As good old Mr. Sinatra said, “If I can make it here, I can make it anywhere.” Francis Albert Sinatra was born on December 12, 1915 in Hoboken, New Jersey. He was the only child of Sicilian immigrants who moved to the states to make a better life for their family. At a young age Sinatra loved music and was influenced by many of the artist of his time such as Bing Crosby and Billie Holiday. As a teenager, he dropped out of high school and began to sing at local night clubs. Radio exposure brought him to the attention of bandleader Harry James, with whom Sinatra made his first recordings, including "All or Nothing at All."
John Coltrane, born 23 September 1926 in a small town in North Carolina, was a dedicated and talented jazz musician. Apart from playing musical instruments and composing new tunes, John served his country by performing in the U. S. Navy Band during WWII. After the war, he became a popular tenor saxophonist. It was his involvement with Jimmy Heath when his passion for experimentation grew, which then lead to performances with Miles Davis, which, in his opinion, was the time when he evolved the most. In 1967, at the age of 41, he was diagnosed with a liver disease and died thereof soon after.
By 1920, Armstrong had left New Orleans. He first played professionally in St. Louis, and then joined his idol’s (Joe Oliver) Jazz Band in Chicago. He became very popular amongst the jazz musicians due to his different style: it was very improvisational (Rarely the same thing over and over again). As the music styles began to change away from jazz, Armstrong mixed bebop, jazz, etc. together.
In his childhood, Mozart’s father often brought his only son and daughter touring around Europe to perform in courts and for nobility, and this greatly broadened Mozart’s vision and also built up a foundation for his music career later on. In his later years, he composed over six hundred compositions including concertos, symphonies, sonatas, chamber music and operas which earned him a great acclaim. In 1791, four years after his father’s death, Mozart died of military fever and ended his short but prolific musical life. (Henley, 2005) The term “Mozart effect” originated in 1993 at the University of California, Irvine, when physicist Gordon Shaw and cognitive development expert Frances Rauscher did an experiment on a few dozen college students for measuring spatial IQ. They found that students who listened to 10 minutes of Mozart’s K448 piano sonata had scored 8 to 9 points higher than the other two groups of students either listening to a tape of relaxation instructions or sitting in silence.
Swing vs Bebop The closest thing to jazz was Bebop. Bebop went through its heyday from 1940 to 1955. The birth of bebop coincided with World War II. The war had a great affect on many parts of the entertainment world. The draft removed men from swing scene which meant there were fewer people to play in the bands.
People are drawn to popular music because they find it musically comfortable and familiar. Most Western pop songs follow the same I-vi-IV-V chord progression, or a slight variation of it. (Scott) This chord progression is also known as the “50’s Progression”. The progression obtained this name because it was made popular in the 1950s by many different music groups. It began as the backing for doo-wop and was then picked up by early rock-and-roll groups which brought the progression to center-stage.
Mentioning the name John Coltrane to the most casual jazz fan can most likely arouse a deep emotional feeling and a shout of some of his most famous music. John Coltrane was indeed a Jazz legend. He was pronounced during the Progressive era and people have known him ever since. In his album My Favorite Things, you will hear him on tenor and soprano saxes along with McCoy Tyner on the piano, Steve Davis on bass and Elvin Jones on drums. The track includes four of some of his most famous tunes, My Favorite Things, Everytime We Say Goodbye, Summertime, and But Not for Me.
Indeed, that was the case with my Father, whose famous line after seeing them on the Ed Sullivan Variety Show was, “They will never last”. Of course, I had to laugh a few years later when I heard my Dad humming the song “Michelle” by The Beatles. Needless to say, both have survived the passage of time, and their music has endured. Though there are many differences in the creative lives of The Beatles and Mozart, when compared, even the most ardent music fan would be surprised to learn of the similarities that they also share. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was one of the most innovative musical composers and performers of his time.
Brass bands enlivened military units on the parade ground and accompanied civilian couples on the dance floor. When politicians launched their campaigns they hired bands to punctuate their promises. And when the circus came to town, it was the band that made the first announcement with ringing brass and at showtime was on hand to accompany the daring acts with During this time brass bands were mostly civilian and every town had one. It would have been difficult to avoid band music in the nineteenth century in America. “There is nothing that rouses the universal enthusiasm of everybody as does a spirited band,” claimed the Wurlitzer Instrument Company in what was a true observation as well as a business ploy.
Their concerts were scenes of mass worship, and their records sold in the millions. Their first film, the innovative A Hard Day's Night (1964), was received enthusiastically by a wide audience that included many who had never before listened to rock music. Composing their own material (Lennon and McCartney were the major creative forces), The Beatles established the precedent for other rock groups to play their own music. Experimenting with new musical forms, they produced an extraordinary variety of songs: the childishly simple "Yellow Submarine"; the bitter social commentary of "Eleanor Rigby"; parodies of earlier pop styles; new electronic sounds; and compositions that were scored for