Jazz and Popular Music
Composer Biographies
George Gershwin
Born: September 26, 1898. Brooklyn, New York
Died: July 11, 1937. Hollywood, California
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American composer and pianist. One of the first composers to successfully integrate jazz and popular styles into the classical repertoire. With his brother, lyricist Ira Gershwin, he was one of the most successful composers of popular songs and stage works.
In the 1910s and 1920s, if you went into a music store to buy sheet music you would likely find a song plugger—a pianist and singer who would perform songs for you in the same way we preview CDs in a record store today. If you had walked into Jerome H. Remick & Company (one of the famous "Tin Pan Alley" companies) in 1915, that song plugger might well have been the young George Gershwin. From this humble beginning, Gershwin went on to become both the best-known composer of popular music and the most popular composer of concert music in America.
Gershwin began studying the piano in 1910—on an instrument bought for his brother Ira. His teacher exposed him to the standard repertoire of the nineteenth century and saw in him real possibilities. But Gershwin dropped out of school at age fifteen to become a song plugger. Within a few years, he had moved to Broadway as a rehearsal pianist. He also began composing songs, and by age twenty he had songs in three Broadway shows. His first full show, La Lucille, premiered before his twenty-first birthday. This was the beginning of a string of popular shows and songs, most written to lyrics by Ira. Many of the songs became "standards" in the repertoires of singers and musicians, and his most famous, "I Got Rhythm," served as a musical template for hundreds of jazz tunes.
All the while, Gershwin had been studying composition, and in 1924 he burst onto the concert scene with his Rhapsody in Blue, a concerto for piano and jazz band. The work, written for Paul Whiteman's band, successfully combined the structure of a standard concert piece with many of the rhythmic and harmonic elements of popular music and jazz. For the next decade, Gershwin created an impressive body of concert works (such as the Concerto in F and An American in Paris) while at the same time creating such great shows as Girl Crazy and the Pulitzer Prize–winning Of Thee I Sing. His groundbreaking Porgy and Bess was perhaps the logical culmination of these two strands of musical composition—an opera that combined the best of his concert and stage work while exploring new social ground by using the world of African Americans in the South as the basis for the story. The work was finished in 1934, and, tragically, in 1937 Gershwin died of a brain tumor. But in his short life he helped to transform the music of the Broadway stage and at the same time create a uniquely American concert music.
Works
- Orchestral works, including Rhapsody in Blue (1924, for piano and jazz orchestra); Concerto in F (1925); and a tone poem, An American in Paris (1928)
- Piano music, including Three Preludes (1927)
- More than 30 stage works, including Lady, Be Good! (1924), Strike Up the Band (1927), Girl Crazy (1930), Of Thee I Sing (1931), and Porgy and Bess (1935)
- Songs for films, including Shall We Dance (1937) and A Damsel in Distress (1937); songs for shows by other composers; and individually published songs
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Musical Examples
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Links
Duke Ellington
Born: April 29, 1899, Washington, D.C.
Died: May 24, 1974, New York
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In his own words....
"The word "improvisation" has great limitations, because when musicians are given solo responsibility they already have a suggestion of a melody written for them, and so before they begin they already know more or less what they are going to play. Anyone who plays anything worth hearing knows what he's going to play, no matter whether prepared a day ahead or a beat ahead. It has to be with intent."
African-American composer, pianist, and bandleader. Ellington was one of the leading figures in American jazz, and created a unique, recognizable style.
It is virtually impossible to separate Duke Ellington from the band that he led, for it was both the central vehicle for his career and, in many ways, an extension of himself. At the same time, Ellington was a strong individual force in the world of jazz—its most prolific creator (with more than 2000 pieces of various kinds) and a source of inspiration for many generations.
Ellington began piano study at the age of seven, and in his twenties had begun playing in clubs in New York with a group called the Washingtonians. From 1923 to 1927 the band enlarged, adding players—such as trombonist Tricky Sam Nanton, baritone saxophonist Harry Carney, and drummer Sonny Greer—who would become an integral part of the Duke Ellington Orchestra. From 1927 to 1931 the band played at the famous Cotton Club in Harlem and was joined by more key players—clarinetist Barney Bigard, saxophonist Johnny Hodges, and trumpeter Cootie Williams. Ellington wrote a great deal of music for the band, including one of his most famous pieces, "Mood Indigo" (1930).
In 1932, Ellington began touring the country with the band—now the Duke Ellington Orchestra—and over the years it became a mainstay of Big Band music. He continued to write for the band, and was joined in 1939 by Billy Strayhorn, with whom Ellington had a remarkable collaborative relationship. Ellington also began to go beyond the limits of the traditional jazz band in his compositions. From 1943 to 1952 he produced a series of annual concerts at Carnegie Hall, inaugurating it with his "tone parallel" Black, Brown, and Beige. This was one of many works that combined the larger structures of concert music with the materials of pure jazz. Ellington's music also reached beyond the traditional venues of club and concert hall. He wrote music for films (most notably Otto Preminger's 1959 Anatomy of a Murder) and in the last decade of his life he wrote liturgical/concert music for the church, combining voice and dance with the music of his band.
Although Ellington was a fine (and often underrated) pianist, his real instrument was his orchestra. Unlike most writers, however, who write for the instruments, Ellington wrote for the players themselves. Each player had his own sound, from Harry Carney's vibrato-rich baritone saxophone to the stratospheric shouts of Cat Anderson's trumpet. And Ellington arranged his music with just these sounds in mind; so much so that a change in personnel often necessitated a change in the arrangement. Ellington stands out for his rich and adventurous approach to harmony and scoring and his experiments in larger forms. At the same time, he contributed some of the most memorable tunes of the jazz repertoire, with ballads such as "Sophisticated Lady" and "Prelude to a Kiss" and up-tempo songs such as "I'm Beginning to See the Light" and "Satin Doll." His impact on the world of jazz and on American music was remarkable.
Musical Examples
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Links
- A Biography from The Duke Ellington Reader
This biography is taken from the introductory chapter to Mark Tucker's The Duke Ellington Reader (Oxford University Press, 1993). A good introduction to Ellington's life and works.
- An Appreciation of the Great Duke Ellington
The home site of the Duke Ellington Society. A nice introduction to Ellington the man. It also includes a good page devoted to Ellington's musical collaborator, Billy Strayhorn. Links to many other sites.
- Great Day in Harlem
In 1958, photographer Art Kane arranged to take a group picture of 56 of the all-time great jazz musicians of the day. The picture is marvelous, but the story behind it (brought to life in a 1994 documentary by Jean Bach) is even better. This site features a virtual tour of the original picture. You can click on any spot to find out who is pictured. You can then link to a biography of that musician. Or, you can search by name or instrument.
- A Duke Ellington Home Page
A good resource to start your exploration. Includes a biography, list of selected songs and larger works, a picture gallery, and quotes by and about Ellington.
- Rude Interlude: A Duke Ellington Home Page
A great resource for further exploration of the life and music of this great composer. Many links to interesting sites. Be sure to read about how the site got its name.