1.
Jazz
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Jazz is a music genre that originated amongst African Americans in New Orleans, United States, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and developed from roots in Blues and Ragtime. Since the 1920s jazz age, jazz has become recognized as a form of musical expression. Jazz is characterized by swing and blue notes, call and response vocals, polyrhythms, Jazz has roots in West African cultural and musical expression, and in African-American music traditions including blues and ragtime, as well as European military band music. Although the foundation of jazz is deeply rooted within the Black experience of the United States, different cultures have contributed their own experience, intellectuals around the world have hailed jazz as one of Americas original art forms. As jazz spread around the world, it drew on different national, regional, and local musical cultures, New Orleans jazz began in the early 1910s, combining earlier brass-band marches, French quadrilles, biguine, ragtime and blues with collective polyphonic improvisation. In the 1930s, heavily arranged dance-oriented swing big bands, Kansas City jazz, bebop emerged in the 1940s, shifting jazz from danceable popular music toward a more challenging musicians music which was played at faster tempos and used more chord-based improvisation. Cool jazz developed in the end of the 1940s, introducing calmer, smoother sounds and long, modal jazz developed in the late 1950s, using the mode, or musical scale, as the basis of musical structure and improvisation. Jazz-rock fusion appeared in the late 1960s and early 1970s, combining jazz improvisation with rock rhythms, electric instruments. In the early 1980s, a form of jazz fusion called smooth jazz became successful. Other styles and genres abound in the 2000s, such as Latin, the question of the origin of the word jazz has resulted in considerable research, and its history is well documented. It is believed to be related to jasm, a term dating back to 1860 meaning pep. The use of the word in a context was documented as early as 1915 in the Chicago Daily Tribune. Its first documented use in a context in New Orleans was in a November 14,1916 Times-Picayune article about jas bands. In an interview with NPR, musician Eubie Blake offered his recollections of the slang connotations of the term, saying, When Broadway picked it up. That was dirty, and if you knew what it was, the American Dialect Society named it the Word of the Twentieth Century. Jazz has proved to be difficult to define, since it encompasses such a wide range of music spanning a period of over 100 years. Attempts have been made to define jazz from the perspective of other musical traditions, in the opinion of Robert Christgau, most of us would say that inventing meaning while letting loose is the essence and promise of jazz. As Duke Ellington, one of jazzs most famous figures, said, although jazz is considered highly difficult to define, at least in part because it contains so many varied subgenres, improvisation is consistently regarded as being one of its key elements
2.
Latin jazz
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Latin jazz is a genre of jazz with Latin American rhythms. Although musicians continually expand its parameters, the term Latin jazz is generally understood to have a specific meaning than simply jazz from Latin America. Some Latin jazz typically employs rhythms that either have an analog in Africa. The two main categories of Latin jazz are, Afro-Cuban jazz—jazz rhythmically based on Cuban popular dance music, Afro-Brazilian jazz—includes bossa nova and jazz samba. African American music began incorporating Afro-Cuban musical motifs in the 19th century, the habanera was the first written music to be rhythmically based on an African motif. The habanera rhythm can be thought of as a combination of tresillo, wynton Marsalis considers tresillo to be the New Orleans clave, although technically, the pattern is only half a clave. Handy has a bass line. I began to suspect there was something Negroid in that beat. Jelly Roll Morton considered the tresillo/habanera to be an ingredient of jazz. The habanera rhythm can be heard in his hand on songs like The Crave. Now in one of my earliest tunes, “New Orleans Blues, in fact, if you can’t manage to put tinges of Spanish in your tunes, you will never be able to get the right seasoning, I call it, for jazz—Morton. Although the exact origins of jazz syncopation may never be known, buddy Bolden, the first known jazz musician, is credited with creating the big four, a habanera-based pattern. The big four was the first syncopated bass drum pattern to deviate from the standard on-the-beat march, as the example below shows, the second half of the big four pattern is the habanera rhythm. It is probably safe to say that by and large the simpler African rhythmic patterns survived in jazz, because they could be adapted more readily to European rhythmic conceptions. Some survived, others were discarded as the Europeanization progressed and it may also account for the fact that patterns such as. Remained one of the most useful and common syncopated patterns in jazz—Schuller, caravan, written by Juan Tizol and first performed in 1936, is an early proto-Latin jazz composition. The first jazz piece to be overtly based in-clave, and therefore, the tune was initially a descarga with jazz solos superimposed, spontaneously composed by Bauzá. The right hand of the Tanga piano guajeo is in the known as ponchando
3.
