Overview of music activities in New York City
The
music of New York City
is a diverse and important field in the world of music. It has long been a thriving home for popular genres such as
jazz
,
rock
,
soul music
,
R&B
,
funk
, and the urban
blues
, as well as
classical
and
art
music. It is the birthplace of
hip hop
,
garage house
,
boogaloo
,
doo wop
,
bebop
,
punk rock
,
disco
, and
new wave
. It is also the birthplace of
salsa music
, born from a fusion of Cuban and Puerto Rican influences that came together in New York's Latino neighborhoods in the 1960s. The city's culture, a
melting pot
of nations from around the world, has produced vital
folk music
scenes such as
Irish-American music
and Jewish
klezmer
. Beginning with the rise of popular sheet music in the early 20th century, New York's
Broadway
musical theater
, and
Tin Pan Alley
's
songcraft
, New York has been a major part of the American
music industry
.
[1]
Music author
Richie Unterberger
has described the New York music scene, and the city itself, as "(i)mmense, richly diverse, flashy, polyethnic, and engaged in a never-ending race for artistic and cosmopolitan supremacy."
[1]
Despite the city's historic importance in the development of
American music
, its status has declined in recent years due to a combination of increased corporate control over music media, an increase in the
cost of living
, and the rise of local music scenes whose success is facilitated by the cheap communication provided by the Internet.
[2]
Institutions and venues
[
edit
]
New York has been a center for the American
music industry
since the earliest records in the early 20th century. Since then, a number of companies and organizations have set up headquarters in New York, from the
Tin Pan Alley
publishers and
Broadway
to modern independent rock and hip hop labels, non-profit organizations, and others. Many music magazines are or were headquartered in New York, including
Blender
,
Punk
,
Spin
, and
Rolling Stone
.
[3]
Carnegie Hall
is one of the most important music venues in the world, especially for classical music; the hall is noted for its excellent
acoustics
. The venue was named for philanthropist
Andrew Carnegie
, but fell into disrepair in the 20th century until being renovated between 1983 and 1995.
Radio City Music Hall
was also a major venue after opening in 1932, and was also recently renovated; it is now a significant
architectural
attraction as an example of the
Art Deco
style.
[4]
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
is the largest performing arts center in the world. The center is home to twelve resident organizations, including the
Metropolitan Opera
,
New York Philharmonic
,
New York City Ballet
,
Chamber Music Society
,
New York City Opera
,
Juilliard School
,
Lincoln Center Theater
, and
Jazz at Lincoln Center
.
[5]
The
New York Philharmonic
, which performs at
Avery Fisher Hall
, is the oldest orchestra in the United States, founded in 1842. As of 2005
[update]
,
Lorin Maazel
is the
conductor
. The Philharmonic has made more than 500 recordings since 1917, and was one of the first to broadcast live performances, beginning in 1922.
[6]
The New York Philharmonic produced celebrated composers such as
George Bristow
and
Theodore Thomas
. Bristow was a fiercely nationalistic composer who left the Philharmonic because he felt it did not glorify American music adequately, a situation he, and later Thomas, attempted to rectify.
[7]
Other institutions and organizations in New York include the
Brooklyn Academy of Music
,
New York City Ballet
, and the
Jazz Foundation of America
. Notable venues that have closed include the
Aeolian Hall
of
Rhapsody in Blue
fame and the old
Metropolitan Opera
(demolished in 1967) at 1411 Broadway. The
Apollo Theater
has long been a place for African American performers to begin their careers; it has such an iconic status that Congress has declared it a
National Historic Landmark
.
Club influence
[
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]
The New York
club
scene is an important part of the city's music scene, the birthplace of many styles of music from
disco
to
punk rock
; some of these clubs, such as
Studio 54
,
Max's Kansas City
,
Mercer Arts Center
,
ABC No Rio
, and
CBGB
, reached iconic statuses in the United States and the world. New York is home to several major jazz clubs, including
Birdland
, Sweet Rhythm (formerly Sweet Basil),
Village Vanguard
, and
The Blue Note
, the latter being one of the premier spots for jazz lovers. There was a time—now long gone—when
52nd Street
in Manhattan, with its numerous clubs, was one of the epicenters of jazz. Future generations of music venues would retain the prolific elements of this culture. Since transmogrifying the local dance scene (
deep house
) to form "
acid-jazz
" in the late 1980s,
Groove Academy/Giant Step
has launched several major-label bands such as
Groove Collective
and
Nuyorican Soul
.
[8]
The
Greenwich Village
folk scene is home to venues such as the long-standing landmark
The Bottom Line
. New York's rock scene includes clubs such as
Irving Plaza
, while the city's avant-garde "downtown" scene includes
The Kitchen
, Roulette, and
Knitting Factory
. The Latin and world music scene features venues such as S.O.B.'s and the
Wetlands Preserve
, which closed in 2001.
[1]
Festivals, holidays and parades
[
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]
New York has a long history of using music in various festivals and parades, though the vibrant local music scene has meant that festivals are less of a draw than in other cities, since residents are near major sources of live music all the time. The diverse groups of immigrants living in New York have each brought with them their own holiday traditions. As a result, major festivals of music in New York include the
Chinese New Year
celebrations,
Pulaski Day Parade
, and the
St. Patrick's Day Parade
run by the
Ancient Order of Hibernians
. New York is home to the largest St. Patrick's Day parade in the world, a tradition that has continued since 1762 due to the large Irish population in New York. Irish folk music and folk-rock are the major styles at the two-day Guinness Fleadh festival. The College Music Journal Network's annual Music Marathon has been held since 1980, providing a major showcase for new music.
