African-Americans Performers and Jazz Artist
The Harlem Renaissance reached beyond writers and intellectuals.
Cab Calloway
- A talented drummer, saxophonist, and singer.
- He formed a important jazz orchestra, which played at Harlem's Savoy Ballroom and the Cotton Club.
- Popularized "scat" ( improvised jazz singing using sounds instead of words).
Paul Robeson
- He was a concert singer, recording artist, athlete and actor.
- Performed in Shakespeare's Othello.
- Was the son of an escaped slave.
George Gershwin
- He was a concert music composer and pianist.
- He merged traditional elements with American jazz.
Louis Amrstrong
- He was an American jazz trumpeter and singer.
- In 1922 he joined the Creole Jazz Band.
- He was famous for his sense of rhythm and ability to improvise.
- After two years he he joined Fletcher Henderson's band.
Duke Ellington
- One the greatest composers of the 20th century.
- He was a self-taught musician. A composer and jazz pianist.
- He wrote over 1,000 compositions.
Bessie Smith
- An american blues singer.
- She was sometimes referred to as The Empress of the Blues.
- In 1927, she became the highest-paid black artist in the world.