Dizzy Gillespie
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John Birks Dizzy Gillespie was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, and singer. AllMusics Scott Yanow wrote, Dizzy Gillespies contributions to jazz were huge, Gillespie was a trumpet virtuoso and improviser, building on the virtuoso style of Roy Eldridge but adding layers of harmonic complexity previously unheard in jazz. His beret and horn-rimmed spectacles, his singing, his bent horn, pouched cheeks. In the 1940s Gillespie, with Charlie Parker, became a figure in the development of bebop. He taught and influenced other musicians, including trumpeters Miles Davis, Jon Faddis, Fats Navarro, Clifford Brown, Arturo Sandoval, Lee Morgan, Chuck Mangione. Gillespie was born in Cheraw, South Carolina, the youngest of nine children of James, James was a local bandleader, so instruments were made available to the children. Gillespie started to play the piano at the age of four, Gillespies father died when he was only ten years old. Gillespie taught himself how to play the trombone as well as the trumpet by the age of twelve, from the night he heard his idol, Roy Eldridge, play on the radio, he dreamed of becoming a jazz musician. He received a scholarship to the Laurinburg Institute in North Carolina which he attended for two years before accompanying his family when they moved to Philadelphia. Teddy Hills band was where Gillespie made his first recording, King Porter Stomp, Willis was not immediately friendly but Gillespie was attracted anyway. The two finally married on May 9,1940 and they remained married until his death in 1993. Gillespie stayed with Teddy Hills band for a year, then left, in 1939, Gillespie joined Cab Calloways orchestra, with which he recorded one of his earliest compositions, the instrumental Pickin the Cabbage, in 1940. After a notorious altercation between the two men, Calloway fired Gillespie in late 1941, the incident is recounted by Gillespie, along with fellow Calloway band members Milt Hinton and Jonah Jones, in Jean Bachs 1997 film, The Spitball Story. Calloway did not approve of Gillespies mischievous humor, nor of his approach to soloing, according to Jones. Finally, their grudge for each other erupted over a thrown spitball, Calloway never thought highly of Gillespie, because he didnt view Gillespie as a good musician. Once during a rehearsal, a member of the band threw a spitball, already in a foul mood, Calloway decided to blame this on Gillespie. In order to clear his name, Gillespie didn’t take the blame, Calloway had minor cuts on the thigh and wrist. After the two men were separated, Calloway fired Gillespie, a few days later, Gillespie tried to apologize to Calloway, but he was dismissed
4.
