Musical achievements of a prominent music artist
Order Description
Your research paper will be formatted as follows:
Double spaced, proofed and 1500-2500 words. College-level writing is expected, and you will proof for grammar and spelling. Any grammatical and/or spelling errors in excess of 3 will AUTOMATICALLY have 1 point deducted for each error! You will cite at least 4 sources for your paper, at least 2 of which must be from a source other than the internet. You will provide a full bibliographical entry for each source, including url where appropriate, as well as properly footnoting or endnoting all quoted material.
Each research paper will tell the reader the following:
Who/what were the major musical influences on the artist(s) in question and why? Give specifics and elaborate. Example: Bebop saxophone genius Charlie Parker was greatly influenced by the harddriving blues-drenched Kansas City swing of the 1930s as exemplified by Jay McShann and Count Basie. As well, he garnered technical inspiration from the virtuosity of Jimmie Dorsey, the great saxophonist, and melodic guidance from the smooth and horizontal stylings of Lester Young.
What was/were the major musical innovations of the artist. Example: Charlie Parker, who along with Dizzy Gillespie, invented the radical new form of jazz known as bebop, created a muscular synergy of Kansas City Blues, breakneck tempos, complex jagged and dissonant harmony and a powerful and unusual rhythmic sense. These innovations made him the most widely imitated saxophonist the world had known.
Who did the artist influence? Example: The list of Charlie “bird” Parker’s disciples encompasses almost all of the jazz world that came after him, including alto saxophonist Sonny Stitt, tenor man Sonny Rollins, the aptly named “little bird” Jimmy Heath, avant gardist Ornette Coleman, and Charles Mingus’ saxophonist Eric Dolphy. Trumpeter Miles Davis’ lean and spare style was a direct reaction to trying to follow the astonishing pyrotechnics of Parker. As bassist Mingus pungently observed: “if charlie parker was a gunslinger, there’d be a whole lot of dead copycats.”
Give a context for the socio-economic structure in which the artist lived and worked, with brief biography of his/their formative years and what the conditions were under which the music was created. Example: Charlie Parker, growing up in a profoundly racist country where Blacks lived in defacto apartheid, was acutely aware of the double life he led as a man of genius playing a highly complex and innovative music for an indifferent and even contemptuous mainstream culture.
What I want is the above, clearly and effectively laid out. I have little interest in the People Magazine/National Enquirer aspects of any artist’s life except insofar as it directly affected the music. For instance, the Beatles’ experimentation with drugs and meditation directly shaped the music they made. Elvis Presley’s induction into the army was directly correlant with his decline as a significant rock and roll artist. Eminem’s rage at his mother is directly reflected in his rap lyrics. In these cases, it is relevant to the music. James Brown’s legal troubles, on the other hand, had no evident reflection in his musical development so would not be relevant to a paper on his music.
You may choose from any of the following artists for your term research paper. There is no limit on how many students can do one artist, and you may enjoy comparing notes and research with each other:
ANI DIFRANCO
ARETHA FRANKLIN
ART TATUM
ARTIE SHAW
B.B. KING
BEATLES , THE
BENNY GOODMAN
BERRY GORDY
BESSIE SMITH
BILL EVANS
BILL MONROE
BILLIE HOLIDAY
BING CROSBY
BOB DYLAN
BOB WILLS
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
BUDDY HOLLY
CAB CALLOWAY
CAETANO VELOSO
CARTER FAMILY
CELIA CRUZ
CHARLES MINGUS
CHARLIE PARKER
CHUCK BERRY
COLE PORTER
COLEMAN HAWKINS
COUNT BASIE
DIZZY GILLESPIE
DUKE ELLINGTON
EARTH, WIND AND FIRE
ELLA FITZGERALD
ELTON JOHN
ELVIS COSTELLO
ELVIS PRESLEY
ERIC CLAPTON
FATS WALLER
FRANK SINATRA
FRANK ZAPPA
GEORGE GERSHWIN
GILBERTO GIL
HANK WILLIAMS
HERBIE HANCOCK
HOWLING WOLF
IRAKERE
IRVING BERLIN
JAMES BROWN
JAMES TAYLOR
JANIS JOPLIN
JELLY ROLL MORTON
JIMI HENDRIX
JOBIM
JOHN COLTRANE
JOHN LENNON
JONI MITCHELL
LEADBELLY
LED ZEPPELIN
LESTER YOUNG
LITTLE RICHARD
LOS VAN VAN
LOU REED
LOUIS ARMSTRONG
LOUIS PRIMA
MADONNA
MICHAEL JACKSON
MILES DAVIS
MILTON NASCIMENTO
MUDDY WATERS
NEIL YOUNG
NIRVANA
OTIS REDDING
PAUL MCCARTNEY
PAUL SIMON
PFUNK
PINK FLOYD
POLICE
PRINCE
PUBLIC ENEMY
QUINCYJONES
RAY CHARLES
ROBERT JOHNSON
ROLLING STONES, THE
SAM COOKE
SARAH VAUGHAN
SCOTT JOPLIN
SEX PISTOLS
SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE
STANLEY BROTHERS
STEELY DAN
STEPHEN FOSTER
STEPHEN SONDHEIM
STEVIE WONDER
THE SUPREMES
THELONIUS MONK
TITO PUENTE
W.C. HANDY
WAYNE SHORTER
WEATHER REPORT
WHO, THE
WILLIE NELSON
WOODY GUTHRIE