Central Park SummerStage
, a series of free concerts presented by
City Parks Foundation
and hosting performers of many kinds, is also a major part of New York's summer music scene, which also includes the July Intel New York Music Festival. There are numerous New York jazz festivals, including the Texaco New York Jazz Festival,
Panasonic Village Jazz Festival
, the
JVC Jazz Festival
, and the free Charlie Parker Jazz Festival.
[1]
The
City Parks Foundation
also presents a series of thirty free concerts in ten parks across all five boroughs of the city each summer.
Roz Nixon
founded Great Women in Jazz in 2001. It is a month-long festival in October in New York.
[9]
Additionally, New York hosts the yearly ElectricZoo festival, second only to Miami's
Winter Music Conference
as a mecca for house and electronic music fans in the United States. It also holds the annual
Dance Parade
which brings together all types of dance-oriented music from across the world (both traditional and contemporary) in a combined parade down
Fifth Avenue
.
The NYC Musical Saw Festival has been a summer staple since 2001, bringing
musical saw
players from around the world to perform diverse types of music on this unique instrument. The festival, organized by
Natalia Paruz
, holds the
Guinness World Records
for the largest musical saw ensemble. Roz Nixon
Music history
[
edit
]
The first music performed in the area that is now New York City was that
of the Lenape Native Americans
who lived there. However, little is known of these peoples' musical lives. The earliest documented music comes after the foundation of the city (then called
New Amsterdam
) by Dutch explorers, who controlled the area until the British conquest in 1664. The music of New York's colonial era was primarily British in character, gradually evolving as the United States became independent and developed a distinct culture; the influence of
African-American music
became very important as the city's African American population increased throughout the 18th and 19th centuries.
By the 1830s, New York was gradually becoming the most important cultural center in the United States, and was a home for many varieties of folk, popular and classical music. Late in the 19th century, many influential conservatories and venues were founded, including the world-famous
Metropolitan Opera House
and
Carnegie Hall
. New York's status as a center for musical development continued into the 20th century, leading to the foundation of many companies associated with the American music industry in the city. These companies included sheet music publishers, based around an area called
Tin Pan Alley
, and later
record labels
and other organizations and institutions. The rise of the
Broadway theatres
began in the early part of the century; the songs from Broadways
musicals
became some of the earliest American popular music, and eventually came to be treated as
pop standards
.
Early history
[
edit
]
As the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, New York was populated by Dutch settlers who left little musical trace behind, excepting some songs such as "Dutch Prayer of Thanksgiving," "Rosa," and "The Little Dustman." Under English rule,
sea shanties
, open-air singing gardens, sometimes with
fireworks
,
ballads
and other Anglo-Irish traditions, became widespread. New York's colonial ballads were often topical, concerning the events of the day and the local gossip. Beginning in 1732, ballads were placed together with a story tying them together, forming a performance genre called the
ballad opera
, the best-known of which is
The Beggar's Opera
, first performed in 1752. That same period also saw the first concerts held in New York, and the arrival of
William Tuckey
, who helped establish church music in the city.
[10]
New York's rise as the intellectual and artistic center of the United States occurred in the 1830s. This period, which coincided with an upsurge in American
nationalism
, saw major growth in choral music, with musical societies being formed in most major cities, like New York; these choral societies remained a fixture of American music throughout the 19th century. Military bands were also common throughout the country, as was singing family troupes such as the
Hutchinson Family
. Later still,
minstrel shows
, comic and musical acts performed by whites in
blackface
, spread across the country. In New York, Italian operas were very popular throughout much of the century.
[7]
Near the end of the 19th century, modern
conservatories
opened in many cities, and New York became the home of the
Metropolitan Opera House
in 1882 and
Carnegie Hall
in 1891, the latter's opening being marked by an appearance by the famed Russian composer
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
. In 1892,
Antonin Dvo?ak
became Director of the
National Conservatory of Music
. Dvo?ak, a
Bohemian
composer, was fascinated with Native and African American folk music, and he was enthusiastic about encouraging a nationalist American field of music that utilized those fields. Dvo?ak only stayed on for three years before returning to Bohemia, though he influenced later composers such as his pupil, the African American composer
Harry Thacker Burleigh
.
[7]
George Bristow
was an important composer of the latter 19th century. He was a violinist with the
New York Philharmonic
, later conducting an orchestra called the Harmonic Society. He attempted to popularize an indigenous American sound in his music, using nationalist elements such as a
Native American melody
in his
Symphony No. 4
.
Theodore Thomas
also worked at the New York Philharmonic before forming the
New York Symphony Orchestra
. He hired many of the best performers of the day in an attempt to lure in audiences, and he promoted a more casual atmosphere to encourage attendance and enthusiasm.
[11]
Classical and art music history
[
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]
New York's position as a center for
European classical music
can be traced back to the late 18th- early 19th century. The
New York Philharmonic
, formed in 1842, did much to help establish the city's reputation. In that same era was organized the short-lived rival to the Philharmonic, the American Academy of Music, founded by
Charles Jerome Hopkins
(born 1836 in Burlington, Vermont),
William Fry
,
George Bristow
, and Charles Steele in 1856. Two of the first major New York composers were William Fry and
George Bristow
, both of whom were involved in a well-known 1854 controversy over the Philharmonic's programming choices. The controversy consisted of a series of letters published in the
Musical World and Times
following a poor review of Fry's
Santa Claus Symphony
. Fry's first letter, responding angrily to the review, claimed that the Philharmonic had played no pieces by American composers, to which Bristow responded that the Philharmonic had played one piece, an overture he had composed.
Henry Christian Timm
, one of the founders of the Philharmonic, responded by noting a number of recently composed works.