Cuban Americans
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Cuban Americans are Americans who trace their ancestry to Cuba. Cuban Americans are the third largest Latino group in the United States, many communities throughout the United States have significant Cuban American populations. Florida has the highest concentration of Cuban Americans in the US, standing out in part because of its proximity to Cuba, followed by California, New Jersey, New York and Texas. South Florida is followed by New York City, Tampa, Union County and North Hudson, New Jersey areas, particularly Union City, Elizabeth, with a population of 141,250, the New York metropolitan areas Cuban community is the largest outside of Florida. Nearly 70% of all Cuban Americans live in Florida, thousands of Cuban settlers also immigrated to Louisiana between 1778 and 1802 and Texas during the period of Spanish rule. Since 1820, the Cuban presence was more than 1,000 people. In 1870 the number of Cuban immigrants increased to almost 12,000, of which about 4,500 resided in New York City, about 3,000 in New Orleans, and 2,000 in Key West. The year 1869 marked the beginning of one of the most significant periods of emigration from Cuba to the United States, the exodus of hundreds of workers and businessmen was linked to the manufacture of tobacco. It was an exodus of skilled workers, precisely the class in the island that had succeeded in establishing a free labor sector amid a slave economy. The manufacture of snuff by the Cuban labor force, became the most important source of income for Key West between 1869 and 1900. Tampa was added to such efforts, with a migration of Cubans. However, the half of the 1890s marked the decline of the Cuban immigrant population. The War accentuated Cuban immigrant integration into American society, whose numbers were significant, in the mid- to late 19th century, several cigar manufacturers moved their operations to Key West to get away from growing disruptions as Cubans sought independence from Spanish colonial rule. The Cuban government had established a grammar school in Key West to help preserve Cuban culture. There, children learned folk songs and patriotic hymns such as La Bayamesa, in 1885, Vicente Martinez Ybor moved his cigar operations from Key West to the town of Tampa, Florida to escape labor strife. Ybor City was designed as a company town, and it quickly attracted thousands of Cuban workers from Key West. West Tampa, another new cigar manufacturing community, was founded nearby in 1892, both Ybor City and West Tampa were instrumental in Cubas eventual independence. After the Spanish–American War, some Cubans returned to their native land, several other small waves of Cuban emigration to the U. S. occurred in the early 20th century
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Cuba
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Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is a country comprising the island of Cuba as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located in the northern Caribbean where the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, and it is south of both the U. S. state of Florida and the Bahamas, west of Haiti, and north of Jamaica. Havana is the largest city and capital, other cities include Santiago de Cuba. Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean, with an area of 109,884 square kilometres, prior to Spanish colonization in the late 15th century, Cuba was inhabited by Amerindian tribes. It remained a colony of Spain until the Spanish–American War of 1898, as a fragile republic, Cuba attempted to strengthen its democratic system, but mounting political radicalization and social strife culminated in the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in 1952. Further unrest and instability led to Batistas ousting in January 1959 by the July 26 Movement, since 1965, the state has been governed by the Communist Party of Cuba. A point of contention during the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, a nuclear war broke out during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Culturally, Cuba is considered part of Latin America, Cuba is a Marxist–Leninist one-party republic, where the role of the vanguard Communist Party is enshrined in the Constitution. Independent observers have accused the Cuban government of human rights abuses. It is one of the worlds last planned economies and its economy is dominated by the exports of sugar, tobacco, coffee, according to the Human Development Index, Cuba is described as a country with high human development and is ranked the eighth highest in North America. It also ranks highly in some metrics of national performance, including health care, the name Cuba comes from the Taíno language. The exact meaning of the name is unclear but it may be translated either as where fertile land is abundant, authors who believe that Christopher Columbus was Portuguese state that Cuba was named by Columbus for the town of Cuba in the district of Beja in Portugal. Before the arrival of the Spanish, Cuba was inhabited by three distinct tribes of indigenous peoples of the Americas, the Taíno, the Guanajatabey, and the Ciboney people. The ancestors of the Ciboney migrated from the mainland of South America, the Taíno arrived from Hispanola sometime in the 3rd century A. D. When Columbus arrived they were the dominant culture in Cuba, having a population of 150,000. The name Cuba comes from the native Taíno language and it is derived from either coabana meaning great place, or from cubao meaning where fertile land is abundant. The Taíno were farmers, while the Ciboney were farmers as well as fishers and hunter-gatherers, Columbus claimed the island for the new Kingdom of Spain and named it Isla Juana after Juan, Prince of Asturias. In 1511, the first Spanish settlement was founded by Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar at Baracoa, other towns soon followed, including San Cristobal de la Habana, founded in 1515, which later became the capital
6.
