The Blues/Louis Armstrong

Connecting to Invisible ManCatherine Gubbels

StormP. 3

What is..the blues?

a music genre based on using the blues chord progressions and the blue notes

It emerged in the 19th century for self-expression in African-American communities of the United States from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads

The blues is prominent for call-and-response patterns in the music and lyrics which reflect its African influences

Blues and Invisible Man..

The term "the blues" refers to the "the blue devils", meaning melancholy and sadness

I.M. walks through the street and starts singing a call-and-response blues song that a fellow man on the bus was singing..showing the way the blues affected them as a form of expression and release.

This shows how the music travels through the people effortlessly, and how the blues was a form of identity for many.

Louis Armstrong..

Born August 4, 1901 as the grandson of slaves in a very poor family in an area of New Orleans, Louisiana called “Back of Town”

His childhood was troubled as his father abandoned his family, mother turned toward prostitution and left him in nightclubs often, and he lived in a very segregated city.

Although he suffered many hardships, he only draws inspiration from it for his music and successful career

Getting started..

“Every time I close my eyes blowing that trumpet of mine—I look right in the heart of good old New Orleans...It has given me something to live for.”[7]

Armstrong played trumpet by ear, a fellow cortet member named Bunk Johnson taught him, and sang throughout his young adulthood with a cortet, and got started with his career playing on a steamboat that traveled up and down the Mississippi River

A professor named Peter Davis gave him both disciple, for he was troubled in his youth, and official musical training

The famous Joe “king” Oliver also became Armstrong’s mentor and father figure.

Music..

Visit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Y6EMMhDCGo

to see Louis Armstrong sing and play.

Armstrong was known in the 1920s as an innovative cornet and trumpet player,

He also had great influence on jazz music and was gifted at improvisation

He had a distinctive raspy boice, and would bend the lyrics and melody of a song for expressive purposes.

He was a great scat singer Because of his charismatic stage

presence, deep, recognizable voice, and trumpet-playing Armstrong influenced not only jazz but all popular music in general as well.

Career..

Armstrong had many hit records including "Stardust“, "What a Wonderful World“, "When The Saints Go Marching In”, "Ain't Misbehavin”, "We Have All the Time in the World”, and "Hello, Dolly

his early years were known for his cornet and trumpet playing, which is heard on his Hot Five and Hot Seven records.

Armstrong's improvisations on these albums “were daring and sophisticated for the time while often subtle and melodic.”

He also often “essentially re-composed pop-tunes he played, making them more interesting.”

“ Armstrong's playing is filled with joyous, inspired original melodies, creative leaps, and subtle relaxed or driving rhythms.”

Armstrong turned his music into an art form with limitless possibilities for self expression, and spread that ideal among many.

Listen to Louis Armstrong perform “Hello, dolly” on this site:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmfeKUNDDYs&feature=related

Connecting blues and I.M.

When writing Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison weaved the blues rhythms and call-and-response lyrics with the story of Invisible Man’s journey from southern Caroline to Harlem, as well as his journey to finding identity.

The presence of blues played as large role in this journey for a identity.

In the beginning, both Invisible Man and Blues were born in the south..and then migrated north

When he arrives in New York, blues is all around him and more and more blues lyrics are woven in and out of the text revealing truths I.M. could not unveil without the song.

Such as the song about the bird..

Armstrong in the beginning..

Invisible Man also listens and references to the music of Louis Armstrong in the novel

. He says he enjoys listening to Louis because "...he's made poetry out of being invisible,”

In the prologue he listens to the song by Louis Armstrong , "What Did I Do to Be so Black and Blue,“ (page 8)

This song, as well as the term black and blue is a starting point for the reader in I.M.’s journey

Armstrong in the end..

He mentions Louis Armstrong once more at the end of the novel when he tells the reader that he is going out into the world again. Invisible Man proclaims that he will shake off his old skin, but just like Armstrong would not throw "...old Bad Air out, because it would have broken up the music and the dance..." (page 581),

he will not throw away all his experiences and ideals, but hold on to them as he sheds all the bad ideals and thoughts he has kept for too long

Armstrong and his lyrics help I.M. to discover this about himself and his future.