Реферат: The JAZZ Story

Another artist whose career spanned more than fifty years is Duke

Ellington (1899-1974). By 1972, he was one of New York's most

successful bandleaders, resident at Harlem's Cotton Club--a nightspot

catering to whites only but featuring the best in black talent.

Ellington's unique gifts as composer-arranger-pianist were coupled with

equally outstanding leadership abilities. From 1927 to 1941, with very few

exceptions and occasional additions, his personnel remained unchanged--a

record no other bandleader (except Guy Lombardo, of all people) ever

matched.

Great musicians passed through the Ellington ranks between 1924 and

1974. Among the standouts: great baritone saxist Harry Carney

(1907-1974), who joined in 1927; Johnny Hodges (1906-1970), whose

alto sax sound was one of the glories of jazz; Joe (Tricky Sam) Nanton

(1904-1946), master of the "talking" trombone; Barney Bigard

(1906-1980); whose pure-toned clarinet brought a touch of New Orleans

to the band; Ben Webster (1909-1973), one of Coleman Hawkins' greatest

disciples; drummer Sonny Greer (1903-1982), and Rex Stewart

(1907-1967) and Cootie Williams (1910-1985), an incomparable trumpet

team. Among the later stars were trumpeter Clark Terry (b. 1920) and

tenor saxist Paul Gonsalves (1920-1974).

Ellington's music constitutes a world within the world of Jazz. One of the

century's outstanding composers, he wrote over 1,000 short pieces, plus

many suites, music for films, the theater and television, religious works and

more. He must be ranked one of the century's foremost musicians,

regardless of labels. His uninterrupted activity as a bandleader since 1924

has earned him a high place in each successive decade, and his

achievement is a history of Jazz in itself.

Three outstanding contributors to Ellingtonia must be mentioned. They are

trumpeter-composer Bubber Miley (1903-1932), the co-creator of the first