What Did Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington Have in Common: Essay

The music industry had a major impact on some of the people in the music of World War I and World War II. Music allowed people to forget about wars and troubled times, even for a short time. The types of genres that appeared between world war I and World war II were Jazz, Swing, and Blues mainly, and the artists that came up on top were people like: Bill Murray, Irving Berlin, Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith, Duke Ellington, Bing Cosby, and Glen Miller.

World war I started in 1914 and didn’t end till 1918. It was a time when countries fought against one another, for example, Germany, Austria- Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire fought against Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Romania, Japan, and the United States. During the years 1914- 1918 which was called the prewar years, the music industry was marked by then as the ragtime era which started in early 1890- and ended in the late 1910s. During WWI, ragtime music Lyrics were usually based on the war being used as popular anthems for the day. From 1917-1919, the music turned from protest songs to patriotic odes. Songs like: “Over There” written by William Murray, and “Oh how I hate to get up in the Morning” written by Irving Berlin.

A little background about Bill Murray or his Real name William Thomas Murray was born on May 25, 1877, in Philadelphia, this was the same year Thomas Edison invented the phonograph. Murray was the second youngest of five children to Irish Immigrant parents, who worked hard to support all their children. Mr. Murray spent most of his childhood in Denver, Colorado.

Where he got his first glance at the entertainment business at the age of 13. At the age of 16, he got his chance to join Harry Leavitt's High Rollers as an actor and afterward sang in venues like Vaudeville as an example. As his popularity grew, his style of music changed from comedy songs to ethnic dialects and finally crooning with songs outselling any other artist. He earned the name “The Denver Knighting gale.” What are some of these styles? Ethnic dialects are one style that Mr. Murray used, which just means his music spoke to most people. Crooning on the other hand is a kind of hum or a low pitch sound used when spoken or sung.

Moving on to Irving Berlin, he was born on May 11, 1888, in Temin, Russia. One of eight children, his family immigrated from Tolochin, Byelorussia to New York in 1893. After his father died, at age 13 Irving worked odd jobs that involved singing on the streets for pennies or being a singing waiter in Chinatown. Then In 1907, at the age of 19, he published his first song called “Marie from Sunny Italy, and by 1911 at age 23 he scored his first International hit “Alexander Ragtime Band.” He was part of Tin Pan Alley and was often cited as the most productive, varied, and creative of the group. It was said that he produced 3 to 7 songs each week, some of which are still heard and used to this very day. Some known songs that are still played today are God Bless America, White Christmas, Blue skies, and Cheek to cheek. Certain Broadway and musical hits are like: The Girl that I Marry, Doin what comes naturally, and There’s no Business-like show business. He was known to be the most consistent out of the Tin Pan Alley composers, with his active songwriting career spanning almost 60 years.

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While WWI was called the pre-war era world war II was called the postwar era, which between WWI and WWII was a 21-year gap. The events that took place between these two wars took hold the Music Industry by storm. A year after WWI ended, the year 1919, a musician came into the spotlight by the name of Louis Armstrong. He was one of the greatest trumpeters of the Jazz era, because of his love for jazz from listening to and drawing different styles from other cornet and trumpet players such as Bunk Johnson, Freddie Keppard, and his mentor Joe “King” Oliver. Joe Oliver helped Louis Armstrong develop his strong musical sensitivity and knowledge of harmony and counter-harmony, which helped him in becoming a success and by becoming the best-known black musician in the world.

Louis Armstrong didn’t start off successful or with a loving family, quite the opposite. Mr. Armstrong was born on August 4, 1901, in New Orleans, Louisiana, in a poor neighborhood nicknamed the Battlefield. He had a tough childhood with his father working as a factory worker, would he would then leave the family after someone in the family died. His mother would later turn to prostitution and young Armstrong dropped out of the fifth grade as an obligation to support his family. Young Armstrong was given a job collecting junk and delivering coal by a local Jewish family named the Karnofskys, who encouraged him to sing. That I think was the start of young Armstrong thinking big about his future, and by that encouragement, Young Armstrong became the best-known black musician anyone has ever heard.

The next artist that appeared almost 4 years in 1924, after Louis Armstrong paved the way for those who had the same passion to make music was a female artist named Bessie Smith. She had a voice that was raw, mellow, and authentic. That is one of the many reasons she was known as “Queen of the Blues” with her first ever song “Down Hearted Blues,” becoming a grand success very quickly. In 1925, Bessie Smith worked with a songwriter by name of W.C. Handy, who wrote a blues song called “St. Louis Blues.” With the help of W.C. Handy’s composition of St. Louis Blues and Bessie Smith’s interpretation of it put together gave a kind of soulful feel that no one hears anymore in this modern world.

A little history on the childhood of Ms. Bessie Smith, and how she got started in singing. Ms. Bessie Smith was born on April 15, 1894, in Chattanooga Tennessee. She was one of seven children with her father a Baptist minister (who later died soon after her birth) and her mom at home to take care of the children. In 1906, a tragic accident took the lives of her mother and two brothers, leaving Bessie at age 12 and her five remaining siblings to live with their aunt. At age 18 (the year 1912), Ms. Smith would start working as a dancer in 2 minstrel shows. In one of the two Minstrel shows, a blues vocalist by the name of Ma Rainey would inspire young Ms. Smith gradually into the music world. At age 29, she would then be discovered by someone from Columbia Records and made her first song recordings.

Benny Goodman also called “The King of Swing” was a young jazz clarinetist who led a small dance band. He made his first records as a freelance musician during hard times and was later recognized by a person named John Hammond, who was an influential jazz enthusiast and promotor who also helped other jazz and swing musicians like Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Count Basie, Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, and Bruce Springsteen in signing recording contracts with Columbia Records.

The final artist that was made famous in 1927 was a person by the name of Duke Ellington. He was not only a band leader and an instrumentalist but also had a creative side to writing music. Duke Ellington had the vision to explore textures, colors, and moods, and absorb and extend the creative gifts of his musicians. In 1932 Duke Ellington writes “it Don’t Mean A thing If it ain’t Got the Swing,” which is actually very popular at the time and still one of my favorite songs. He thought outside the box, and racial prejudice took hold of Famous Musicians like Duke Ellington, making it impossible for him to rise to expectations.