1 Currently active as a residual style Swing was tremendously popular in the United States reigning from 1934 1945 Historical economic political social and musical events during the early 1940s worked to bring down this giant Explain how specific occurrences and their cumulative effects during that period brought an end to the dominance of swing Among many factors that brought an end to the swing era was World War II Although its popularity remained strong with the soldiers and sailors abroad bands were broken due to the draft This left remaining band members at the will of hiring unskilled performers Unskilled performers translated to a decrease in musicality Another factor can be attributed to the Musician Union which went on strike in 1942 and did not reach an agreement until 1943 However the two most popular recording companies didn t reach their agreements until 1944 Thus it was nearly two years since any swing recordings were published An additional factor was the cabaret tax in 1941 causing an increase of 30 on ticket sales This meant that bands that were hired must be smaller and cheaper to accommodate this increase swing bands had trouble adjusting to this Bebop started becoming more popular as did rhythm and blues As World War II and the Great Depression came to an end people did not want to be reminded of either With the bad memories and bad emotions that swing music brought back to mind people simply stopped listening With that the Swing era was dead 2 Since young Miles Davis embarked on his musical journey in the 1940s he was destined to lead the course of jazz music Provide a jazz genealogy of Miles Davis in essay form include memorable associations collaborations with other musicians Discuss Davis most notable contributions including his landmark LP s explaining how his ideas innovations shaped jazz A jazz trumpeter composer and small band leader Miles Davis was a leading jazz musician for more than two decades His life began on May 26 1926 in Alton Illinois He moved to New York City in 1944 studying classical music by day and gaining jazz experience by night in bebop alongside notable musicians such as Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie Later he began playing with more melodic jazz techniques which marked his musicianship transition to the cool Early in the 1950s he became a heroin addict after battling his addiction he reached his apex towards the end of the decade He formed a quintet with John Coltrane and others which became one of the dominant groups in the history of jazz Davis was an innovator a man who changed the course of jazz partly due to his experience with prejudice and oppression growing up a young black musician Similarly these incidents of discrimination drove Davis into a funk which defied all traditional ideas of music and represented defiance of the black community to race expected roles It was during the course of Davis life that jazz started to stand less for the racially expected genre of African Americans and more of a power of strength and power Perhaps his most notable contribution was his collaboration on Bitches Brew a two LP that sold over 400 000 copies 3 Consider three major course themes listed below within American society and jazz music in particular Choose just two of the themes and provide three specific examples of each You may use material from the entire length of the course when people move they take their music with them music reflects society the young generation wants a musical identity for themselves
View Full Document