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Flashcards in Musicians Deck (50)
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1
Q

Louis Armstrong

A

A very popular jazz singer and trumpeteer who grew up in New Orleans and began his jazz career in Chicago, eventually starting as the trumpeteer in King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band. He started the jazz tradition of the solo with his improvised solos when he was playing in an ensemble. He also started the jazz music style of scat, wherein the singer replaces words in a song with nonsense syllables, and started a movement of this new singing.

2
Q

Count Basie

A

Helped launch the swing era by playing in a big band, which started at Kansas City’s Reno Club. helped his popular Orchestra for almost 50 years. Many notable musicians came to prominence under his direction, including tenor saxophonists Lester Young and Herschel Evans, trumpeters Buck Clayton and Harry “Sweets” Edison and singers Jimmy Rushing and Joe Williams. Basie’s theme songs were “One O’Clock Jump” and “April In Paris”.

3
Q

The Beatles

A

A rock ‘n’ roll singing group from Liverpool, England that was phenomenally popular in the middle and late 1960s. The intense devotion of the groups fans, especially the hysterical screaming that the group provoked in large crowds of large teenagers was called ______mania. The four members were John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. Among their many popular songs, most of which were written by Lennon and McCartney, were “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and “Hey, Jude.”

4
Q

Irving Berlin

A

A twentieth-century American writer of popular songs (words and music). His songs include “God Bless America,” “White Christmas,” and “There’s no Business like Show Business.”

5
Q

Chuck Berry

A

An African-American rock ‘n’ roll musician and composer, who influenced many musicians of the 1950s and 1960s, including the Beatles and Bob Dyan.

6
Q

Ray Charles

A

Known as the “Genius of Soul”; songwriter, arranger, keyboard player, and vocalist fluent in R&B, jazz, and mainstream pop.

7
Q

Scott Joplin

A

An African-American ragtime pianist and composer of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. “Maple Leaf Rag” and “The Entertainer” are two of his best-known works.

8
Q

Richard Rodgers

A

Composer of Oklahoma!, collaborated sometimes with Hart or Hammerstein composed for films and television. Best known for his songwriting partnerships with the lyricists Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II. Compositions have had a significant impact on popular music down to the present day and have an enduring broad appeal.

9
Q

Cole Porter

A

A twentieth-century American songwriter. His songs, such as “Anything Goes,” “I Get a Kick out of You” and “I’ve Got You Under my Skin,” are renowned for their witty, sophisticated lyrics.

10
Q

George Gershwin

A

A twentieth-century American composer known for putting elements of Jazz into forms of classical music, such as the concerto. His works include Rhapsody in Blue, An American in Paris, and the music to the opera Porgy and Bess. Together with his brother, Ira, he wrote many musical comedies.

11
Q

Bing Crosby

A

A twentieth-century American singer and actor. He appeared several times in films with Fred Astaire and Bob Hope and received an Academy award for his part in Going My ay in 1944. His most successful song recording was “White Christmas.”

12
Q

Al Jolson

A

United States singer (born in Russia) who appeared in the first full-length talking film (1886-1950) Used blackface in performance.

13
Q

Mamie Smith

A

-first female African American to record vocal blues recordings

14
Q

Gertrude Rainey

A

Popularly known as the “Mother of the Blues,” was the first of the great women blues singers and had a direct influence on Bessie Smith.

15
Q

Bessie Smith

A

Powerful, influential blues singer in the 1920’s, “Empress of Blues”

16
Q

Blind Lemon Jefferson

A

East texas style, country blues.

17
Q

Woody Guthrie

A

an American singer-songwriter, Guthrie traveled with migrant workers from Oklahoma to California and learned traditional folk and blues songs. Many of his songs are about his experiences in the Dust Bowl era during the Great Depression.

18
Q

Fletcher Henderson

A

pianist and composer; created first big band and was very commercially successful; first black musician to be hired by white band

19
Q

Frank Sinatra

A

An American singer and actor. Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, ___ became a successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, being the idol of the “bobby soxers.”

20
Q

Muddy Waters

A

Chicago; blues; guitar/singer; delta blues - in 1930s - field recording traditional blues; “Electric Blues” - rock guitar style; slide guitar (bottle neck)

21
Q

Bill Monroe

A

Born in Kentucky, started playing music at a young age and was influenced by his uncle (a country fiddler) and by a black musician and railroad worker named Arnold Schulz. in 1938, he started the Blue Grass Boys, and the following year he joined the cast of the Grand Ole Opry.

