... as Ragtime, Swing, Scat and BeBop. A New Orleans barber by the name of Buddy Bolden picked up his cornet and blew the first stammering notes of jazz in the year of eighteen ninety-one. A half-century later, jazz, Americas great contribution to music crossed the threshold of the universities ... , almost all of which have continued to this day. It was and still is sometimes played fast and shallow, with intentionally still rhythms on a piano. William Krell called "The Mississippi Rag" in eighteen ninety-seven published the first true ragtime composition. Tome Turpin was the first African...

• Word Count: 1576
• Approx Pages: 6

... a waste of money to pay for lessons that he had no interest in. Duke preferred music to ring, not be mechanical (Turkell 81). Duke's first attempt at jazz was imitation. J.P. Johnson, a ragtime pianist, had recorded "Carolina Shout-. Duke studied Johnson, imitating everything, from notes to even the smallest wrist movements ... . Once, at a club, Duke was called up to perform for Johnson. The final result was "Kid, you do it better than me."" (J.P. Johnson) (Turkell 83). After ... if Otto and Duke could come. In the end, Wilbur agreed, and they all came to Harlem (Turkell 86). Unfortunat...

• Word Count: 1581
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... is in reaction to bop that some people found to aggressive. This type of jazz used a lot of instrumentation: Trumpet; clarinet; trombone, sax, piano; guitar (usually), bass, drums. And sometimes horns. Swing rhythm is emphasised, with drums using ride cymbal and brushes extensively. Horns use the ... never made a complete return. The most popular instruments, however, have remained in full strength such as the saxophone, trumpet, trombone, bass, drums, piano and guitar. The have all been used in big band configuration, with each group of wind instruments forming a different section (as i...

• Word Count: 1230
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... saw his natural brass talent and talked him into playing the trumpet, saying he would have a better time, because the bugle can only do certain notes and the trumpet would allow him to play melodies. Roy started taking lessons from P. M. Williams. Until this point, his life had been fairly normal ... including the Elite Serenaders. The Elite Serenaders had a certain trumpet player by the name of Rex Stewart. Roy idoled Rex not only for his excellent playing, but for his persona as well. Roy would always try to imitate Rex's sound and style every time he played. Rex was Roy's first ... ...

• Word Count: 1124
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... , the correlation, between the lullaby sung by Zulu women, and the performance of blues singer, Bessie Smith, is striking in its similarity. Also, the African scale, which contains notes flatted on the 3rd, 7th, and sometimes 5th degrees, is directly translated into blues music, which also incorporates slides into its instrumental form. The inception of this particular singing style ... into the mainstream, blues was also being combined with another African influenced genre, ragtime, to create early jazz style in New Orleans. Primarily instrumental, ragtime was commonly performed on pia...

• Word Count: 1710
• Approx Pages: 7

... 23, 1926. John Coltrane was an only child. His father, John was a tailor who played the violin and ukulele, and his mother Alice played piano and sang in the church choir. This was a great environment to foster his love of music. Coltrane soon moved with his family to the town ... and this instilled in him a deep devotion in religion. At the age of twelve Coltrane received his first instrument, a clarinet, he played the clarinet for hours on end, that same year Coltrane's father died. A year after Coltrane's father died, his mother decided to move North to Atlantic City to ... off his...

• Word Count: 1847
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School