[11]
Both Fry and Bristow, despite their support for American compositions, were very European in style. Fry's most notable composition was the opera
Leonora
, which received mixed reviews upon its opening and was criticized for its debt to
Vincenzo Bellini
's
bel canto
style. Bristow was also very European in his style, and was a violinist and conductor with the Philharmonic until the 1854 controversy, though he later rejoined. His most important work was the opera
Rip Van Winkle
, and was very popular at the time; most influentially,
Rip Van Winkle
used an American folktale rather than European imitations.
[11]
The New York native
Edward MacDowell
was a major late 19th-century composer, though he spent most of his productive time in Boston. His first concerto was premiered in New York in 1888, and he returned the following year to premier another concerto. MacDowell eventually began using elements of American folk music in his compositions, especially the
Woodland Sketches
. The
Bohemian
composer
Antonin Dvo?ak
came to New York in 1892 to head the
National Conservatory
. A fervent nationalist, Dvo?ak used the folk music of his native land in his music, and encouraged American composers to do the same. One of the Conservatory's students, the African American
Harry Burleigh
, introduced him to the songs of the
minstrel shows
and
spirituals
, and Dvorak was deeply moved, enough to write a well-known essay in an 1895 issue of
Harper's
declaring that American composers should use the diverse folk elements of their country in their compositions.
[11]
In the early 20th century, the New York classical music scene included
Charles Griffes
, originally from
Elmira, New York
, who began publishing his most innovative material in 1914. His collaboration with other area performers and composers on
The Kairn of Koridwen
was an early attempt to use musical themes adopted from non-Western cultures, specifically,
Japanese
and
Javanese music
. He was to continue in this vein with the score for
Rupert Brooke
's "Wai Kiki," the ballet
Sho-Jo, or ? the Spirit of Wine, A Symbol of Happiness
, and his orchestral composition
The Pleasure-Dome of Kubla Khan
. Besides Griffes, New York composers included
Marion Bauer
,
Leo Ornstein
, and
Rubin Goldmark
,
[11]
all three of whom were either Jewish immigrants or the children of Jewish immigrants.
The best-known New York composer — indeed, the best-known American classical composer of any kind — was
George Gershwin
. Gershwin was a songwriter with
Tin Pan Alley
and the
Broadway theaters
, and his works were strongly influenced by
jazz
, or rather the precursors to jazz that were extant during his time. It is not clear that he was a classical musician, though neither is it clear that he worked in jazz, popular music or any other field — he primarily synthesized and utilized elements of many styles, including the music of New York's
Yiddish theatre
,
vaudeville
,
ragtime
,
operetta
, jazz, Tin Pan Alley and Broadway songs, the music of the
Gullah
people and the impressionist and post-Romantic music of European composers. Some of his most famous compositions were the
Rhapsody in Blue
and
Concerto in F
, both of which utilized jazz idioms. Gershwin's work made American classical music more focused, and attracted an unheard of amount of international attention.
[12]
Following Gershwin, the first major composer was
Aaron Copland
from Brooklyn, who used elements of American folk music, though it remained European in technique and form. His works included the Symphony for Organ and Orchestra (which was well received, earning him comparisons to
Stravinsky
), the jazz-affected
Music for the Theatre
, the music for the ballet
Appalachian Spring
and the
Piano Variations
. Later, he turned to the ballet and then
serial music
.
[11]
The early-to-mid 20th century New York classical music scene also produced composers such as
Roger Sessions
, an academically oriented composer known for operas such as
Motezuma
. The similarly academic
William Schuman
became known for such works as the
New England Triptych
and his
Third Symphony
. Schuman also became president of the
Juilliard School
, changing the school by forming the
Juilliard String Quartet
and merging the Institute of Musical Art with the Juilliard Graduate School, as well as hiring teachers including
William Bergsma
,
Peter Mennin
and
Hugo Weisgall
, whose pupils included future composers
Steve Reich
and
Philip Glass
.
[11]
In the middle of the 20th century, the most influential New York composers included the Massachusetts native and conductor and composer
Leonard Bernstein
, known for his works
Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs
,
Serenade for Solo Violin, Strings, Harp and Percussion
,
Chichester Psalms
, and the musicals
On the Town
and
West Side Story
. Another major composer was
Elliott Carter
, whom John Warthen Struble claimed would likely be remembered as "the most significant of the mid-20th century... composers [because he] reconceived and restructured the fundamental language of Western art music in evolving his powerful personal style... his music has earned immense respect from colleagues of virtually every esthetic stripe, as well as three generations of performing musicians and audiences." Carter's compositions include
Eight Etudes and a Fantasy for Wind Quintet
and a Sonata for 'cello and piano. In addition to Carter and Bernstein, in the mid-20th century New York produced the film composer
Bernard Herrmann
,
Gunther Schuller
, and serialist
Leon Kirchner
.
[11]
Many of the later 20th-century composers in various modernist and minimalist styles came from outside of New York, such as
John Cage
from Los Angeles, though many studied, performed, or conducted in New York.
John Corigliano
, however, is a New York native who has worked exclusively in tonal idioms for most of his career.
Steve Reich
innovated a technique known as
phasing
, in which two musical activities are begun simultaneously and repeated, gradually drifting out of sync with each other in a natural evolution. Reich was also very interested in non-Western music, incorporating African rhythmic techniques in his compositions
Drumming
.
[11]
Rhys Chatham
as well as
Glenn Branca
blended the minimal music with modern rock esthetics and began writing microtonal pieces for large orchestras of guitarists but also wrote other classical pieces with non-amplified instruments.
Kyle Gann
is a musicologist as well as a composer of post modern pieces.
