958: 5 pages

Xiaowei Luo

MHIS-221-003

04/13/2019

Musical Analyses

In the term paper, I mainly want to talk about Louis Daniel Armstrong’s virtuosity with the cornet and trumpet, scat singing style, and influences on Jazz. As one of the most influential figures in Jazz, Armstrong possessed a particular style. In his early age, Armstrong made his fame playing cornet and trumpet. It is a significant part to know about this musician and how his performance style impacts later Jazz performance. Moreover, his early performance style would be imprinted in his later recordings. His particular trumpet performance becomes the Orleans standard. Thus, I want to introduce this part in my paper first. Then, getting into Armstrong’s prosperous time that his scat singing made him become eminent in Jazz. Armstrong is not the first to use scat singing. But He plays an important role to popularize it. Scat is almost always defined, without further comment, as singing or vocal improvising with “nonsense syllables” (Brent, 622). As for Armstrong, scat is not “nonsense”, it does carry semantic content in a musical sense. Scat singing is a major part of Armstrong’s work. He likes imitating the sound of nature and is enthusiastic. His scat style is extensively imitated by later musicians. In this part, I want to interpret Armstrong’s improvisation. In fact, Armstrong would add impromptu shout in his early trumpet playing and vocal performance. Augmenting use of improvisation in performance would increase the flexibility of song/music. Armstrong particular improvisation breaks down the conventional Jazz performance. It enhances the freedom of Jazz, which make an important influence on Jazz. Armstrong is called the father of Jazz. At the end of the paper, I want to talk about Armstrong’s influence on Jazz and the African diaspora in the United States. As an African American growing up in the Fisk School for Boys, Armstrong’s particular music style attracts lots of fans from low and high class worldwide.

Works Cited

Brent, Hayes Edwards. “Louis Armstrong and the Syntax of Scat.” Critical Inquiry, vol. 28, no. 3, 2002, pp. 618–649. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/343233 . Accessed April 12 2019.