Charlie Parker
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Charles Charlie Parker, Jr. also known as Yardbird and Bird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Parker was an influential jazz soloist and a leading figure in the development of bebop. Parker was a blazingly fast virtuoso, and he introduced revolutionary harmonic ideas including rapid passing chords, new variants of altered chords and his tone ranged from clean and penetrating to sweet and somber. Parker acquired the nickname Yardbird early in his career, Parker was an icon for the hipster subculture and later the Beat Generation, personifying the jazz musician as an uncompromising artist and intellectual rather than just an entertainer. Charles Parker, Jr. was born in Kansas City, Kansas, and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, the child of Charles Parker and Adelaide Addie. He attended Lincoln High School in September 1934, but withdrew in December 1935, Parker began playing the saxophone at age 11, and at age 14 he joined his schools band using a rented school instrument. His father, Charles, was absent but provided some musical influence, he was a pianist. He later became a Pullman waiter or chef on the railways, Parkers mother Addie worked nights at the local Western Union office. His biggest influence at that time was a trombone player who taught him the basics of improvisation. In the late 1930s Parker began to practice diligently, during this period he mastered improvisation and developed some of the ideas that led to bebop. In an interview with Paul Desmond, he said that he spent three to four years practicing up to 15 hours a day, bands led by Count Basie and Bennie Moten certainly influenced Parker. In 1937, Parker played at a jam session at the Reno Club in Kansas City and his attempt to improvise failed when he lost track of the chord changes. This prompted Jo Jones, the drummer for Count Basies Orchestra, in 1938 Parker joined pianist Jay McShanns territory band. The band toured nightclubs and other venues of the southwest, as well as Chicago, Parker made his professional recording debut with McShanns band. As a teenager, Parker developed a morphine addiction while hospitalized after an automobile accident and he continued using heroin throughout his life, and it ultimately contributed to his death. In 1939 Parker moved to New York City, to pursue a career in music and he held several other jobs as well. He worked for nine dollars a week as a dishwasher at Jimmies Chicken Shack, in 1942 Parker left McShanns band and played for one year with Earl Hines, whose band included Dizzy Gillespie, who later played with Parker as a duo. This period is virtually undocumented, due to the strike of 1942–1943 by the American Federation of Musicians, Parker joined a group of young musicians, and played in after-hours clubs in Harlem, such as [[Clark Monroes Uptown House
7.
Billboard Music Award
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The Billboard Music Award is an honor given by Billboard, a publication and music popularity chart covering the music business. The Billboard Music Awards show had been held annually since 1989 in December until it went dormant in 2006, the awards returned in 2011 and is held annually in May. The 2016 Billboard Music Awards aired live on May 22 on ABC, Awards were given for the top album/artist/single in different genres. From 1989 to 2006, the show had the same categories, in 2011, for the first time, all of the awards were renamed to Top. The of the portion of each category title no longer exists. Other awards, including both crossover awards were discontinued, since 2011, the nominees have had five nominees. The general categories are Top Artist, Top Billboard 200 Album, Top Hot 100 Song and these categories highlighted in each award and other categories are divided by genre. 2011, Neil Diamond 2012, Stevie Wonder 2013, Prince 2014, Jennifer Lopez 2016, Celine Dion Recognizes music singers, plans for a new version of the awards in 2008 fell through, and the BMAs were not held until 2011. On February 17,2011, Billboard announced that it would bring the BMAs back to television, moving from its home on Fox to its new network, ABC. A new award statuette was created by New York firm Society Awards, dick Clark Productions produces the ceremony, giving it control of both of ABCs non-country music awards specials, including the November American Music Awards. Billboard Touring Awards Billboard Japan Music Awards Billboard Latin Music Awards Billboard Women in Music Official website
8.
