Tuesday 16 June 2009
Monday 15 June 2009
Louis Armstrong -part 1
An imcomprable figure in the history of jazz, Armstrong played wit an unprecedented virtuosity and bravura. In the early 1920s, he shifted the emphasis of jazz from ensemble playing to a soloist's art form, while setting new standards for trumpeters worldwide.
The sheer brilliance of his playing is best exemplified by his epochal masterworks from the 1920s, such as "Potato Head blues,", "West And Blues", "Hotter than that", "TIght like this", "Cornet Chop Suey" and"Weather Bird"- all marked by a passionate, robust attack , dramatic, slashing breaks and a remarkable flexibility and range.As Miles Davis put it "You can;t play anything on your horn that Louis hasn't already played".
Born in New Orleans on 4 august 1901, Armstrong began playing cornet after being sent to the Colored Waif;s Home in 1913.Nicknamed "Dippermouth" or "Satchelmouth" because of this wide, toothy grin, Armstrong came up playing in parade bands, in bars around Storyville and on steamboad excursion with Fate Marable. In late 1918, he replaced his mentor King Oliver in Kid Ory's band and honed his skills in that outfit for the next few years. On 8 august 1922, Armstrong joined King oliver Creole Jazz band in Chicago, where he caused an immediate stir at Lincoln Gardens. Louis made his recording devut on 6 april 1923(soloing" Chimes Blues"); he remained with Olivers's band throuhout that year before moving to New york in early 1924 to join Fletcher Hendersn's band during its residency at the Roseland Ballroom.
The sheer brilliance of his playing is best exemplified by his epochal masterworks from the 1920s, such as "Potato Head blues,", "West And Blues", "Hotter than that", "TIght like this", "Cornet Chop Suey" and"Weather Bird"- all marked by a passionate, robust attack , dramatic, slashing breaks and a remarkable flexibility and range.As Miles Davis put it "You can;t play anything on your horn that Louis hasn't already played".
Born in New Orleans on 4 august 1901, Armstrong began playing cornet after being sent to the Colored Waif;s Home in 1913.Nicknamed "Dippermouth" or "Satchelmouth" because of this wide, toothy grin, Armstrong came up playing in parade bands, in bars around Storyville and on steamboad excursion with Fate Marable. In late 1918, he replaced his mentor King Oliver in Kid Ory's band and honed his skills in that outfit for the next few years. On 8 august 1922, Armstrong joined King oliver Creole Jazz band in Chicago, where he caused an immediate stir at Lincoln Gardens. Louis made his recording devut on 6 april 1923(soloing" Chimes Blues"); he remained with Olivers's band throuhout that year before moving to New york in early 1924 to join Fletcher Hendersn's band during its residency at the Roseland Ballroom.
The Jazz Age begins
Chicago held the promise of a new life for the southern black population, which left behind the cotton fields for the blast furnaces, factories and slaughterhouses of the big northern cities. It was also an attractive destination for working jazz musicians , many of whom worked in the gangster-owned speakeasies created in reaction to the Volstead Act of 1919 outlawing the manufacture and sale of alcohol.
What followed was the "Roaring Twenties", a decade marked by a new vitality in the wake of the First Wold War and underscored by a prevailing air of good times, in spite of the repressive era of Prohibition.The Jazz Age was a time when young people sought illegal booze and hot music.
In Chicago, jaz matured at the hands of it's finest composers and practitioners, including, Bechet, Ory, Oliver, Morton, Louis Amstrong and others who held forth on the city's predominantly black jazz lovers could choose between the Lincoln Gardens, Pekin Inn, Dreamland Ballroom, Plantation Cafe, Sunset Cafe and other spots where hot jazz flowed nightly. It was in this black neighbourhoud that the young, white jazz seeking teenagers who attented Austin High School on Chicago's white, middle-class West Side congregated to hear King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, featuring Louis Armstrong and Johnny Dodds (1892- 1940).By the 1923, Chicago had become the centre of the jazz universe.
What followed was the "Roaring Twenties", a decade marked by a new vitality in the wake of the First Wold War and underscored by a prevailing air of good times, in spite of the repressive era of Prohibition.The Jazz Age was a time when young people sought illegal booze and hot music.
In Chicago, jaz matured at the hands of it's finest composers and practitioners, including, Bechet, Ory, Oliver, Morton, Louis Amstrong and others who held forth on the city's predominantly black jazz lovers could choose between the Lincoln Gardens, Pekin Inn, Dreamland Ballroom, Plantation Cafe, Sunset Cafe and other spots where hot jazz flowed nightly. It was in this black neighbourhoud that the young, white jazz seeking teenagers who attented Austin High School on Chicago's white, middle-class West Side congregated to hear King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, featuring Louis Armstrong and Johnny Dodds (1892- 1940).By the 1923, Chicago had become the centre of the jazz universe.
Sunday 14 June 2009
From crescent City to Windy city
In the 1920s, with many seminal jazz figures migrating north, the music's epicentre shifted from its birthplace in New Orleans to Chicago.One of the events that causes this mass exodus of pioneering musicians from the Crescent City was the official closing of Storyville, the city's red light district, in 1917.
"Chicago was really jumping around that time[1923].The dreamland was in full bloom.the lincon Gardens, of course, wass still in there.The plantation was another hot spot at that time. But the sunset, my boss'place , was the sharpest of them all, believe that" (Louis Armstrong)
"Chicago was really jumping around that time[1923].The dreamland was in full bloom.the lincon Gardens, of course, wass still in there.The plantation was another hot spot at that time. But the sunset, my boss'place , was the sharpest of them all, believe that" (Louis Armstrong)
The twenties
The Roaring twenties, or Jazz age, was a time of great economic prosperity and extravagance in America. Consumerism reigned and an increasing number of people had access to cars and other luxury goods.Advances in recording technology and the rise of the radio brought the music of the day into people's homes.
Jazz enjoyed widespread popularity and its artists became major stars.The rise of Hollywood and Tin pan Alley added to the sense of glamour and excitement, and to the general feeling that America was several pacea ahead of the rest of the world.
The great migration of laboureers from the South to the northern cities, in search of better wages and new beginnings, reached its peak. This further enabled the absorption nof African American music genres into the mainstream, as migrants brought with them the sounds of their homelands.
Jazz enjoyed widespread popularity and its artists became major stars.The rise of Hollywood and Tin pan Alley added to the sense of glamour and excitement, and to the general feeling that America was several pacea ahead of the rest of the world.
The great migration of laboureers from the South to the northern cities, in search of better wages and new beginnings, reached its peak. This further enabled the absorption nof African American music genres into the mainstream, as migrants brought with them the sounds of their homelands.
Saturday 13 June 2009
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