Most recently, New York has become home to a Manhattan-based scene sometimes called
New Music
. These composers and performers are strongly influenced by the minimalist works of
Philip Glass
, a Baltimore native based out of New York,
Meredith Monk
, and others. One of the most famous persons from this scene is
John Zorn
, often cited as a jazz musician though he works in many fields and idioms. Others include
Arto Lindsay
,
Marc Ribot
,
John Lurie
,
Laurie Anderson
, and
Bill Laswell
.
[1]
Popular music
[
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]
New York has been the longstanding center of the American music industry, and by extension, a major center for popular music worldwide. Attaining iconic musical status in the early 20th century, New York retained its position despite the rise of other cities such as
Detroit
,
Chicago
,
Los Angeles
,
Nashville
, and
San Francisco
. However, by the turn of the 21st century, Los Angeles had surpassed New York as the pop music mecca not only in terms of the sheer number of musicians, bands, songwriters, recording studios, and record labels, but also because of its affordability compared to New York, attracting transplants to emerging creative centers like Echo Park.
[13]
The African American genre of
jazz
was closely associated with New York by the middle of the 20th century, when a number of avant-garde performers helped created styles such as
hard bop
and
free jazz
. Later still, New York was the major American home for the
punk rock
and
new wave
movements, and was the scene for the invention of both
hip hop music
and Latino
salsa music
. Musicians from New York have also dominated the Jewish-American
klezmer
scene, the
Greenwich Village
old-time music
revival, and the straight 1960s
pop music
exemplified by the
Brill Building
sound.
Tin Pan Alley
[
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]
Tin Pan Alley
was a center for music publishing around the turn of the 20th century. Numerous professional songwriters lived in the area, churning out songs ready for mainstream America during a time that music, like other aspects of American culture, was becoming a national rather than a regional affair.
[14]
Tin Pan Alley was originally in an area called
Union Square
, and it had become the major center for music publishing by the mid-1890s.
[15]
The songwriters of this era wrote formulaic songs, many of them sentimental ballads.
[16]
Some of the most notable publishers included Willis Woodward, the Witmark house of publishing,
Charles K. Harris
, and Edward B. Marks and Joseph W. Stern. Stern and Marks began writing together as amateurs in 1894, with "
The Little Lost Child
"; the song became a hit, selling more than two million copies of its sheet music after its successful promotion as an
illustrated song
and after it attracted the attention of popular stage performer
Della Fox
. However,
Paul Dresser
was, in the words of David Ewen, the "richest contributor of sentimental ballads to Union Square." He was an original composer, less maudlin, less cloyingly sentimental, and less cliche-ridden than his contemporaries.
[17]
In addition to the popular, mainstream ballads and other clean-cut songs, some Tin Pan Alley publishers focused on rough songs such as "Drill Ye Tarriers" in 1888, believed to have been written by an unskilled laborer turned stage performer named Thomas F. Casey.
Coon songs
were another important part of Tin Pan Alley, derived from the watered-down songs of the minstrel show with the "verve and electricity" brought by the "assimilation of the ragtime rhythm." The first popular coon song was "New Coon in Town," introduced in 1883, and was followed by a wave of
coon shouters
such as
Ernest Hogan
and
May Irwin
.
[18]
Musical theatre
[
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]
The early 20th century also saw the growth of
Broadway theatre
, a group of theatres specializing in
musicals
. Broadway became on the preeminent locations for musical theater in the world, and produced a body of songs that led Donald Clarke to call the era (ca. 1914 to 1950), the
golden age of songwriting.
The need to adapt enjoyable songs to the constraints of a theater and a plot enabled and encouraged a growth in songwriting and the rise of composers such as
George Gershwin
,
Cole Porter
,
Irving Berlin
and
Jerome Kern
. Most of these songwriters were
Jewish
, descended from Jews who immigrated from
Russia
.
[14]
Professional Yiddish theater in New York began in 1882 with a troupe founded by
Boris Thomashefsky
. The plays in the late 19th century were realistic, while in the beginning of the 20th century, they became more political and artistic in orientation. Some performers were well-respected enough to move back and forth between the Yiddish theatre and Broadway, including
Bertha Kalich
and
Jacob Adler
. Some of the major composers included
Abraham Goldfaden
,
Joseph Rumshinsky
and
Sholom Secunda
,
[11]
while playwrights included
David Pinski
, Solomon Libin,
Jacob Gordin
, and
Leon Kobrin
.
Blues and jazz
[
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]
The
New York blues
was a type of
blues
music, characterized by significant jazz influences and a more modernized, urban feel than the country blues. It arose in New York in the early part of the 20th century, and quickly spread to other urban areas and, often, more affluent listeners than country blues, which is distinctively rural in nature. Prominent musicians from this field include
Lionel Hampton
,
Ethel Waters
, and
Joe Turner
.
In New York,
jazz
was fused with
stride
(an advanced form of
ragtime
) and became highly evolved, notably in the compositions of
James P. Johnson
in the 1920s.
Fletcher Henderson
's jazz orchestra, first appearing in 1923 and including
Coleman Hawkins
(and later
New Orleans
musician
Louis Armstrong
) became wildly popular and helped invent
swing music
. Though Henderson was among the first major New York jazz musicians, he was not as able to adapt to the rapidly changing style as some of his contemporaries, such as
Duke Ellington
. When Ellington moved to New York, he inaugurated a legion of jazz musicians that did the same and moved the center of jazz's development from Chicago to New York.
The style that developed from New York's big jazz bands became known as
swing music
; it was a very danceable and catchy style, played originally by large black orchestras. Later, white bands led by musicians such as
Jimmy Dorsey
and
Benny Goodman
began to dominate. These large orchestras produced a number of instrumentalists that had a profound effect on the later evolution of jazz, including
Coleman Hawkins
' tenor saxophone innovations, electric guitarist
Charlie Christian
, and improvisational
Lester Young
. Star vocalists also emerged, mainly women, such as the bluesy
Billie Holiday
and the
scat singer
Ella Fitzgerald
.
