinois, Davis left his studies at the Juilliard School in New York City after only one semester and joined Lee Morgan’s band in 1946. He gained a reputation as a talented artist but was also notorious for his erratic behavior on and off the bandstand. After a highly publicized arrest in 1949 for possession of heroin, he was condemned by the press but embraced by the jazz community. Over the next few years, Davis recorded for several different labels and with various personnel; but it was not until he assembled his celebrated quintet in 1955 that he achieved widespread recognition as a bandleader.
With saxophonist John Coltrane, pianist Red Garland, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Philly Joe Jones comprising his band at various points during its existence between 1955 and 1968, Davis led a series of groups that each earned critical acclaim as well as commercial success. In 1959–60, he recorded what many critics consider to be one of the greatest jazz albums ever made: Kind of Blue. This record sold over four million copies worldwide and established Davis’s reputation as an enigmatic genius who could effortlessly fuse elements of disparate styles into a uniquely fresh sonic whole. In subsequent years he explored an even more avant-garde approach with musicians such as Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter, developing what is now known as fusion jazz.
His Music
Miles Davis was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Davis was at the forefront of almost every major development in jazz from the 1940s to the 1980s. He played on various styles of jazz, including bebop, cool jazz, hard bop, modal jazz, and jazz fusion.
Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Monk was a jazz pianist and composer known for his unique style of playing. He was born in 1917 in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. Monk began playing the piano at the age of six and started to play professionally when he was in his teens. He moved to New York City in the early 1940s, where he quickly became a prominent figure in the jazz scene.
His Life
Thelonious Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer known for his unique style. He was born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, on October 11, 1917. In 1922, his family moved to New York City. Monk started playing piano at the age of six and soon began exploring the city’s jazz scene. He became a professional musician in the early 1940s, gigging with such legendary figures as Coleman Hawkins and Charlie Parker.
Monk made his recording debut as a leader in 1947. Over the next few years, he released a number of highly regarded albums, including Genius of Modern Music (1952) and Thelonious Monk Plays Duke Ellington (1955). In 1964, he recorded Big Band and Quartet in Concert, which won him a Grammy Award.
During his career, Monk composed such classics as “Round Midnight” and “Well You Needn’t.” He continued to perform and record until his untimely death from a stroke on February 17, 1982. Monk was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1993.
His Music
Thelonious Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer known for his distinctive style in which he often incorporated percussive attacks, angular melodic lines, and prepared piano techniques. A legendary figure in jazz, he first gained acclaim in the 1940s with his inventive piano solos and compositions such as “Round Midnight” and “Well, You Needn’t.” He went on to release a number of ground-breaking albums in the 1950s, including Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall (1957) and Brilliant Corners (1956), which is widely considered one of the greatest jazz albums of all time.