White House
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The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the President of the United States, located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D. C. It has been the residence of every U. S. president since John Adams in 1800, the term White House is often used to refer to actions of the president and his advisers, as in The White House announced that. The residence was designed by Irish-born architect James Hoban in the Neoclassical style, construction took place between 1792 and 1800 using Aquia Creek sandstone painted white. When Thomas Jefferson moved into the house in 1801, he added low colonnades on each wing that concealed stables and storage. In 1814, during the War of 1812, the mansion was set ablaze by the British Army in the Burning of Washington, destroying the interior, reconstruction began almost immediately, and President James Monroe moved into the partially reconstructed Executive Residence in October 1817. Exterior construction continued with the addition of the semi-circular South portico in 1824, because of crowding within the executive mansion itself, President Theodore Roosevelt had all work offices relocated to the newly constructed West Wing in 1901. Eight years later in 1909, President William Howard Taft expanded the West Wing and created the first Oval Office, in the main mansion, the third-floor attic was converted to living quarters in 1927 by augmenting the existing hip roof with long shed dormers. A newly constructed East Wing was used as an area for social events. East Wing alterations were completed in 1946, creating additional office space, by 1948, the houses load-bearing exterior walls and internal wood beams were found to be close to failure. Under Harry S. Truman, the rooms were completely dismantled. Once this work was completed, the rooms were rebuilt. The Executive Residence is made up of six stories—the Ground Floor, State Floor, Second Floor, the property is a National Heritage Site owned by the National Park Service and is part of the Presidents Park. In 2007, it was ranked second on the American Institute of Architects list of Americas Favorite Architecture, in May 1790, New York began construction of Government House for his official residence, but he never occupied it. The national capital moved to Philadelphia in December 1790, the July 1790 Residence Act named Philadelphia, Pennsylvania the temporary national capital for a 10-year period while the Federal City was under construction. The City of Philadelphia rented Robert Morriss city house at 190 High Street for Washingtons presidential residence, the first president occupied the Market Street mansion from November 1790 to March 1797, and altered it in ways that may have influenced the design of the White House. As part of an effort to have Philadelphia named the permanent national capital, Pennsylvania built a much grander presidential mansion several blocks away. President John Adams also occupied the Market Street mansion from March 1797 to May 1800, on Saturday, November 1,1800, he became the first president to occupy the White House. The Presidents House in Philadelphia became a hotel and was demolished in 1832, the Presidents House was a major feature of Pierre Charles LEnfants plan for the newly established federal city, Washington, D. C
9.
University of Notre Dame
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The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located adjacent to South Bend, Indiana, in the United States. In French, Notre Dame du Lac means Our Lady of the Lake and refers to the patron saint. The main campus covers 1,250 acres in a setting and it contains a number of recognizable landmarks, such as the Golden Dome, the Word of Life mural. The school was founded on November 26,1842, by Father Edward Sorin, CSC, Today, many Holy Cross priests continue to work for the university, including the president of the university. Notre Dame is a large, four-year, highly residential research university, undergraduate students are organized into four colleges, and the Architecture School. The latter is known for teaching New Classical Architecture and for awarding the globally renowned annual Driehaus Architecture Prize, the university offers over 50 foreign study abroad yearlong programs and over 15 summer programs. It maintains a system of libraries, cultural venues, artistic and scientific museums, including the Hesburgh Library and the Snite Museum of Art. Over 80% of the universitys 8,000 undergraduates live on campus in one of 29 single-sex residence halls, each with its own traditions, legacies, events, the university counts approximately 120,000 alumni. The universitys athletic teams are members of the NCAA Division I and are known collectively as the Fighting Irish, other ND sport teams, chiefly in the Atlantic Coast Conference, have accumulated 16 national championships. The Notre Dame Victory March is often regarded as the most famous, started as a small all-male institution in 1842 and charter in 1844, Notre Dame reached international fame at the beginning of the 20th century. Ever since, the University has seen growth, and under the leadership of the next two presidents, Rev. Malloy and Rev. Jenkins, many infrastructure and research expansions have been completed. In 1842, the Bishop of Vincennes, Célestine Guynemer de la Hailandière, offered land to Father Edward Sorin of the Congregation of Holy Cross, on the condition that he build a college in two years. Sorin arrived on the site with eight Holy Cross brothers from France and Ireland on November 26,1842 and he soon erected additional buildings, including the Old College, the first church, and the first main building. They immediately acquired two students and set about building additions to the campus, Notre Dame began as a primary and secondary school, but soon received its official college charter from the Indiana General Assembly on January 15,1844. Under the charter the school is named the University of Notre Dame du Lac. Because the university was only for male students, the female-only Saint Marys College was founded by the Sisters of the Holy Cross near Notre Dame in 1844. The first degrees from the college were awarded in 1849, the university was expanded with new buildings to accommodate more students and faculty. With each new president, new programs were offered and new buildings built to accommodate them
10.
