the setting of Sonny's Blues was harlem nyc between the 50's and 60's. you can infer that sonny is affected by this because he writes from jail, he wants to enlist in the army, and he later on plays in a jazz club. the narrator also describes his encounters with both drugs and crime and some attempts to avoid them.
The racist atmosphere of the pre-1950s military was at best inhospitable and at worst lethal to black soldiers. In 1953, a rash of lynching’s of blacks in uniform finally spurred President Truman into action to desegregate the military.
African Americans had had a long and distinguished record of volunteering for military combat, from the Revolutionary War through the Korean War. But their patriotic efforts were often spurned by white officers. African American men had tried to prove their patriotism and to improve their standard of living by serving in the U.S. military. Hoping that service to their country would prove them worthy of the same respect and opportunities accorded to whites, black men readily enlisted in the military.
Stormy Blues by Billie Holiday
I've been down so long That down don't worry me
I've been down so long that down don't worry me
I just sit and wonder it rains in here
It's storming on the sea
When it rains in here
It's storming on the sea
Every time I come here Everything happens to me
I lose my head
I lose my money
Feel like I'm almost dead
i picked this because sonny eels that his life is already so bad that nothing can help him. he feels every time he tries to be better than what he is he was and will be rejected.
In the late 1930s and early 1940s, a new form of jazz music was being developed. The style, called “bebop,” “bop,” or later, “hard bop,” centered on a very complex and abstract type of soloing during familiar tunes. Often in the solo, only the chords of the original melody would remain the same, and the tune would bear no resemblance to more traditional versions. The soloist would also play at blistering speeds. The earliest bebop musicians were trumpet players Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis, pianist Thelonious Monk, and saxophonist Charlie Parker. Parker is often credited as the originator of the genre.
despite his brother's disdain for his lifestyle and musical endeavors, sonny near the end follows his passion for jazz music
http://www.lyricsfreak.com/b/billie+holiday/
http://www.answers.com/topic/sonny-s-blues-story-6
The racist atmosphere of the pre-1950s military was at best inhospitable and at worst lethal to black soldiers. In 1953, a rash of lynching’s of blacks in uniform finally spurred President Truman into action to desegregate the military.
African Americans had had a long and distinguished record of volunteering for military combat, from the Revolutionary War through the Korean War. But their patriotic efforts were often spurned by white officers. African American men had tried to prove their patriotism and to improve their standard of living by serving in the U.S. military. Hoping that service to their country would prove them worthy of the same respect and opportunities accorded to whites, black men readily enlisted in the military.
Stormy Blues by Billie Holiday
I've been down so long That down don't worry me
I've been down so long that down don't worry me
I just sit and wonder it rains in here
It's storming on the sea
When it rains in here
It's storming on the sea
Every time I come here Everything happens to me
I lose my head
I lose my money
Feel like I'm almost dead
i picked this because sonny eels that his life is already so bad that nothing can help him. he feels every time he tries to be better than what he is he was and will be rejected.
In the late 1930s and early 1940s, a new form of jazz music was being developed. The style, called “bebop,” “bop,” or later, “hard bop,” centered on a very complex and abstract type of soloing during familiar tunes. Often in the solo, only the chords of the original melody would remain the same, and the tune would bear no resemblance to more traditional versions. The soloist would also play at blistering speeds. The earliest bebop musicians were trumpet players Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis, pianist Thelonious Monk, and saxophonist Charlie Parker. Parker is often credited as the originator of the genre.
despite his brother's disdain for his lifestyle and musical endeavors, sonny near the end follows his passion for jazz music
http://www.lyricsfreak.com/b/billie+holiday/
http://www.answers.com/topic/sonny-s-blues-story-6
