Blues People By Leroi Jones - 1773 Words

In his seminal book, Blues People, Leroi Jones (AKA Amiri Baraka) indicated that at any given time in history you can tell exactly what’s going on in the African American community by listening to their music. This observation was written back 1963 when Black music was still subject to the musicians who drew their much of their inspiration from their life experiences, creating soul-stirring music that connected their listeners on various levels. On a visceral level, music served as a form of primal therapy that allowed the African American community (particularly the poor and working class element of the community) a much needed chance to relieve the stress of living in a world hostile to their existence. On a cerebral level, Black music was a form of communication connecting various groups of people to one another and re-affirming their life-experiences by telling their story through notes, vocal intonations that produce a catharsis. In a sense, the music becomes the audience ’s ultimate witness I and lyrics that bared witness to our plight in the emotional court of human drama. As the music industry began to see huge profits in the 1970s, it changed the way the music business operated by taking on a corporate outlook. In the early days, a good number of record execs and A R reps had a genuine passion for music despite the fact that they were exploiting the musician and by extension the African American community as a whole. Not anymore. As the music industry becameShow MoreRelatedEssay about Jazz and Culture1460 Words   |  6 Pagesthat suggests that talking about music is like dancing about literature. What words are sufficient to explain your favorite album to a person who cannot hear? There are none. James Baldwin, in his story â€Å"Sonny’s Blues,† does as well as anyone can: â€Å"Creole began to tell us what the blues were all about. They were not about anything very new. He and his boys up there were keeping it new, at the risk of ruin, destruction, madness, and death, in order to find new ways to make us listen. For, whileRe ad MoreEssay on Ragtime and Blues Influence on Jazz1377 Words   |  6 PagesAra Cho Ethno 50A 803-672-412 October 14, 2011 Seeing Ragtime and Blues as Parents of Jazz Jazz is a music genre that has complex characteristics and history of development and thus many musicians and scholars face troubles in defining what jazz is. In general, jazz is believed to have born in New Orleans. Jazz developed for the pleasure of the social dancers. According to the â€Å"Understanding Jazz: What Is Jazz?† of John F. Kennedy center for the Performing Arts, Jazz was created mainlyRead MoreThe Nile River Essay1578 Words   |  7 PagesThe tributary in the east, the Blue Nile, begins from Lake Tana in Ethiopia and the tributary in the west, the White Nile, begins in Uganda. Both travel hundreds of miles until they reach their confluence in Khartoum, Sudan, where they merge into the mighty Nile River. Similar to this idea of two smaller distinct rivers forming one larger and more recognizable one is the relationship between the local and the global in African-American history. Just as the White and Blue Niles come together to formRead MoreEssay about Histo ry of Rock and Roll1285 Words   |  6 Pages  Chapter  2:  In  the  early  days  of  radio,  blues  and  jazz  received  way  more  radio  airplay  than  country  music.   Student  response: Percent Value Student Response Answer   Choices a. True 100.0% b. False   Score: Question  3   1  /  1     (1  point) Rockin’  Out  Supplemental  Reading  1,  519 ­526  (Halberstam  on  McCarthy.)  In  1950,  Senator  Joseph  McCarthy   became  infamous  for  instigating  this  Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ¢â‚¬Ëœfour ­year  spree  of  accusations,  charges  and  threats’‘  that  would  ruin  the   careers  of  many  people  in  politics  and  show  businessRead MoreThe Blues : A Very Short Introduction Essay1689 Words   |  7 Pagesmusic enthusiasts or even music novices such as myself think of the blues, thoughts of hardship, adversity, and regret rush to mind. An individual loses his or her job, they get the blues. A close relative passes away, you feel the blues. Indeed, blues music is all too often associated with trials and tribulations. Yet, the blues itself seemingly encompasses much more than simply a sense of misery and unhappiness. Rather, the blues more so embodies overcoming hardship, moving past adversity, hopingRead More 1960-19701279 Words   |  6 Pageswas called psychedelic. Bob Dylan, the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane among others were the first bands to jump into the psychedelic bandwagon in the sixties. In 1969, Woodstock, a music festival full of peace and happiness united over 450,000 people, causing numerous problems for the crowd. In 1960, John F. Kennedy was elected president. But Kennedy’s term came to a short and devastating end. On November 22, 1963 President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas and Lyndon JohnsonRead MoreThe History of Rock and Roll: Copyright Not Included2811 Words   |  12 Pagesartists, specifically in the arena of rock and roll. It is widely accepted that rock music has its roots in the american blues. The history of the blues dates all the way back to slave plantations. This genre comes specifically from African-American folk music. Julio Finn the author of The Bluesman stated that: [White blues performers] can never be bluespeople...because the blues is not something they live but something they do- which makes all the difference in the world. What distinguishes theRead MoreThe Bluest Eye By Toni Morrison1838 Words   |  8 Pagesthe works of literary critics, which I will continually refer to throughout this essay. Sex, power and violence are firstly intersected in the novel through Morrison’s use of ostensibly innocent contemporary American culture images, such as Freida’s ‘blue-and-white Shirley Temple cup’ and the ‘little Mary Jane’ candies that Pecola purchases. Debra T. 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The first jazz album, Chicago Jazz (1939), consisted of six 78s bound in an album whose yellow cover bore simple blue designs and drawings of the musicians at the edges; producer George Avakian (who at the time was an undergraduate at Yale), wrote the enclosed booklet. The new pictorial albums came about because of several factors.(3) As the U.S. recovered