[1]
New York's jazz scene was the home of
bebop
, which evolved over many years and reached its full identity in the mid-1940s. Charlie Christian,
Dizzy Gillespie
,
Charlie Parker
, and
Thelonious Monk
were among the major innovators of the style. Bebop "polarized listeners, critics and musicians alike" because it differed from swing in many important ways, including a lack of typical
riffs
and danceable beats, the use of melodic progression and the chords as the basis for all soloing and improvising.
In the 1950s, jazz began to diversify into a number of new genres, spread out into many cities. The West Coast became a home for
cool jazz
, though the style's major innovator was New York-based
Miles Davis
. New York was also a major center for
hard bop
, and was home to
Sonny Rollins
and
Art Blakey
. Late in the 1950s, the Los Angeles-based
Ornette Coleman
moved to New York, bringing with him the nascent style of
free jazz
. He was later joined by a number of others, most famously including
John Coltrane
and his contemporaries, such as
Albert Ayler
and
Sun Ra
.
[1]
The last few decades have seen a further diffusion of jazz from New York and other major long-time capitals, to cities and regions across the United States and the world. Many New York jazz performers during this period played fusions of jazz with rock and other styles; among the earliest of these modern musicians was
Carla Bley
, cofounder of the Jazz Composers Orchestra Association, an independent distribution company for avant-garde and jazz artists. The city has also been home to the well-known modern performer from
New Orleans, Louisiana
,
Wynton Marsalis
and the large M-Base Collective, as well as people such as
John Zorn
who use jazz as a prominent part of their experimental music in many different styles.
[1]
The Neo-Soul/Jazz band Youman Wilder/Featuring Weird Stories is a New York-born-and-bred band with a following in Europe, Canada, and Asia.
Wilder was one of late Grammy Award-winning
[19]
singer Amy Winehouse's favorite vocalists.
The sweet multi-part harmonies of Doo-Wop originated on the street corners of Harlem and Brooklyn. Although other cities such as Philadelphia and Chicago would have
strong Doo-Wop scenes, the sound was nurtured on the streets of New York by early pioneers of the sound such as
The Ravens
,
The Crows
,
The Chords
, and especially
The Drifters
, who would enjoy a long and very prolific career. By the 1950s, a plethora of groups would hail from New York, including
Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers
;
The Crests
, led by Johnny Maestro of
The Brooklyn Bridge
, which became synonymous with Brooklyn Doo-Wop;
The Rays
;
The Mystics
; and pioneering female groups
The Bobbettes
and
The Chantels
, who would influence the
Girl group
sound of the 1960s.
List of notable doo wop groups from New York
[
edit
]
Greenwich Village
[
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]
Beginning in the 1940s, New York was the center for a
roots revival
of
American folk music
. Many New Yorkers, especially young people, became interested in
blues
,
Appalachian folk music
, and other roots styles. In
Greenwich Village
, many of these people gathered; the area became a hotbed of American folk music as well as leftist political activism.
The performers associated with the Greenwich Village scene, many of whom were not originally from New York, had sporadic mainstream success in the 1940s and 1950s; some, such as
Pete Seeger
and the
Almanac Trio
, did well, but most were confined to local coffeehouses and other venues. Performers such as
Dave Van Ronk
and
Joan Baez
helped expand the scene by appealing to college students. In the early 1960s, Baez was instrumental in introducing the up-and-coming young folk artist
Bob Dylan
to her audience and he quickly achieved national prominence. By the mid-1960s, folk and rock were merging, with Bob Dylan taking the lead in July 1965, releasing "
Like a Rolling Stone
," with a revolutionary rock sound for its time, steeped in tawdry New York imagery, followed by an electric performance in late July at the Newport Folk Festival. Dylan plugged an entire generation into the milieu of the singer-songwriter, often writing from an urban, New York point of view. By the mid-to-late 1960s, bands and singer/songwriters began to proliferate the underground New York art and music scene. The release of
The Velvet Underground & Nico
in 1967, featuring singer-songwriter
Lou Reed
and collaborator
Nico
, was described as the "most prophetic rock album ever made" by
Rolling Stone
in 2003. New York in the mid-to-late 1960s gave birth to the contemporary singer/songwriter, with the urban landscape as a canvass for lyrics in the confessional style of poets like
Anne Sexton
and
Sylvia Plath
. In July 1969,
Newsweek
magazine's feature story, "The Girls-Letting Go," described the groundbreaking music of
Joni Mitchell
,
Laura Nyro
,
Lotti Golden
, and
Melanie
as a new breed of female troubadour: "What is common to them are the personalized songs they write, like voyages of self discovery, startling in the impact of their poetry." The work of these early New York-based singer/songwriters, from Laura Nyro's insightful
New York Tendaberry
, released in 1969, to Lotti Golden's adventurous
East Village, Manhattan
, diaries on
Motor-Cycle
, her 1969 debut on
Atlantic Records
, has served as inspiration to generations of female singer/songwriters in the rock, folk, and jazz traditions.
The Guardian
in January 2017 paid homage to the female singer/songwriters featured in
Newsweek
's July 1969 article, in a piece by
Laura Barton
: "Newsweek published an article under the headline 'The Girls ? Letting Go,' charting the burgeoning careers of a group of young musicians it termed 'a new school of talented female troubadours.' They sang about politics, love affairs, the urban landscape, drugs, disappointment, and the life and loneliness of the itinerant performers, subjects that, hitherto, had largely been the preserve of male musicians." New York would see a revived interest in folk and singer/songwriters in the 1980s and 1990s led by artists like
Suzanne Vega
.
