The First Lady Of Jazz Song - Ella Fitzgerald
The “Jazz Age” was really effective to music during the 1920s. While jazz is an extraordinary style, its origin still had its cons. Although, if you enjoy jazz, you may enjoy a famous jazz singer named Ella Fitzgerald! Jazz has led music up to its finest.
Jazz, World’s Finest Music
Jazz is an extraordinary type of song. It includes various types of music. Jazz is a blend of gospel, brass, African American, blues, and Spanish. Jazz first began in New Orleans, Louisiana at the turn of the 20th century. It was mostly played by African Americans with combinations of several musical styles to create something new. They would mash together various music styles, for example, I can mash together gospel and blues and they would consider it jazz. All I have to do to make it jazz would be to emphasize the notes, that is called syncopation. Jazz was built on scatting and singing. Scatting started when Louis Armstrong was recording a song, Louis Armstrong started saying nonstop gibberish when his clumsy assistant dropped his lyrics.
Jazz was built on from blues, the traditional folk music of African Americans in the South. Jazz was also built on European music. The trumpet, trombone, clarinet, saxophone, and double bass are a part of the many different instruments that bring together jazz. When playing jazz, improvisation is key. This starts off with a melody or phrase, then just feeling the beat! There are many different types of jazz. There is Latin jazz, free jazz, jazz fusion, smooth jazz, acid jazz and jazz-folk! When playing jazz you can feel hep and get lots of bread if you are chops.
The First Lady Of Song
Ella Fitzgerald was referred to as the Queen of Jazz and Lady Ella. She was known for her soul in her tone, admirable choice of lyrics, and her adoring scat singing. She was an immensely adored American Jazz singer and vocalist who reinterpreted so many songs of the Great American Songbook.
Ella Fitzgerald had a troubling childhood and appeared and let her singing at the Apollo Theater in 1934 do the rest.. In a beginner contest for singing, she became a well-known singer for years. In the year 1958, Ella made luxury and fame as the first female African-American to win a Grammy Award. She would go on to earn 13 Grammy Awards and sell more than 40 million albums. Her multi-volume “songbooks” on Verve Records are among the most held onto recordings in America.
Born on April 25, 1917, in Newport News, Virginia she became a common-law marriage with William Fitzgerald and Temperance “Tempie” Williams Fitzgerald. Ella’s parents divorced soon after her birth. She was hurt and built without both parents.
With her parent, Ella moved to Yonkers, New York. They are housed with her mother’s boyfriend. Joseph Da Silva. The family grew in 1923 with the birth of Ella’s half-sister Frances. With their family struggling economically, Ella helped her family by becoming a messenger “running numbers” and acting as a lookout for a bordello. Her fantasy career was to become a dancer.
After her mother died in 1932, Ella later moved in with and aunt. Since she was starting to skip school, she was sent to a special reform school but didn’t last long. By 1934, Ella was trying to make a livelihood and mostly slept on the streets. She still dreamt to become her dream career, a dancer. So, she enrolled into an amateur contest at Harlem’s Apollo Theater.
The unexpected performance was amazing. This contest helped her later on. Soon, she found a bandleader and drummer, Chick Webb and one day joined his group. With a side project, Ella grew and grew. With over 40 million albums sold, she got the nickname The First Lady of Jazz, The First Lady of Swing, Lady Ella, Queen of Jazz, First Lady of Song. With these selling albums and nicknames, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Ronald Reagan. These were all successful parts of her lifetime.
Although, Ella suffered from diabetes. She battled many different health issues. She had heart surgery in 1986. This disease left her blind, and her legs were severed in 1994. She made her last recording in 1989 and she made her last appearance to the public in 1991 at New York’s Carnegie Hall. Sadly, Ella Fitzgerald died in her home, in Beverly Hills. Ella has accomplished many things, she recorded more than 200 albums and 2,000 songs in her time. All of her sales records equal 40 million. She also received 13 Grammy Awards, the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Thereafter her death, the United States Postal Office made a memorial stamp to celebrate her 90th-anniversary brith. After all, Ella has done for us, she has been a privilege to be an entertainer for us.
The Beginning of Jazz
Jazz is the reason why what we listen to now. It brought unique styles to music and it was creative. Jazz advanced in the end of the 19th century from African American work songs, field shouts of hollers, sad songs, hymns and spiritual songs. Jazz first emerged in the African American cultures of New Orleans from the mixed influences of ragtime (syncopated rhythm songs), blues, and the band music played at funerals. The term jazz came in March 1913. Jazz was spread around by King George (1885-1938) and his Creole Jazz Band and Jelly Roll Morton (1890-1941), jazz first became popular in illegal nightclubs. Jazz evolved simultaneously in the 1920s, it was performed by black and white ensembles and orchestras. As it grew from its Dixieland forms, jazz ranged from hot jazz of Louis Armstrong to symphonic jazz of Paul Whiteman’s band.
Live jazz performances and booming recordings increased the jazz fandom, as did prohibition, which made the nightlife more fashionable. Involved with nightclubs and nightlife, jazz was attractively unique in both the United States and Europe. Popular jazz bands traveled widely playing at gigs and venues from dance halls and nightclubs to restaurants.
The Great Depression although took over on small and less successful jazz bands. With swing music, white jazz bands had bigger audiences while the black bands had a less successful time. In addition, the Jim Crow segregation kept black orchestras from white orchestras. This led the black orchestras to go to Europe where they were welcomed.
Jazz in the future began to pick up new styles, free jazz, soul jazz, jazz-rock fusion and many more. People started to claim jazz as a black musical tradition. As it has throughout history, jazz continues to find talented musicians who redefine jazz or add new styles! Jazz is interpreted around the world by all types of musicians.
The End of the Measure
As you can see, jazz brought together our music today. The origin, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong are all a part of the many reasons why jazz is here today. Jazz was interpreted many times. Each part had a reason to happen. Jazz is introduced to many people every day and it is being found by talented artists. Without jazz, we would not be listening to what we listen to now and we will surely be listening to classical music.
