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Black History leaders, Black History Month, Black Leaders, Black Leaders list, Influential Black Leaders, Jazz, Music, Pianist - July 29, 2017

Duke Ellington - Influential Black Artists

“People do not retire. They are retired by others.” —Duke Ellington Duke Ellington was born April 29, 1899, in Washington, D.C. A major figure in the history of jazz music, his career spanned more than half a century, during which time he composed thousands of songs for the stage, screen and contemporary songbook. He created one of the most distinctive ensemble sounds in Western music and continued to play what he called "American Music" until shortly before his death in 1974. Early Life Born on April 29, 1899, Duke Ellington was raised by two talented, musical parents in a middle-class...

Eubie Blake - Influential Black Artists

“When you leave the theater, it feels like you're leavin' the real world and the fake world is out here in the street, where nobody knows anybody else.” —Eubie Blake Born in Maryland on February 7, 1887, Eubie Blake went on to become a revered ragtime pianist and composer for American musicals. He entered into a partnership with singer-songwriter Noble Sissle in 1915; the two would work together on the 1921 musical Shuffle Along, featuring the mega-hit "I'm Just Wild About Harry." Blake composed hundreds of songs and received many accolades for his work. He died in Brooklyn, New York,...

Michael Jackson: Influential Black Leaders

Because he is the King of Pop 1958 – 2009 It seems fate itself set the stage for Michael Jackson. When the musical wunderkind was born in 1958, television was in its experimental age, Billboard Magazine had just premiered its Hot 100 singles chart and the recording industry was planning the 1959 premiere of an awards show called The Grammys. Over a career spanning five decades, Jackson would bend all these emerging cultural forces to his will. He arrived on the world stage at age 11, having already sacrificed his youth performing at venues around his Indiana hometown of Gary....

Jimi Hendrix: Influential Black Leaders

Because no one can match his genius 1942 – 1970 For decades, a belief has taken hold among guitarists — to prove your ability, you must pay homage to Jimi Hendrix. He was hailed by the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as “the most gifted instrumentalist of all time.” Hendrix’s virtuosity looms so large that many guitarists still vainly attempt to emulate him. Just as whiz-kid classical pianists flaunt their chops by interpreting Mozart, so have guitarists such as Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Prince and John Mayer felt the need to perform Hendrix classics such as “Hey Joe,”...

Aretha Franklin: Influential Black Leaders

Because hers is a title well-earned: The Queen of Soul 1942- Curtsies are absolutely appropriate. Aretha Franklinis undisputed when it comes to pouring gospel-inflected, bluesy wails of love-gone-wrong lyrics over country-fried–yet-pop tracks. She plucked her Pentecostal pipes from the pulpit and applied them to a secular sound, giving us Sunday morning righteousness on any given Saturday night. Fifty years ago, the daughter of popular Detroit Baptist minister C.L. Franklin scored a No. 1 hit with her remake of Otis Redding’s Respect, a song with a bit of a double entendre that helped soundtrack the civil rights movement. In 1967, when...

Duke Ellington: Influential Black Leaders

Because ‘in death as in life, he is the embodiment of jazz’ 1899 – 1974 Just as soul music and Motown provided the aspirational soundtrack for the 1960s civil rights movement, swing music furnished the upwardly-mobile score for the mid-1900s Harlem Renaissance. And of all the formidable bandleaders of the era, Edward “Duke” Ellington towered over the competition like a musical Everest. Where Count Basie, Benny Goodman and competing bandleaders favored high-stepping songs with hard-swinging arrangements, Ellington tunes such as “I Got It Bad (And That Ain’t Good),” “In a Sentimental Mood,” and “Black and Tan Fantasy” seem mysterious by...

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