List of notable singer-songwriters and folk artists from New York
[
edit
]
Electronic dance music
[
edit
]
Disco
is an up-tempo style of
dance music
that originated in the early 1970s, with its center in the United States in New York. As discotheques grew more popular later in the decade, they began moving to larger venues as the sound became popularized by artists such as Newark native
Gloria Gaynor
. Many of these were in New York, including
Paradise Garage
and
Studio 54
.
As the disco trend faded, dance clubs continued to have a home in New York into the 1980s in trendy clubs such as
Danceteria
, remembered perhaps best as the club where arguably dance music's diva,
Madonna
, began her career. Club music added electronically generated sounds and samples of music such as jazz, blues, and European and Japanese electronic music.
In the early 1980s,
house music
, a direct descendant of disco, was forged in the underground clubs of Chicago, Detroit, and New York.
Freestyle
also originated in New York during the 1980s. A sound characterized by a mixture of Latin music beats and melodies fused with elements of hip hop and electro, it became popularized by New York natives such as
Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam
,
Brenda K. Starr
.
List of notable contemporary R&B and club artists from New York
[
edit
]
Latin music
[
edit
]
Salsa
is a style of
Latin music
that incorporates multiple styles and variations. It was developed by mid-1960s groups of
New York City
-area Cuban and
Puerto Rican
immigrants to the
United States
, such as
Machito
and
Tito Puente
, with later variants such as
salsa dura
. Salsa, along with other Latin American genres, has become extremely popular in New York. Latin dancing is also very popular. Salsa, a music predominantly derived from the Cuban
son montuno
, was imported back to Latin America where it has become popular over the past 40 years. Salsa aficionados the world over know that the origin of the music is uniquely tied to New York.
The same phenomenon has recently occurred with yet another type of Latin rhythm,
bachata
. Bachata is dominated by
Dominicans
, especially Dominicans from New York's
Washington Heights
neighborhood. From The Bronx came bachata's most popular band
Aventura
, whose lead singer
Romeo Santos
embarked on a successful solo career in 2011.
Reggaeton
, a popular Latin urban genre originating from
Panama
and
Puerto Rico
, is also popular in New York, especially among young Hispanics. Reggaeton artists from New York include
Arcangel
,
De La Ghetto
,
N.O.R.E.
, and
Vico C
.
Hip hop
[
edit
]
New York gave rise to the creation of
hip hop music
and
electro
in the late 1970s and early 1980s. "
Rapper's Delight
" is widely regarded as the first hip hop record to gain widespread popularity in the mainstream. The genre got its start at neighborhood
block parties
when
DJs
such as
Kool Herc
began isolating percussion breaks in
funk
and
R&B
songs, eventually
rapping
while the audience danced. From the late 1970s to about 1984, New York was the only city with a major hip hop scene, and the demand for records created competing independent record labels, including
Profile Records
,
Sugarhill Records
, Enjoy Records and
Tommy Boy Records
, pumping out 12" records at a furuious pace due to the popularity of the new genre, the incredible creativity of the early hip hop producers and artists, as well as the profitability of the new market. Labels were able to issue quality recordings due to the affordability of new technology, primarily the
Roland TR-808
drum machine. The first wave of hip hop records (
old school hip hop
), pomolgated by producers, artists, and writers including
Arthur Baker
,
Afrika Bambaataa
,
Grandmaster Flash
,
Melle Mel
, DJ Kool Herc,
Bobby Robinson
,
Lotti Golden
and
Spoonie Gee
, were electronic, some with rap vocals and some without. The year 1982 was prolific, with seminal recordings like "
The Message
," "
Planet Rock
," and "
Nunk
" exploring social issues, also known as
conscious rap
, and fusing electro with hip hop introducing a
sci-fi
,
Afrofuturist
perspective. By 1984, hip hop began to change; new sparse beats and rock samples gave the genre a harder edge, with groups like
Run DMC
and the
Beastie Boys
and producers
Russel Simmons
and
Rick Rubin
at the forefront of a new iteration of the genre. Hip hop's early years saw an ongoing rivalry between the boroughs of New York, with each seeking credit for its rightful contributions to the culture. The original "beef" pitted
The Bronx
, led by
Boogie Down Productions
, against
Marley Marl
's Queens-based
Juice Crew
.
By the early 1990s, however,
West Coast rap
from
Los Angeles
was gaining national fame. In 1992,
Dr. Dre
's
The Chronic
became a national hit and made the West Coast the most popular center of hip hop. However, in 1993, with the release of
Black Moon
's
Enta Da Stage
and later on Wu-Tang Clan's
36 Chambers
in the same year, East Coast hip hop made a major comeback. The release of
Nas
's
Illmatic
and
The Notorious B.I.G.
's
Ready to Die
in 1994 made New York the most popular center of hip hop once again in a timeframe of just two years. The West Coast never again enjoyed such levels of success as they did in 1992 and 1993. However, the East Coast delivered one classic album after another for the rest of the decade. Most prominent of the releases include Mobb Deep's
The Infamous
and
Hell On Earth
, Jay-Z's
Reasonable Doubt
, and
DMX
's
It's Dark and Hell Is Hot
. Ma$e's
Harlem World
cemented him as the most popular MC in New York in the late 1990s. However, he left the industry to pursue other callings. The East Coast still remains a prominent center of hip hop in the current scene, but their mainstream appeal has been somewhat taken over by the
rappers from the Southern states
of the U.S.
Each borough or area of
New York City
has its fair share of associated hip hop acts, both commercially successful and underground.
KRS-One
,
Fat Joe
,
Big Pun
, and
Slick Rick
all grew up in The Bronx, although the latter is an implant from London, England.
