Trumpeters Louis Armstrong and Miles Davis became two of the most inspiring American jazz musicians of all time by accessing very differently to their art. In the analysis an album from each artist, I choose “What A Wonderful World” of Louis Armstrong and “Kind of Blue” of Miles Davis.
Louis Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971) was the most influential performer to affect a lot of Jazz musicians. He influenced the whole jazz population with his amazing voice and energetic trumpet. And he played a great role in the modernization of jazz. His career spanned almost 50 years, from the 1920s to the 1960s, and different jazz eras. The work of Louis Armstrong summed up the achievements of New Orleans jazz style and indicated the way to the later …show more content…
Armstrong improvised jazz solo almost single-handed. Armstrong became well known as a singer than a player in later his career. He demonstrated great skills as an improviser, bending the melodies and tunes of songs for expression. He was skilled at scat singing. He had very unique voice and his vocals was distinctively rough and grave. Armstrong had showmanship and performed with virtuosity. He was renowned for songs of “Hello Dolly!” “Jeepers Creepers,” “Dream a Little Dream of Me,” “When the Saints go Marching in,” “St. Louis Blues,” "Star Dust," “Potato Head Blues,” and "What a Wonderful World." “What A Wonderful World” was one of his great world-famous hit songs. The song was written by Bob Thiele and George David Weiss in 1967 during the time of the Vietnam War. The style used in Armstrong’s album “What A Wonderful World” was fairly different than that of his earlier years. In this album Louis rarely plays his notable trumpet. Instead, he preferred to express all his creativity through his soft, creepy vocals. The song was written in about seventy-four …show more content…
“What a Wonderful World” was played by six instruments: the violin, the flute, the drum, the double bass, the trumpet, and the harpsichord. All of these except the flute were played throughout the song. The flute was played at a specific time though. This song made new fans of all generations, all over the world
Miles Davis (May 26, 1926 – September 28, 1991) was ahead of his time as he moved from bebop to a new style cool jazz. Miles Davis was the most prominent trumpeter in the cool jazz musicians. Many other jazz trumpeters derived from his style, and tried to emulate it. Miles Davis always drove the frameworks of what were the accepted styles in jazz, and was at the foremost part of this new style. The way Davis improvised was very different from the ordinary set for jazz trumpeters at that time, and this was why he had such an immense impact on the jazz music. His solos were often played in the middle register, where he could achieve the most tuneful melodies. Entering the 1940s, young jazz musicians explored a new jazz against a commercial swing jazz. It referred to bebop, a liberal playing style. Bebop has characterized the more complex harmonic progression and melody and up tempo improvisation and intense than the swing. Modern jazz