Music

= The Jazz Age =

Dancing to jazz was extremely popular in the 1920s. The Charleston was a widespread dance during this time. Characterized by its toes-in, heels-out twisting steps, it was performed as a solo, with a partner, or in a group. . In its early form the dance was highly abandoned and was performed to complex rhythms beaten out by foot stamps and handclaps. About 1920 professional dancers adopted the dance, and, after its appearance in the black musical Runnin' Wild 1923, it became a national craze. As a fashionable ballroom dance it lost some of the exuberance of the earlier version. Charleston music is in quick time with syncopated rhythms. In the basic step the knees are bent, then straightened, as the feet pivot in and out. Weight is shifted from one leg to another, the free leg being kicked out from the body at an oblique angle. The basic step is often interspersed with strenuous movements, such as forward and backward kicks while traveling forward. (“Charleston”)

Louis Armstrong began gaining fame and glory in 1922, when Armstrong was asked to play second cornet in Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band. The young Armstrong became popular through his ingenious ensemble lead and second cornet lines, his cornet duet passages with Oliver, and his solos. He recorded his first solos as a member of the Oliver band in such pieces as "Chimes Blues" and "Tears," which Lil and Louis Armstrong composed. Encouraged by his wife, Armstrong quit Oliver's band to seek further fame. He played for a year in New York City in Fletcher Henderson's band and on many recordings with others before returning to Chicago and playing in large orchestras. There he created his most important early works, the Armstrong Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings of 1925–28, on which he emerged as the first great jazz soloist. By then the New Orleans ensemble style, which allowed few solo opportunities, could no longer contain his explosive creativity. He retained vestiges of the style in such masterpieces as "Hotter than That," "Struttin' with Some Barbecue," "Wild Man Blues," and "Potato Head Blues" but largely abandoned it. (“Armstrong, Louis”) Louis Armstrong remains famous even today. One of his most famous works is “What a Wonderful World.” He is known as one of the greatest musicians of all time. media type="custom" key="7804537"

Josephine Baker, an American-born French dancer and singer who symbolized the beauty and vitality of black American culture, which took Paris by storm in the 1920s. Baker grew up fatherless and in poverty. As a child Baker developed a taste for the flamboyant that was later to make her famous. As an adolescent she became a dancer, touring at 16 with a dance troupe from Philadelphia. In 1923 she joined the chorus in a road company performing the musicalcomedy Shuffle Along and then moved to New York City, where she advanced steadily through the show Chocolate Dandies on Broadway and the floor show of the Plantation Club. In 1925 she went to Paris to dance at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in La Revue Nègre and introduced her danse sauvage to France. She went on to become one of the most popular music-hall entertainers in France and achieved star billing at the Folies-Bergère, where she created a sensation by dancing seminude in a G-string ornamented with bananas. (“Baker, Josephine”) She continued with her success for many more years. Josephine Baker was an inspiration to many black women in the 1920s.

Jelly Roll Morton is a well- known musician of the twenties. About 1917 he moved west to California, where he played in nightclubs until 1922. He made his recording debut in 1923, and from 1926 to 1930 he made, with a group called Morton's Red Hot Peppers, a series of recordings that gained him a national reputation. Morton's music was more formal than the early Dixieland jazz, though his arrangements only sketched parts and allowed for improvisation. (“Morton, Jelly Roll”) Today Morton is studied in history for being a part of the Harlem Renaissance. The Warner Brothers Pictures is highly known and has an impacting history.

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