Wu-Tang Clan
put
Staten Island
on the hip hop map, renaming the borough "Shaolin." LL Cool J,
Run?D.M.C.
,
Salt-N-Pepa
,
Eric B. & Rakim
,
Black Sheep
,
A Tribe Called Quest
, Akinyele,
Ja Rule
, 21 Quest,
[22]
Pharoahe Monch
,
Nicki Minaj
, and
50 Cent
are all from Queens. Additionally, the
Queensbridge
Projects in
Queens
have been an epicenter of hip hop, producing the Juice Crew (Marley Marl,
MC Shan
,
Kool G Rap
,
Roxanne Shante
),
Mobb Deep
,
Capone-N-Noreaga
, and
Nas
. In order of appearance, Brooklyn has produced
Whodini
,
Newcleus
,
Audio Two
,
Full Force
,
MC Lyte
,
Gang Starr
,
Jeru the Damaja
,
Masta Ace
,
Boot Camp Clik
,
AZ
,
Busta Rhymes
,
Foxy Brown
,
Talib Kweli
,
Afu-Ra
,
M.O.P.
,
Shyne
, and
Siah and Yeshua DapoED
. The
Bedford-Stuyvesant
neighborhood has been a hotbed successful hip hop artists, including
Junior M.A.F.I.A.
(consisting of
The Notorious B.I.G.
,
Lil' Kim
,
Lil' Cease
,
Mase
, and others),
Big Daddy Kane
,
Jay-Z
,
Killah Priest
,
Mos Def
, and
Joey Bada$$
. Lastly, the island of Manhattan, particularly Harlem, is home to artists such as Kurtis Blow,
Doug E. Fresh
(an implant form
Barbados
),
Biz Markie
, 2 Black 2 Strong MMG,
Big L
,
Immortal Technique
,
Vast Aire
,
Azealia Banks
,
Cam'ron
,
Mase
,
Black Rob
,
MIMS
,
Street P
,
Dipset
,
Eyston
,
Warp 9
, and
A$AP Rocky
.
In modern day, New York City's
drill
musicians have achieved local and global popularity.
Brooklyn drill
artists include
Pop Smoke
,
Fivio Foreign
,
Sheff G
,
Sleepy Hallow
, Bizzy Banks, J.I. Prince of N.Y.,
Jay Critch
and more.
[
citation needed
]
Prominent artists of the sample drill style, originating in the Bronx, include Big Yaya,
Kay Flock
,
B-Lovee
, and more.
[23]
Rock
[
edit
]
Since the beginning of the genre, New York has been a vital force in the shaping of rock 'n' roll. DJ
Alan Freed
, perhaps the most influential force in popularizing rock 'n' roll, broadcast his highly influential show from
WINS
, which became one of the earliest exclusively rock 'n' roll stations. Early rock 'n' roll sounds such as
Doo-Wop
and
Girl group
were nurtured in New York.
List of notable rock artists from New York
[
edit
]
Proto punk, punk, new wave and no wave
[
edit
]
New York had the earliest documented
punk rock
scene. Drawing on local influences such as
The Velvet Underground
,
Richard Hell
, and the
New York Dolls
, punk music developed at clubs such as
CBGB
and
Max's Kansas City
.
Patti Smith
,
Talking Heads
,
Blondie
,
Suicide
,
Television
,
The Fleshtones
, and other artsy
new wave
artists were popular in the mid-to-late 1970s, as bands like the
Ramones
were establishing the punk rock sound.
CBGB
and
Max's Kansas City
opened their doors and became influential venues.
No Wave
was a short-lived rock movement in New York and raised
James Chance
,
DNA
,
Glenn Branca
,
Lydia Lunch
,
the Contortions
,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks
,
Mars
began experimenting with noise,
dissonance
and
atonality
in addition to non-rock styles.
Brian Eno
-produced
No New York
compilation, often considered the quintessential testament to the scene.
[24]
Swans
, and later
Sonic Youth
were famous in the New York punk scene.
Hardcore punk and ska
[
edit
]
In the early 1980s,
hardcore punk
was developing primarily in
Southern California
and
Washington, D.C.
The
New York hardcore
scene was founded by 1981, and bands such as
Reagan Youth
and
Kraut
led the initial charge. By 1985, the New York hardcore scene had become inhabited by
straight edgers
and
skinheads
, including bands such as
Agnostic Front
,
Cro-Mags
,
Heart Attack
,
Youth of Today
,
The Plasmatics
,
Warzone
, and
Murphy's Law
. With the collapse of the CBGB hardcore matinees due to constant violence, a more activist
DIY
scene began to develop around
ABC No Rio
and the
squats
of the
Lower East Side
. New York has been at the center of the United States
third wave ska
scene. The founders of third wave ska, which drew on British
Two-Tone
ska, were New York bands such as
the Toasters
and
Urban Blight
. In the early 1980s, Toasters singer/guitarist and songwriter
Robert 'Bucket' Hingley
established
Moon Ska Records
; the label operated until the late 1990s, giving many ska bands from New York and elsewhere international exposure. Some of the other ska bands to come from the New York scene were
Skinnerbox
,
The Slackers
, and
Mephiskapheles
. Other major hardcore punk bands from New York are
Sick of It All
,
H
2
O
, and
Madball
. There are also ska-jazz bands, such as the New York Ska Jazz Ensemble.
Heavy metal
[
edit
]
New York has also contributed to the
heavy metal
genre, with bands such as
Sir Lord Baltimore
and
Blue Oyster Cult
gaining attention from the early 1970s. During the 1980s and 1990s, it was a major center of the
East Coast thrash metal
scene, which produced the bands
Anthrax
,
Overkill
(originally from New Jersey),
Nuclear Assault
,
Toxik
and
Carnivore
.
