Essays on Billie Holiday

Robert Hayden was a significant African American poet and essayist. His poetry fell under the influence of different writers from different literary movements, among them are Hughes, Keats, Dunbar, Yeats, that makes it difficult to refer him to one particular writing style or movement. Hayden belongs to the literary period of 1965 – the time when African American writings moved from the margins of American literature to its center, bringing new writing styles and techniques. It is for sure that Hayden’s poems are striking and full of feelings and emotions that are conveyed to the reader through the range ...

Jazz is a unique style of music that took development in America during the early 20th century. It made a widespread popularity particularly in the urban areas such as New Orleans, and it served as a social-leveler and unifier. Melding both black and white citizens, Jazz became the basis for social dance music and the provided the early opportunities for public integration (“Jazz”, Encyclopedia.com). The music also helped stir up the national mood particularly during the Depression and the Second World War. The most remarkable period of the development of jazz is during the 1940s and 50s. During those times, social issues ...

Describe how bebop developed, became the major modern movement in jazz around the time of the decline of big bands, and how bebop fragmented into the styles of cool and hard bop. Provide your opinion as to what role African-American innovation, in reaction to mainstream tastes in the U.S., played in these developments, if at all. Use specific examples of major figures and stylistic developments.

Bebop – an introduction

Bepop began as a style of jazz which had a fast tempo and improvisation as its main facets and began to surface in the early years of the Second World War. This period of style was ...

Strange Fruit song was originally written by a white Jewish teacher named Abel Meeropol in 1937 as a poem. Abel wrote it as an objection against lynching of the blacks (Smith,1944). It was later recorded as a jazz song in 1939 by Billie Holiday. Billie Holiday’s original name was Eleanor Fagan and was born on April 7, 1915. The song has been performed by many artists and translated in many novels, poems as well as many creative works. The Strange Fruit song was listed among the Songs of the Century by the National Endowment of Arts and the Recording Industry ...

In his article, “The Gal Yippers Have No Place In Our Jazz Bands.” (Down Beat 15 October 1939), Ted Toll is at pains to point out that a good jazz vocalist should not be simply based exclusively on the sex. He is scathing of women due to the fact that he believes they are too artificial and this perhaps reflects the attitude which was prevalent in the time regarding women – one has to remember that this was 1939 and women were treated as quite less than important in those days. However the main thrust of Toll’s article seems ...

Ted opens his article by reminding readers that there is already proliferation of good jazz than the public can consume. He calls this scenario the ‘abundance of the right stuff’. This opening remark is supposedly meant to convince a reader that jazz is not in any way in disarray that a knee-jerk experimentation is necessary. It serves as a foundation to his scathing article about the increasing involvement of lovely women in the business. He begins right away by a reference to a hypothetical humorous wince of the boys at the sound of a ‘young lovelies chirp’. But it doesn’t stop there, Ted talks ...

Women have made immense contributions in the development of man throughout history more than it is acknowledged. It is vital to appreciate their accomplishments despite the challenges they faced. Historical literature has always been written subjectively making it hard to trace accomplishments of significant women. The search for women in jazz prior to 1945 is not an exception. The search is a painful experience but worth its reward. The history and development of jazz music has been attributed to a significant extent to men. Most texts name Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong as the pioneers of jazz music. However, this paper ...

Education is the process of gaining information and adding value to one self. Education relates to acquiring skills, succeeding in academics and discipline. The learning process starts once a person is born. An individual starts to learn from the environment and especially the people around them specifically the parents (Margeret, 36). Education is important in that it helps an individual to gain knowledge that can help in ensuring success in life. Many people define education is terms of academics only which is wrong. This research paper will discuss the essay by Lillian smith ‘when I was a child’ in relation to ...