Louis Armstrong
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There is perhaps no better reaction of music to the hustle and bustle of early twentieth century life than in the jazz pioneered by Louis Armstrong (American jazz musician, 1901-71). Music critic Gary Giddens noted: "He created modern time. The approach to time that was completely divorced from marching band time. ... The rhythms are going to be changed in all kinds of ways but they're always going to proceed from where Armstrong created so that not only jazz but pop music, rock and roll, rhythm and blues, anything you want to talk about that has a modern rhythmic feeling goes back there. ... He makes rhythm as important as melody and harmony." It was his relaxed playing over the frenzied rhythm of his accompanists that suggested a response to the heyday of modern, industrial life. In his 1927 recording "Hotter Than That," Armstrong's playing drifts away from rhythmic patterns, which stands in contrast to Johnny Dodds' (American jazz musician, 1892-1940) more precise clarinet solo. Armstrong further plays with the rhythm with his scatting (singing nonsense syllables) in the piece, his placement of notes on the beat and silences off the beat, contrasting guitarist Lonnie Johnson's (American jazz musician, 1899-1970) more strictly rhythmic playing. Armstrong's reach extends throughout the range of twentieth-century music, all the way to contemporary hip-hop music, which has as its main concern rhythm instead of lyrics or melody. If rock music tells you a story, hip-hop lets you experience it.
See Also
- Talking Heads
- Beethoven
- Louis Armstrong