Funk metal
groups such as
Living Colour
and
24-7 Spyz
, and
alternative metal
groups such as
Prong
and
Helmet
, also emerged from the growing New York metal scene. Three other major metal bands from New York are
Type O Negative
,
Emmure
, and
Life of Agony
, all from Brooklyn.
In the 1990s and later, New York and its environs developed a small but influential
death metal
scene.
Suffocation
, one of the best-known bands to emerge from the scene, earned a good deal of notoriety for their brutal, complex, and uncompromising style. Another long-lived New York death metal group is
Immolation
, whose innovative use of dissonance helped to establish them as underground favorites. Other bands associated with New York death metal are
Mortician
and
Incantation
, the latter being originally from
Pennsylvania
.
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Richie Unterberger,
The Rough Guide to Music USA
, pgs. 1-65
- ^
Gotham Gazette The Gotham Gazette specifically notes the rise of
Pitchfork Media
, based out of Chicago, as a source for New York music info; since Pitchfork is not a New York-based company, this is held to be evidence of a decline in New York's importance (note: Pitchfork's popularity is cited to
The New York Observer
)
- ^
"Has the Music Scene Died in New York?"
.
Gotham Gazette
. Retrieved
September 7,
2005
.
- ^
"New York City's Radio Music Hall Recaptures Its Past"
.
National Trust
. Retrieved
March 3,
2009
.
- ^
"About Lincoln Center"
.
Lincoln Center
. Retrieved
August 29,
2005
.
- ^
"History of the New York Philharmonic"
.
New York Philharmonic
. Retrieved
August 29,
2005
.
- ^
a
b
c
Ferris, Jean (1993).
America's Musical Landscape
. Brown & Benchmark.
ISBN
0-697-12516-5
.
- ^
Flick, Larry (1997-11-01). "Diverse notes define New York City soundscape; club DJs step into star role on dance scene".
Billboard
. Vol. 109, no. 44. pp. 1?3.
- ^
"Roz Nixon Entertainment.com"
.
Roz Nixon Entertainment.com
.
- ^
Burk, Cassie, Virginia Meierhoffer and Claude Anderson Phillips,
America's Musical Heritage
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
Struble,
The History of American Classical Music
- ^
Struble, pg. 122
. After Gershwin, American classical music became focused as it had never been focused before. And the world began to sit up and listen.
- ^
Bain, Katie (23 January 2014).
"Los Angeles Is the Best City For Music. Period"
.
- ^
a
b
Clarke, Donald (1995).
The Rise and Fall of Popular Music
. St. Martin's Press.
ISBN
0-312-11573-3
.
- ^
Ewen, David (1957).
Panorama of American Popular Music
. Prentice Hall.
- ^
Ewen, pg. 94 (T)hese publishers devised formulas by which songs could be produced with speed and dispatch... Songs were now to be produced from a serviceable matrix, and issued in large quantities: stereotypes for foreign songs, Negro songs, humorous ditties, and, most important of all, sentimental ballads.
- ^
Ewen, pg. 98
Less disposed toward cliches than so many of his rivals, elss inclined to stretch an emotion to the point of maudlin and cloying sentimentality, Dresser was a composers whose finest ballads have a winning charm and a lingering fragrance.
- ^
Ewen, pg. 101 and Clarke, pg. 62 Ewen attributes "New Coon in Town" to
Paul Allen
, yet Clarke attributes it to
J. S. Putnam
, though both agree on the year, 1883
- ^
"Youman Wilder Talks About His Return To The New York Performing Stage, His Stroke, And How He Overcame The London Drug Scene And Childhood Abuse"
. 16 August 2016.
- ^
"Home"
.
www.fatbackband.com
. Retrieved
Aug 25,
2021
.
- ^
"Mtume | Biography, Albums, Streaming Links"
.
AllMusic
. Retrieved
Aug 25,
2021
.
- ^
Lopez, Ashleyan.
"21 Quest goes on 'Where I'm From' tour"
.
AXS
.
- ^
"Sample Drill Is Taking Over New York Rap"
.
Complex
. Retrieved
2022-11-15
.
- ^
Masters, Marc (2008).
No Wave
.
New York City
: Black Dog Publishing. p. 9.
ISBN
978-1-906155-02-5
.
References
[
edit
]
- Blush, Steven
;
Petros, George
(Oct 1, 2001).
American Hardcore: A Tribal History
.
Feral House
.
ISBN
9780922915712
. Retrieved
Aug 10,
2017
.
- Burk, Cassie, Virginia Meierhoffer and Claude Anderson Phillips (1942).
America's Musical Heritage
. Laidlaw Brothers.
{{
cite book
}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link
)
- Clarke, Donald (1995).
The Rise and Fall of Popular Music
.
St. Martin's Press
.
ISBN
0-312-11573-3
.
- Ewen, David (1957).
Panorama of American Popular Music
.
Prentice Hall
.
- Ferris, Jean (1993).
America's Musical Landscape
. Brown & Benchmark.
ISBN
0-697-12516-5
.
- "Has the Music Scene Died in New York?"
.
Gotham Gazette
. Retrieved
September 7,
2005
.
- "About Lincoln Center"
.
Lincoln Center
. Retrieved
August 29,
2005
.
- "New York City's Radio Music Hall Recaptures Its Past"
.
National Trust
. Retrieved
August 29,
2005
.
- "History of the New York Philharmonic"
.
New York Philharmonic
. Retrieved
August 29,
2005
.
- Unterberger, Richie (1999).
Music USA: The Rough Guide
. The
Rough Guides
. pp.
1?65
.
ISBN
1-85828-421-X
.