MUSIC Compare and contrast the following selections. The Duke Ellington piece is

Question

MUSIC

Compare and contrast the following selections. The Duke Ellington piece is from the “swing” era in jazz, while the piece featuring Charlie “Bird” Parker and Dizzy Gillespie is in the bebop style. What differences do you hear? What similarities are there between the styles? Which would you prefer to listen to? Should be at least 150 words.

Duke Ellington: C Jam Blues

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Md7v5Ycgkkc

Charlie “Bird” Parker and Dizzy Gillespie: Hot House

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFFfoLhxgmI

Explanation / Answer

For nearly the first half of the twentieth century, from about 1915 to 1955, jazz was the dominant form of popular dance music in the United States. Dance music and dance bands existed before jazz and, after the rise of jazz, there were still many dance bands that did not play jazz or used jazz elements only sparingly. And although for a certain period of its existence, jazz was dance music, jazz musicians were probably not attracted to this style of music primarily for this reason. From its earliest days, jazz seemed to have been music that, in part, musicians played for themselves, as a way to free themselves from the rigidity of standard dance or marching bands or other forms of commercial or popular music, which they found repetitive and unchallenging to play. Dissatisfaction with the commercialization and familiarity of swing led to the development of jazz, music that was more than mere entertainment. Jazz inspired writers and visual artists but was hated by the bourgeoisie largely because of its association with sex and drugs. Jazz became prominent during a period of broad artistic and political ferment among African Americans. Considered the devil's music by many middle class blacks, jazz had little literary influence in the 1920s and 30s. Jazz was compatible with African American protest in the 1960s.

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American composer, pianist, and bandleader of a jazz orchestra, which he led from 1923 until his death in a career spanning over fifty years. Born in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based in New York City from the mid-1920s onward, and gained a national profile through his orchestra's appearances at the Cotton Club in Harlem. In the 1930s, his orchestra toured in Europe. Though widely considered to have been a pivotal figure in the history of jazz, Ellington embraced the phrase "beyond category" as a liberating principle, and referred to his music as part of the more general category of American Music, rather than to a musical genre such as jazz. Some of the musicians who were members of Ellington's orchestra, such as saxophonist Johnny Hodges, are considered to be among the best players in jazz. Ellington melded them into the best-known orchestral unit in the history of jazz. Often collaborating with others, Ellington wrote more than one thousand compositions; his extensive body of work is the largest recorded personal jazz legacy, with many of his works having become standards. Ellington also recorded songs written by his bandsmen, for example Juan Tizol's "Caravan", and "Perdido", which brought a Spanish tinge to big band jazz. Ellington recorded for most American record companies of his era, performed in several films, scoring several, and composed stage musicals. Due to his inventive use of the orchestra, or big band, and thanks to his eloquence and charisma, Ellington is generally considered to have elevated the perception of jazz to an art form on a par with other more traditional musical genres. His reputation continued to rise after he died, and he was awarded a special posthumous Pulitzer Prize for music in 1999.

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