Barack Obama
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Barack Hussein Obama II is an American politician who served as the 44th President of the United States from 2009 to 2017. He is the first African American to have served as president and he previously served in the U. S. Senate representing Illinois from 2005 to 2008, and in the Illinois State Senate from 1997 to 2004. Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, two years after the territory was admitted to the Union as the 50th state and he grew up mostly in Hawaii, but also spent one year of his childhood in Washington State and four years in Indonesia. After graduating from Columbia University in 1983, he worked as a community organizer in Chicago, in 1988 Obama enrolled in Harvard Law School, where he was the first black president of the Harvard Law Review. After graduation, he became a civil rights attorney and professor, Obama represented the 13th District for three terms in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004, when he ran for the U. S. Senate. In 2008, Obama was nominated for president, a year after his campaign began and he was elected over Republican John McCain, and was inaugurated on January 20,2009. Nine months later, Obama was named the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, during his first two years in office, Obama signed more landmark legislation than any Democratic president since LBJs Great Society. Main reforms were the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, after a lengthy debate over the national debt limit, Obama signed the Budget Control and the American Taxpayer Relief Acts. In foreign policy, Obama increased U. S. troop levels in Afghanistan, reduced nuclear weapons with the U. S. -Russian New START treaty, and ended military involvement in the Iraq War. He ordered military involvement in Libya in opposition to Muammar Gaddafi, after winning re-election over Mitt Romney, Obama was sworn in for a second term in 2013. Obama also advocated gun control in response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, and issued wide-ranging executive actions concerning climate change and immigration. In foreign policy, Obama ordered military intervention in Iraq in response to gains made by ISIL after the 2011 withdrawal from Iraq, Obama left office in January 2017 with a 60% approval rating. He currently resides in Washington, D. C and his presidential library will be built in Chicago. Obama was born on August 4,1961, at Kapiʻolani Maternity & Gynecological Hospital in Honolulu and he is the only President to have been born in Hawaii. He was born to a mother and a black father. His mother, Ann Dunham, was born in Wichita, Kansas, of mostly English descent, with some German, Irish, Scottish, Swiss and his father, Barack Obama Sr. was a married Luo Kenyan man from Nyangoma Kogelo. Obamas parents met in 1960 in a Russian language class at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, the couple married in Wailuku, Hawaii on February 2,1961, six months before Obama was born. In late August 1961, Obamas mother moved him to the University of Washington in Seattle for a year
11.