22
Q

The Chords

A

R&B black male vocal group;

23
Q

Buddy Holly

A

Popular singer and leader of the Crickets rock group. He was killed in a plane crash, along with singers The Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens. In the 1980’s, the hit song American Pie referred to his death as “the day the music died.”. Wrote songs like “Everyday”

24
Q

Elvis Presley

A

United States rock singer whose many hit records and flamboyant style greatly influenced American popular music (1935-1977)

25
Q

Mike Stoller

A
  • composer who worked with Jerry Leiber
26
Q

WC Handy

A

a blues composer and musician, often known as the “Father of Blues”, Memphis Blues and St. Louis Blues

27
Q

Charlie Patton

A

5/1/1891-4/28/1934

28
Q

Robert Johnson

A

king of blues players, delta blues, this guy sold his soul to the devil to sing and play, a legend created in the 40s. catered to a range of audiences, guitar

29
Q

The Carter Family

A

A country music group that recorded between 1927 and 1956. Their music had a profound impact on bluegrass, country, southern gospel, pop and rock musicians as well as on the U.S. folk revival of the 1960s. They were the first vocal group to become country music stars.

30
Q

Glenn Miller

A

A twentieth-century American composer and bandleader. His band was noted for its smooth but sophisticated performances of dance numbers such as “In the Mood” and “Moonlight Serenade.”

31
Q

Benny Goodman

A

United States clarinetist who in 1934 formed a big band (including Black as well as White musicians) and introduced a kind of jazz known as swing (1909-1986)

32
Q

Duke Ellington

A

Born in Chicago middle class. moved to Harlem in 1923 and began playing at the cotton club. Composer, pianist and band leader. Most influential figures in jazz.

33
Q

Nat King Cole

A

The most successful black recording artist of the postwar period. A brilliant piano improviser, he exerted a sting influence on later jazz pianists such as Oscar Peterson and Bill Evans. His biggest commercial successes were sentimental ballads accompanied by elaborate orchestral arrangements.

34
Q

Pete Seeger

A

United States folk singer who was largely responsible for the interest in folk music in the 1960s (born in 1919)

35
Q

Cecil Gant

A

A blues crooner who had a hit with a love song called ‘I Wonder’ sung in a gentle, slightly nasal, bluesy style, and accompanied only by his own piano playing. Never able to repeat the success of his first hit.

36
Q

Big Mama Thornton

A

Born in Montgomery, Alabama, the daughter of a Baptist minister. She began her professional career as a singer, drummer, harmonica player, and comic on the black vaudevile circuit and later settles in Houston Texas, working as a singer in black nightclubs. her imposing physique and sometime malevolent personality helped ensure her survival in the rough-and-tumble world of con artists and gangsters.

37
Q

Patti Page

A

Sold more records than any other female singer of the early 1950s. Had success with love songs (“All my Love”, Number one pop in 1950) and novelties like “the Doggie in the Window”(Number one pop in 1953), but her biggest hit was a recording of the “Tennessee Waltz”.

38
Q

Hank Thompson

A

The Wild Side of Life (1951), _________

39
Q

Kitty Wells

A

honky tonk - bar style of music: TX/OK; “It wasn’t God who made honky tonk angels” - 1st hit in country by a woman

40
Q

Hank Williams

A

An American country singer-songwriter and musician regarded as among the greatest country music stars of all time. He charted eleven number one songs between 1948 and 1953, though unable to read or write music to any significant degree.

41
Q

Alan Freed

A

A disc jockey who began playing a unique style of music at the time called “rhythm-and-blues” on a Cleveland radio show, who gained a wide following from black and white teenagers due to his on-air attitude and style, gaining a wide following for this new genre that evolved into rock-and-roll.

42
Q

The Crew Cuts

A

White male vocal group whose cover

43
Q

Bill Haley

A

Part of group “Bill Haley & His Comets”, hit song 1954 “Rock Around the Clock” was on top of Billboard Record Charts for many weeks; given the title “Father of Rock & Roll” by the media

44
Q

Jerry Lee Lewis

A

United States rock star singer and pianist (born in 1935) Involved in a marriage scandal. “Great Balls of Fire”.

45
Q

Little Richard

A

An African American rock-n-roll singer and recorded hit songs in the 50’s including Tutti Fruiti

46
Q

Fats Domino

A

Early Rockstar on J&M Records in New Orleans, but not much success there, so he releases “Ain’t That A Shame” on Specialty and Imperial Records; an R&B artist who crossed over to the pop charts; song features stop time and piano triplets

47
Q

Connie Francis

A

the first woman recording ‘star’ of the rock n roll era. String of hits began with ‘Who’s Sorry Now’. ‘Stupid Cupid’ and ‘Lipstick on your Collar’ are other hits. Mainstream pop singer who appealed to the new young audience.

48
Q

Brenda Lee

A

A young recording artist with a somewhat feisty public image. ‘Little Miss Dynamite’. Engaging in rock n’ roll songs like: Sweet Nothins, Rockin around the Christmas Tree. Also recorded many slow, sentimental love songs

49
Q

Jerry Leiber

A

lyricist who worked with Mike Stoller

50
Q

Chubby Checker

A

The Twist: only record to reach #1 in U.S. in separate years when performed by original artist; culmination of more than 50 years of social dance; a solo dance which didn’t require a partner; could be learned and done by anyone, anytime, anywhere; made a turning point in popular entertainment; rock n’ roll could now have mass cross-generational appeal