Duke Ellington also known as Edward Kennedy Ellington was an American pianist who was the greatest jazz composer and bandleader of his time. He grew up in a secure middle-class family in Washington D.C. His family encouraged his interests in the fine arts and he began studying piano at age seven. He became engrossed in studying art during his highschool years and was awarded a scholarship to the Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York. However he did not accept this scholarship. He was inspired by ragtime performers and began to perform professionally at age 17. One of the originators of big-band jazz, Ellington led his band for more than half a century. He composed thousands of scores, and created one of the most distinctive ensemble sounds in all of Western music.
Duke Ellington
Langston Hughes also known as James Mercer Langston Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. He moved to New York City as a young man, where he made his career. He was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form called jazz poetry. He was an important figure in the Harlem Renaissance and made the African experience the subject of his writings, which ranged from poetry and plays to novels and newspaper columns. He received a scholarship to, and began attending, Lincoln University in Pennsylvania in early 1926. He wrote poetry until his death; his work The Panther and the Lash, published posthumously in 1967, reflected and engaged with the Black Power movement and, specifically, the Black Panther Party, which was founded the previous year.
Langston Hughes
2 comments:
I enjoyed reading about some of the influencers during the Harlem Renaissance. I found it particularly interesting the Duke Ellington, one of the famous figures in jazz, was actually on a fine arts path before he decided to pursue ragtime music. It's so cool to be learning about this period of flourishing culture where a variety of new genres of music and literature were being developed.
The biographies of both Ellington and Hughes give a very detailed account of the impacts both men had on society and its progression at a time when art forms were beginning to emerge as forms of expression and unity. During the time of segregation and much unregulated racism, the impacts of these men and their crafts drew races together. Their histories are very well told here.
Post a Comment