Presidential Medal of Freedom
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The Presidential Medal of Freedom is an award bestowed by the President of the United States and is—along with the comparable Congressional Gold Medal—the highest civilian award of the United States. The award is not limited to U. S. citizens and, while it is an award, it can also be awarded to military personnel. It was established in 1963 by President John F. Kennedy, President John F. Kennedy established the current decoration in 1963 through Executive Order 11085, with unique and distinctive insignia, vastly expanded purpose, and far higher prestige. It was the first U. S. civilian neck decoration and, in the grade of Awarded With Distinction, is the only U. S. sash and star decoration. The Executive Order calls for the medal to be awarded annually on or around July 4, and at other convenient times as chosen by the president, Recipients are selected by the president, either on his own initiative or based on recommendations. The order establishing the medal also expanded the size and the responsibilities of the Distinguished Civilian Service Awards Board so it could serve as a source of such recommendations. The medal may be awarded to a more than once. It may also be awarded posthumously, examples include John F, golden American bald eagles with spread wings stand between the points of the star. It is worn around the neck on a ribbon with white edge stripes. When the medal With Distinction is awarded, the star may be presented descending from a neck ribbon, the sash and medal of the Presidential Medal of Freedom with distinction has never been worn in public since its inception. Andrew Presidential Medal of Freedom, an article from jfklibrary. org, Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipients, a list of recipients from May 5,1993, through August 19,2009, from senate. gov, the U. S. Senates official website. Hosted on georgewbush-whitehouse. archives. gov, a section of the U. S. National Archives, Medal of Freedom Ceremony, a news release, August 12,2009, from the White House Press Secretary at whitehouse. gov, the White Houses official website. War Figures Honored With Medal of Freedom, The New York Times, December 15,2004
12.
Tito Puente
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Ernesto Antonio Tito Puente was an American musician, songwriter and record producer. He is best known for dance-oriented mambo and Latin jazz compositions that endured over a 50-year career and he and his music appear in many films such as The Mambo Kings and Fernando Truebas Calle 54. He guest-starred on several shows, including Sesame Street and The Simpsons two-part episode Who Shot Mr. Burns. Tito Puente was born on April 20,1923, at Harlem Hospital Center in the New York borough of Manhattan and his family moved frequently, but he spent the majority of his childhood in the Spanish Harlem area of the city. Puentes father was the foreman at a razorblade factory, as a child, he was described as hyperactive, and after neighbors complained of hearing seven-year-old Puente beating on pots and window frames, his mother sent him to 25-cent piano lessons. By the age of 10, he switched to percussion, drawing influence from jazz drummer Gene Krupa and he later created a song-and-dance duo with his sister Anna in the 1930s and intended to become a dancer, but an ankle tendon injury prevented him pursuing dance as a career. When the drummer in Machitos band was drafted to the army, Tito Puente served in the Navy for three years during World War II after being drafted in 1942. He was discharged with a Presidential Unit Citation for serving in nine battles on the escort carrier USS Santee, the GI Bill allowed him to study music at Juilliard School of Music, where he completed a formal education in conducting, orchestration and theory. In 1969, he received the key to the City of New York from former Mayor John Lindsay, in 1992, he was inducted into the National Congressional Record, and in 1993 he received the James Smithson Bicentennial Medal from the Smithsonian. During the 1950s, Puente was at the height of his popularity, and helped to bring Afro-Cuban and Caribbean sounds like mambo, son, Puente was so successful playing popular Afro-Cuban rhythms that many people mistakenly identify him as Cuban. Dance Mania, possibly Puentes most well known album, was released in 1958, later, he moved into more diverse sounds, including pop music, bossa nova and others, eventually settling down with a fusion of Afro-Cuban and Latin jazz. In 1979, Puente won the first of five Grammy Awards for the albums A Tribute to Benny Moré, On Broadway, Mambo Diablo, in 1990, Puente was awarded the James Smithson Bicentennial Medal. He was also awarded a Grammy at the first Latin Grammy Awards, in 1995, he appeared as himself on the Simpsons episode Who Shot Mr. Burns. In early 2000, he shot the music documentary Calle 54 and he was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003. Puentes son Richard Richie Puente was the percussionist in the 70s Funk Band Foxy, Puentes youngest son, Tito Puente Jr. Puentes granddaughter, Janeen Puente, is a singer and bandleader. Her band is known as the Janeen Puente Orchestra, on September 10,2007, a United States Post Office in Spanish Harlem was named after him at a ceremony presided by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel and Rep. José Serrano. An amphitheatre was named in his honor at Luis Muñoz Marín Park, next to the Roberto Clemente Coliseum, in San Juan, Puente performed at the closing ceremonies at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. The timbales he used there are on display at the National Museum of American History in Washington D. C, in 1997, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts
