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| you smell lots of love sarahanthoney | |||
| {{redirect|Blues music|other uses|Blues (disambiguation)}} | |||
| {{bluesbox}} | |||
| '''Blues''' is a |vocal]] and instrumental form of ] based on the use of the ]s and a repetitive pattern that most often American|Scots-Irish]] narrative ballads. The use of blue notes and the prominence of ] patterns in the music and lyrics are indicative of ]n influence. The blues influenced later American and Western ], as it became part of the genres of ], ], ], ], ], and ]s. | |||
| ==Etymology== | |||
| The phrase ''the blues'' is a reference to having a fit of '']'', meaning 'down' spirits, depression and sadness. An early reference to "the blues" can be found in ] ] ''Blue devils, a farce in one act'' (1798).<ref>The "Trésor de la Langue Française informatisé" provides this etymology to the word blues and George Colman's farce as the first appearance of this term in the English language, see http://atilf.atilf.fr/dendien/scripts/fast.exe?mot=blues</ref> Later during the 19th century, the phrase was used as a ] for ] and the ]. | |||
| Though usage of the phrase in ] may be older, it has been attested to since 1912, when Hart Wand's "Dallas Blues" became the first copyrighted Blues composition.<ref>Davis, Francis. ''The History of the Blues''. New York: Hyperion, 1995.</ref><ref>Eric Partridge, ''A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English'', 2002, Routledge (UK), ISBN 0-415-29189-5</ref> In lyrics the phrase is often used to describe a ].<ref>Tony Bolden, ''Afro-Blue: Improvisations in African American Poetry and Culture'', 2004, ], ISBN 0-252-02874-0</ref> | |||
| ==Main characteristics== | |||
| ===Stylistic and cultural origins=== | |||
| {{main|Origins of the blues}} | |||
| There are few characteristics common to all blues, because the genre takes its shape from the idiosyncrasies of individual performances.<ref>Southern, pg. 333</ref> However, there are some characteristics that were present long before the creation of the modern blues. | |||
| An early form of blues-like music was a call-and-response shouts, which were a "functional expression... style without accompaniment or harmony and unbounded by the formality of any particular musical structure."<ref>Garofalo, pg. 44</ref> A form of this pre-blues was heard in ] field shouts and hollers, expanded into "simple solo songs laden with emotional content".<ref>Ferris, pg. 229</ref> The blues, as it is now known, can be seen as a musical style based on both European ] and the West African call-and-response tradition, transformed into an interplay of voice and guitar.<ref>Moralttributes this claim to John Storm Roberts in ''Black Music of Two Worlds'', beginning his discussion with a quote from Roberts ''There does not seem to be the same African quality in blues forms as there clearly is in much Caribbean music''.</ref> | |||
| Many blues elements, such as the call-and-response format and the use of blue notes, can be traced back to the ]. The ], a homemade one-stringed instrument found in parts of the ] in the early twentieth century, and the banjo, are African-derived instruments that may have helped in the transferral of African performance techniques into the early blues instrumental vocabulary. | |||
| ], a ] singer, contributed to the standardization of the 12-bar blues form.]] Blues music later adopted elements from the "Ethiopian airs", ]s and ]s, including instrumental and harmonic accompaniment.<ref>Garofalo, pg. 44 ''Gradually, instrumental and harmonic accompaniment were added, reflecting increasing cross-cultural contact.'' Garofalo cites other authors that also mention the "Ethiopian airs" and "Negro spirituals".</ref> The style also was closely related to ], which developed at about the same time, though the blues better preserved "the original melodic patterns of African music".<ref>Schuller, cited in Garofalo, pg. 27</ref> | |||
| Blues songs from this period, such as ]'s or ] recordings, show many different structures. The ], ], or ] structure based on ] (I), ] (IV) and ]s (V) became the most common forms.<ref>Garofalo, pgs. 46–47</ref> What is now recognizable as the standard 12-bar blues form is documented from ] and ] appearing in African American communities throughout the region along the lower ], in ]'s ], and by white bands in ]. | |||
| ===Lyrics=== | |||
| {{sample box start|blues music}} | |||
| {{multi-listen start}} | |||
| {{multi-listen item| | |||
| filename=WhereDidYouSleepLastNight.ogg| | |||
| title="Where Did You Sleep Last Night?"| | |||
| description=Performed by ], a folk singer and guitarist; this Southern ] song dates to the 1870s (see also "]"'s own article)| | |||
| format=]}} | |||
| {{multi-listen item| | |||
| filename= | |||
| | | |||
| title="Cross Road Blues"| | |||
| description=Performed in 1937 by ], a Delta blues guitarist (see also "]"'s own article)| | |||
| format=]}} | |||
| {{multi-listen item| | |||
| filename=Po'Gal.ogg| | |||
| title="Po’ Gal"| | |||
| description=East Coast blues, performed by ] in 1939| | |||
| format=]}} | |||
| {{multi-listen item| | |||
| filename= | |||
| | | |||
| title="Caldonia"| | |||
| description=Jump blues performed by ] in 1945| | |||
| format=]}} | |||
| {{multi-listen item| | |||
| filename= | |||
| | | |||
| title="Back Door Man"| | |||
| description=Chicago blues performed by ] in 1960| | |||
| format=]}} | |||
| {{multi-listen item|filename= | |||
| |title="Killing Floor"|description=Rock blues performed by ] at the ] in 1967.}} | |||
| {{multi-listen end}} | |||
| {{sample box end}} | |||
| The ] was probably a single line, repeated three times. It was only later that the current, most common structure of a line, repeated once and then followed by a single line conclusion, became standard.<ref>Ferris, pg. 230</ref> These lines were often sung following a pattern closer to a ] than to a melody. | |||
| Early blues frequently took the form of a loose narrative. The singer voiced often his or her "personal woes in a world of harsh reality: a lost love, the cruelty of police officers, oppression at the hands of white folk, hard times".<ref>Ewen, pgs. 142–143</ref> Many of the oldest blues records contain gritty, realistic lyrics, in contrast to much of the popular music being recorded at the time. For example, "]" by ], is about a ] having sex with men in an alley. | |||
| Music such as this was called "]" blues, a term which refers to a type of homemade bass instrument made from a metal bucket used to clean pig intestines for ] (a ] dish associated with slavery). "Gut-bucket" blues songs are typically "low-down" and earthy, about rocky or steamy man-woman relationships, hard luck and hard times. Gut-bucket blues and the rowdy juke-joint venues where it was played, earned blues music an unsavory reputation; church-goers shunned it and some preachers railed against it. | |||
| Author Ed Morales has claimed that ] played a part in early blues, citing ]'s "]" as a "thinly veiled reference to ], the ] in charge of the crossroads".<ref>Morales, pg. 277</ref> However, many seminal blues artists such as ], or ] had in their repertoire several religious songs or spirituals. ] and ] are examples of artists often categorized as blues musicians for their music but whose lyrics clearly belongs to the spirituals. | |||
| Although the blues gained an association with misery and oppression, the blues could also be humorous and raunchy as well: | |||
| :"Rebecca, Rebecca, get your big legs off of me, | |||
| :Rebecca, Rebecca, get your big legs off of me, | |||
| :It may be sending you baby, but it's worrying the hell out of me." | |||
| In particular, ] blues celebrated both comedic lyrical content and a boisterous, farcical performance style. ]'s classic "Tight Like That" is a sly wordplay with the double meaning of being "tight" with someone coupled with a more salacious physical familiarity. | |||
| Lyrical content of music became slightly simpler in post war blues in which focus was often almost exclusively on singer's sexual worries. Many lyrical themes that frequently appeared in pre war blues such as economic depression, transportation, technology, horses, cows, devils, gambling, magic, floods and dry periods were mostly left out in post war blues. | |||
| ===Musical style=== | |||
| During the first decades of the twentieth century blues music was not clearly defined in terms of a chord progression. There were many blues in ] form, such as "How Long Blues", "Trouble in Mind", and ]'s "Key to the Highway". There are also ], as in ]'s instrumental "Sweet 16 Bars", and in ]'s "Watermelon Man". More idiosyncratic numbers of bars are also encountered occasionally, as with the 9 bar progression in ]'s "]". The basic twelve-bar lyric framework of a blues composition is reflected by a standard ] of twelve bars, in 4/4 or (rarely) 2/4 time. ] are often played in 12/8 (4 beats per measure with 3 subdivisions per beat). | |||
| By the 1930s, twelve-bar blues became more standard. The blues ] associated to a ] are typically a set of three different chords played over a twelve-bar scheme: | |||
| {| border=1 cellspacing=0 class=wikitable | |||
| |align="center" width="50px" | I | |||
| |align="center" width="50px" | I or IV | |||
| |align="center" width="50px" | I | |||
| |align="center" width="50px" | I | |||
| |- | |||
| |align="center" width="50px" | IV | |||
| |align="center" width="50px" | IV | |||
| |align="center" width="50px" | I | |||
| |align="center" width="50px" | I | |||
| |- | |||
| |align="center" width="50px" | V | |||
| |align="center" width="50px" | IV | |||
| |align="center" width="50px" | I | |||
| |align="center" width="50px" | I or V | |||
| |} | |||
| where the ]s refer to the ] of the progression. That would mean, if played in the ] of C, the chords would be as follows: | |||
| {| border=1 cellspacing=0 class=wikitable | |||
| |align="center" width="50px" | C | |||
| |align="center" width="50px" | C or F | |||
| |align="center" width="50px" | C | |||
| |align="center" width="50px" | C | |||
| |- | |||
| |align="center" width="50px" | F | |||
| |align="center" width="50px" | F | |||
| |align="center" width="50px" | C | |||
| |align="center" width="50px" | C | |||
| |- | |||
| |align="center" width="50px" | G | |||
| |align="center" width="50px" | F | |||
| |align="center" width="50px" | C | |||
| |align="center" width="50px" | C or G | |||
| |} | |||
| (When the IV chord is played in bar 2, the blues is called a "Quick-Change" blues). | |||
| In this example, C is the ], F the ]. Note that much of the time, every chord is played in the ] (7th) form. Frequently, the last chord is the dominant (V or in this case G) ] making the transition to the beginning of the next progression. | |||
| ]; {{Audio|PentMinor.mid|play}}]] | |||
| The lyrics generally end on the last beat of the tenth bar or the first beat of the eleventh bar, and the final two bars are given to the instrumentalist as a break; the harmony of this two-bar break, the turnaround, can be extremely complex, sometimes consisting of single notes that defy analysis in terms of chords. The final beat, however, is almost always strongly grounded in the dominant seventh (V7), to provide tension for the next verse. | |||
| ]" (1914)]] | |||
| ], blues music is marked by the use of the ]ted ], ] and ] (the so-called ]) of the associated ].<ref>Ewen, pg. 143</ref> These scale tones can replace the natural scale tones or be added to the scale, as in the case of the minor ] blues scale, where the flatted third replaces the natural third, the flatted seventh replaces the natural seventh and the flatted fifth is added in between the natural fourth and natural fifth. While the twelve-bar harmonic progression had been intermittently used for centuries, the revolutionary aspect of blues was the frequent use of the flatted third, flatted seventh, and even flatted fifth in the melody, together with ''crushing''—playing directly adjacent notes at the same time, i.e., diminished second—and ''sliding''—similar to using ]s.<ref> | |||
| Grace notes were common in the ] and ] periods, but they acted as ornamentation rather than as part of the harmonic structure. | |||
| ]'s '']'' has a flatted fifth in the dominant. However, this was a technique for building tension for resolution into the perfect fifth, while a blues melody uses the flatted fifth as part of the scale.</ref> | |||
| The blue notes allow for key moments of expression particularly during the cadences, melodies, and embellishments of the blues. Where the three line verses end, for example, there is a falling cadence that approaches just shy of the tonic, merely suggesting it, and combining the falling of a speaking voice with the shape of the blues scale in a very unique, expressive way. This melodic fall, placed at the ](end of the verse), is employed most clearly in the modern, Chicago blues sound. A similar sound occurs in gospel and R&B but not to the same effect, where it is usually termed a melisma. | |||
| Whereas a classical musician will generally play a grace note distinctly, a blues singer or harmonica player will ], "crushing" the two notes and then releasing the grace note. In blues chord progressions, the tonic, subdominant and dominant chords are often played as dominant sevenths, the lowered seventh (minor seventh) being an important component of the blues scale. Blues is also occasionally played in a ], such as in the style of ]. The scale differs little from the traditional minor, except for the occasional use of a flatted fifth in the tonic, often sung or played by the singer or lead instrument with the ] in the harmony. | |||
| * ]'s rendition of "Ball and Chain", accompanied by ], provides an example of this technique. | |||
| *Minor-key blues is often structured in sixteen bars rather than twelve, in the style of ], as in "]" and ]'s "My Man Rocks Me." | |||
| Blues ] reinforce the trance-like rhythm and call-and-response, and form a repetitive effect called a "]". The simplest shuffles commonly used in many postwar ], ]s, or early ]s were a three-note ] on the bass strings of the guitar. When this riff was played over the bass and the drums, the groove "feel" is created. The ] is another device that helps to create a "groove" . The last bar of the chord progression is usually accompanied by a turnaround that makes the transition to the beginning of the next progression. | |||
| ] is often vocalized as "''dow'', da ''dow'', da ''dow'', da" or "''dump'', da ''dump'', da ''dump'', da"<ref>David Hamburger, ''Acoustic Guitar Slide Basics'', 2001, ISBN 1-890490-38-5.</ref> as it consists of uneven, or "swung", eighth notes. On a guitar this may be done as a simple steady bass or may add to that stepwise quarter note motion from the fifth to the sixth of the chord and back. An example is provided by the following ] for the first four bars of a blues progression in E:<ref>{{cite web | title=Lesson 72: Basic Blues Shuffle by Jim Burger | url=http://www.wholenote.com/default.asp?src=l&l=72&p=1 | accessmonthday = November 25 | accessyear=2005 }} </ref><ref>Wilbur M. Savidge, Randy L. Vradenburg, ''Everything About Playing the Blues'', 2002, Music Sales Distributed, ISBN 1-884848-09-5, pg. 35</ref> | |||
| <div style="font-size: 75%"> | |||
| E7 A7 E7 E7 | |||
| E |-------------------|-------------------|-------------------|-------------------| | |||
| B |-------------------|-------------------|-------------------|-------------------| | |||
| G |-------------------|-------------------|-------------------|-------------------| | |||
| D |-------------------|2--2-4--4-2--2-4--4|-------------------|-------------------| | |||
| A |2--2-4--4-2--2-4--4|0--0-0--0-0--0-0--0|2--2-4--4-2--2-4--4|2--2-4--4-2--2-4--4| | |||
| E |0--0-0--0-0--0-0--0|-------------------|0--0-0--0-0--0-0--0|0--0-0--0-0--0-0--0| | |||
| </div> | |||
| Blues in jazz is much different from blues in other types of music (such as Rock, R&B, Soul, Funk, and Blues in its own category). ] normally stays on the V chord through bars 9 and 10, emphasizing the dominant - tonic resolution over the subdominant - tonic structure of traditional blues. This final V-I cadence lends itself to many variations, the most basic of which is the ii-V-I progression in bars 9, 10 and 11. From that point, both the dominant approach (ii-V) and the resolution (I) can be altered and "substituted" nearly endlessly, including, for instance, doing away with the I chord altogether (bars 9–12: ii | V | iii, iv | ii, V |) In this case, bars 11 and 12 function as an extended turn-around to the next chorus. | |||
| ==History of the different blues genres== | |||
| ===Origins=== | |||
| {{main|Origins of the blues}} | |||
| ] | |||
| Blues has evolved from an unaccompanied vocal music of poor African-American laborers into a wide variety of styles and subgenres, with regional variations across the United States and, later, Europe and Africa. The musical forms and styles that are now considered the "blues" as well as modern "]" arose in the same regions during the nineteenth century in the southern United States. Recorded blues and country can be found from as far back as the 1920s, when the popular record industry developed and created marketing categories called "]" and "]" to sell music by blacks for blacks and by whites for whites respectively. | |||
| At the time, there was no clear musical division between "blues" and "country," except for the race of the performer, and even that sometimes was documented incorrectly by record companies.<ref>Garofalo, pgs. 44–47 ''As marketing categories, designations like race and hillbilly intentionally separated artists along racial lines and conveyed the impression that their music came from mutually exclusive sources. Nothing could have been further from the truth... In cultural terms, blues and country were more equal than they were separate.'' | |||
| Garofalo claims that ''artists were sometimes listed in the wrong racial category in record company catalogues.''</ref> Studies have situated the origin of "black" spiritual music inside enslaved peoples' exposure to their "masters'" ]-originated gospels. African-American economist and historian ] also notes that the southern, black, ex-slave population was acculturated to a considerable degree by and among their Scots-Irish "]" neighbours. However, the findings of Kubik and others also clearly attest to the essential Africanness of many essential aspects of blues expression. | |||
| The social and economic reasons for the appearance of the blues are not fully known.<ref>Philip V. Bohlman, "Immigrant, folk, and regional music in the twentieth century", in ''The Cambridge History of American Music'', ed. David Nicholls, 1999, ], ISBN 0-521-45429-8, pg. 285</ref> The first appearance of the blues is not well defined and is often dated between 1870 and 1900, a period that coincides with the ] of the enslaved people and the transition from slavery to sharecropping and small-scale agricultural production in the southern United States. | |||
| Several scholars characterize the early 1900s development of blues music as a move from group performances to a more individualized style. They argue that the development of the blues is associated with the newly acquired freedom of the enslaved people. According to ],<ref>Lawrence W. Levine, ''Black Culture and Black Consciousness: Afro-American Folk Thought from Slavery to Freedom'', ], 1977, ISBN 0-19-502374-9, pg. 223 </ref> "there was a direct relationship between the national ideological emphasis upon the individual, the popularity of ]'s teachings, and the rise of the blues." Levine states that "psychologically, socially, and economically, Negroes were being acculturated in a way that would have been impossible during slavery, and it is hardly surprising that their secular music reflected this as much as their religious music did." | |||
| ===Prewar blues=== | |||
| The American ] publishing industry produced a great deal of ] music. By 1912, the sheet music industry published three popular blues-like compositions, precipitating the ] adoption of blues elements: "Baby Seals' Blues" by ] (arranged by ]), "Dallas Blues" by ] and "]" by ].<ref>Garofalo, pg. 27; Garofalo cites Barlow in ''Handy's sudden success demonstrated commercial potential of , which in turn made the genre attractive to the Tin Pan Alley acks, who wasted little time in turning out a deluge of imitations''. {parentheticals in Garofalo)</ref> | |||
| Handy was a formally trained musician, composer and arranger who helped to popularize the blues by transcribing and orchestrating blues in an almost symphonic style, with bands and singers. He became a popular and prolific composer, and billed himself as the "Father of the Blues"; however, his compositions can be described as a fusion of blues with ragtime and jazz, a merger facilitated using the Cuban ] rhythm that had long been a part of ragtime;<ref>Garofalo, pg. 27</ref><ref>Morales, pg. 277</ref> Handy's signature work was the "]". | |||
| In the 1920s, the blues became a major element of African American and American popular music, reaching "white" audiences via Handy's arrangements and the classic female blues performers. The blues evolved from informal performances in bars to entertainment in theaters. Blues performances were organized by the ] in ]s such as the ], and ]s, such as the bars along ] in Memphis. This evolution led to a notable diversification of the styles and to a clearer division between blues and jazz. Several record companies, such as the ], ], and ], began to record African American music. | |||
| As the recording industry grew, country blues performers like ], ], ], ] and ] became more popular in the African American community. Jefferson was one of the few country blues performers to record widely, and may have been the first to record the ] style, in which a guitar is fretted with a knife blade or the sawed-off neck of a bottle. The slide guitar became an important part of the ].<ref>Clarke, pg. 138</ref> The first blues recordings from the 1920s were in two categories: a traditional, rural ] and more polished 'city' or urban blues. | |||
| Country blues performers often improvised, either without accompaniment or with only a banjo or guitar. There were many regional styles of country blues in the early 20th century. The (Mississippi) Delta blues was a rootsy sparse style with passionate vocals accompanied by ]. ],<ref>Clarke, pg. 141</ref> who was little-recorded, combined elements of both urban and rural blues. Along with Robert Johnson, influential performers of this style were his predecessors ] and ]. Singers such as ] and ] performed in the southeastern "delicate and lyrical" ] tradition, which used an elaborate ] guitar technique. Georgia also had an early slide tradition.<ref>Clarke, pg. 139</ref> | |||
| The lively ] style, which developed in the 1920s and 1930s around ], was influenced by ]s, such as the ] or the ]. Performers such as ], ], ], ] and ] used a variety of unusual instruments such as ], ], ] or ]. Memphis Minnie was famous for her virtuoso guitar style. Pianist ] began his career in Memphis, but his quite distinct style was smoother and contained some swing elements. Many blues musicians based in Memphis moved to Chicago in the late 1930s or early 1940s and became part of the urban blues movement which blended country music and electric blues. | |||
| ] was a very famous early blues singer.]] | |||
| City or urban blues styles were more codified and elaborate.<ref>Garofalo, pg. 47</ref> ] or ] blues singers were popular in the 1920s, among them ], ], ], and ]. Mamie Smith, more a vaudeville performer than a blues artist, was the first African- American to record a blues in 1920; her "Crazy Blues" sold 75,000 copies in its first month.<ref>Hawkeye Herman, General background on African American Music, Blues Foundation, Essays: What is the blues?http://www.blues.org/blues/essays.php4?Id=3</ref> | |||
| Ma Rainey, called the "Mother of Blues", and Bessie Smith sang "... each song around centre tones, perhaps in order to project her voice more easily to the back of a room." Smith would "...sing a song in an unusual key, and her artistry in bending and stretching notes with her beautiful, powerful contralto to accommodate her own interpretation was unsurpassed".<ref>Clarke, pg. 137</ref> Urban male performers included popular black musicians of the era, such ], ] and ]. Before WWII, Tampa Red was sometimes referred to as "The Guitar Wizard." Carr made the then-unusual choice of accompanying himself on the piano.<ref>Clarke, pg. 138</ref> | |||
| ] | |||
| ] was another important style of 1930s and early 1940s urban blues. While the style is often associated with solo piano, boogie-woogie was also used to accompany singers and, as a solo part, in bands and small combos. Boogie-Woogie style was characterized by a regular bass figure, an ] or ] and ] in the left hand, elaborating each chord and trills and decorations in the right hand. Boogie-woogie was pioneered by the Chicago-based ] and the Boogie-Woogie Trio (], ] and ]). Chicago boogie-woogie performers included ] and ], who "linked the propulsive left-hand rhythms of the ragtime pianists with melodic figures similar to those of Armstrong's trumpet in the right hand".<ref>Garofalo, pg. 47</ref> | |||
| In the 1940s, the ] style developed. Jump blues is influenced by ] music and uses ] or other ]s and the guitar in the rhythm section to create a jazzy, up-tempo sound with declamatory vocals. Jump blues tunes by ] and ], based in ], influenced the development of later styles such as ] and ].<ref>Garofalo, pg. 76</ref> The smooth Louisiana style of ] and, more recently, ] blends classic rhythm and blues with blues styles. | |||
| ===Early postwar blues=== | |||
| After ] and in the 1950s, new styles of ] music became popular in cities such as ], ] and ]. Electric blues used amplified electric guitars, electric bass, drums, and harmonica. Chicago became a center for electric blues in the early 1950s. | |||
| ] is influenced to a large extent by the ] style, because many performers had migrated from the ] region. ], ], ], and ] were all born in Mississippi and moved to Chicago during the ]. Their style is characterized by the use of electric guitar, sometimes slide guitar, ], and a rhythm section of bass and drums. ] who played in ]' or ]'s bands, also used saxophones, but these were used more as 'backing' or rhythmic support than as solo instruments. | |||
| ] and ] are well known harmonica (called "]" by blues musicians) players of the early Chicago blues scene. Other harp players such as ] were also influential. Muddy Waters and Elmore James were known for their innovative use of slide electric guitar. ] and ] (no relation), who did not use slide guitar, were influential guitarists of the Electric blues style, even though they weren't from Chicago. Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters were known for their deep, 'gravelly' voices. | |||
| Bassist and composer Willie Dixon played a major role on the Chicago blues scene. He composed and wrote many ] songs of the period, such as "]", "]" (both penned for Muddy Waters) and, "]" and "]" for Howlin' Wolf. Most artists of the Chicago blues style recorded for the Chicago-based ] label. Other prominent blues labels of this era included ] and ]. | |||
| In the 1950s, blues had a huge influence on mainstream American popular music and in particular on the development of ]. While popular musicians like ] and ] were influenced by the Chicago blues, their enthusiastic playing styles departed from the melancholy aspects of blues. Diddley and Berry's approach to performance was one of the factors that influenced the ]. ] and ] were more influenced by the jump blues and boogie-woogie styles. They popularized rock and roll within the white segment of the population. Chicago blues also influenced ]'s ] music, with ] using blues accents. Zydeco musicians used electric solo guitar and ] arrangements of blues standards. | |||
| Other blues artists, such as ], ] and ], had influences not directly related to the Chicago style. ]-born T-Bone Walker is often associated with the ] style, which is smoother than Chicago blues and is a transition between the Chicago blues, the jump blues and ] with some ] influence. John Lee Hooker's blues is more "personal", based on Hooker's deep rough voice accompanied by a single electric guitar. Though not directly influenced by boogie woogie, his "groovy" style is sometimes called "guitar boogie". His first hit "]" reached #1 on the R&B charts in 1949.<ref>Lars Bjorn, ''Before Motown'', 2001, ] Press, ISBN 0-472-06765-6, pg. 175</ref> | |||
| By the late 1950s, the ] genre developed near ], with performers such as ], ] and ]. Swamp blues has a slower pace and a simpler use of the harmonica than the Chicago blues style performers such as Little Walter or Muddy Waters. Songs from this genre include "Scratch my Back", "She's Tough" and "King Bee". | |||
| ===Blues in the 1960s and 1970s=== | |||
| By the beginning of the 1960s, genres influenced by ] such as ] and ] were part of mainstream popular music. White performers had brought African-American music to new audiences, both within the US and abroad. In the UK, bands emulated US blues legends, and UK blues-rock-based bands had an influential role throughout the 1960s. | |||
| ] with his guitar, "Lucille"]] | |||
| Blues performers such as ] and ] continued to perform to enthusiastic audiences, inspiring new artists steeped in traditional blues, such as New York-born ]. ] blended his blues style with rock elements and playing with younger white musicians, creating a musical style that can be heard on the 1971 album ''Endless Boogie''. ]'s virtuoso guitar technique earned him the eponymous title "king of the blues". In contrast to the Chicago style, King's band used strong brass support from a saxophone, trumpet, and trombone, instead of using slide guitar or harp. ]-born ], like B.B. King, also straddled the blues and R&B genres. | |||
| The music of the ] and ] movements in the US prompted a ]. Music festivals such as the ] brought traditional blues to a new audience, which helped to revive interest in prewar acoustic blues and performers such as ], ], ], and ]. Many compilations of classic prewar blues were republished by the ] company. ] from the Chicago blues movement in the 1950s recorded several LPs using acoustic guitar, sometimes accompanied by ] on the acoustic bass or drums. His songs commented on political issues such as ] or ] issues, which was unusual for this period. His ''Alabama blues'' recording had a song that stated: | |||
| <blockquote> | |||
| I never will go back to Alabama, that is not the place for me (2x)</br> | |||
| You know they killed my sister and my brother,</br> | |||
| and the whole world let them peoples go down there free | |||
| </blockquote> | |||
| ] with ] album cover]] | |||
| White audiences' interest in the blues during the 1960s increased due to the Chicago-based ] and the ] movement. The style of ] developed in the UK, when bands such as ], ], ], ], and ] performed classic blues songs from the ] or ] traditions. | |||
| The British blues musicians of the early 1960s inspired a number of American ] fusion performers, including ], ], ], ], ]. Many of ]'s earlier hits were renditions of traditional blues songs. One ] performer, ], was a rarity in his field at the time: a black man who played ]. Hendrix was a skilled guitarist, and a pioneer in the innovative use of ] and ] in his music.<ref>Garofalo, pgs. 224–225</ref> Through these artists and others, blues music influenced the development of ]. | |||
| In the late 1960s, the ] style blues emerged in Chicago with ], ] and ]. West Side style has strong rhythmic support from a rhythm guitar, bass electric guitar, and drums. ], ], and ] had a West Side style that was dominated by amplified electric lead guitar. | |||
| ===Blues from the 1980s to the present=== | |||
| Since the 1980s, there has been a resurgence of interest in the blues among a certain part of the African-American population, particularly around ] and other ] regions. Often termed "]" or "]," the music at the heart of this movement was given new life by the unexpected success of two particular recordings on the Jackson-based ] label: ]'s ''Down Home Blues'' (1982) and ]'s ''The Blues is Alright'' (1984). Contemporary African-American performers who work this vein of the blues include ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], and ]. The ], founded by Rip Daniels, a black Mississippian, features soul blues on its playlists and radio personalities such as ] and ]. | |||
| ]]] | |||
| Since the 1980s, blues has also continued in both traditional and new forms. The ] emerged which used guitars in both solo and rhythm roles. In contrast with the West Side blues, the Texas style is strongly influenced by the British rock-blues movement. Major artists of the Texas style are ], ] and ]. In 1982, the album '']'' revealed ] as a major blues artist. 1989 saw a revival of ]'s popularity with the album '']''. ], known for his performances with ] and ], made a comeback in the 1990s with his album '']'', in which he played some standard blues numbers on acoustic guitar. | |||
| In the 1980s and 1990s, blues publications such as '']'' and ''Blues Revue'' began to be distributed, major cities began forming blues societies, outdoor blues festivals became more common, and<ref>A directory of the most significant blues festivals can be found at http://blues.about.com/od/bluesfestivals/</ref> more ]s and venues for blues emerged.<ref>A list of important blues venues in the U.S. can be found at http://blues.about.com/cs/venues/</ref> | |||
| In the 1990s, blues performers explored a range of musical genres, as can be seen, for example, from the broad array of nominees of the yearly ], previously named ]<ref>{{cite web | title=Blues Music Awards information | url=http://www.blues.org/bluesmusicawards/ | accessmonthday = November 25 |accessyear=2005 }}</ref> or of the ] and ]. Contemporary blues music is nurtured by several blues labels such as: ], ], ], ] (]), ], ], ], and ] (]). Some labels are famous for their rediscovering and remastering of blues rarities such as ], ] (heir of ]), ] (]) and ].<ref>A complete directory of contemporary blues labels can be found at http://blues.about.com/cs/recordlabels/</ref> | |||
| Young blues artists today are exploring all aspects of the blues, from classic delta to more rock-oriented blues, artists born after 1970 like ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], and ] developing their own styles.<ref></ref> | |||
| ==Musical impact== | |||
| ]''.]] | |||
| Blues musical styles, forms (12-bar blues), melodies, and the blues scale have influenced many other genres of music, such as rock and roll, jazz, and popular music. Prominent jazz, folk or rock performers, such as ], ], ], ] and ] have performed significant blues recordings. The blues scale is often used in ]s like ]'s "Blues in the Night", ]s like "Since I Fell for You" and "Please Send Me Someone to Love", and even in orchestral works such as ]'s "]" and "Concerto in F". | |||
| The blues scale is ubiquitous in modern popular music and informs many ], especially the ] used in rock music (e.g., in "]"). Blues forms are used in the theme to the televised '']'', ] ] hit, "Turn Me Loose", ] star ]' music, and guitarist/vocalist ]'s hit "Give Me One Reason". | |||
| As with nearly all forms of popular music a genre of dance grew from the music. Like the music it was a blend of African esthetics with a Western European framework. There are as many types of ] as there are styles of Blues music, and they each maintain at their core the same defining elements of Blues music translated into three dimensional movement. | |||
| ] music can be traced back to ] and blues. Musically, spirituals were a descendant of ] choral traditions, and in particular of ]'s ]s, mixed with African rhythms and call-and-response forms. Spirituals or religious chants in the African-American community are much better documented than the "low-down" blues. Spiritual singing developed because African-American communities could gather for mass or worship gatherings, which were called ]s. | |||
| Early country bluesmen such as ], ], ] played country and urban blues and had influences from spiritual singing. Dorsey helped to popularize ]. Gospel music developed in the 1930s, with the ]. In the 1950s, ] by ], ] and ] used gospel and blues music elements. In the 1960s and 1970s, gospel and blues were these merged in ] music. ] music of the 1970s was influenced by soul; funk can be seen as an antecedent of hip-hop and contemporary R&B. | |||
| ] straddled the ] and ] genres. Though Ellington was a jazz artist, he used the blues form extensively.]] | |||
| Before ], the boundaries between blues and ] were less clear. Usually jazz had harmonic structures stemming from ]s, whereas blues had blues forms such as the 12-bar blues. However, the jump blues of the 1940s mixed both styles. After WWII, blues had a substantial influence on jazz. ] classics, such as ]'s "Now's the Time", used the blues form with the pentatonic scale and blue notes. | |||
| Bebop marked a major shift in the role of jazz, from a popular style of music for dancing, to a "high-art," less-accessible, cerebral "musician's music". The audience for both blues and jazz split, and the border between blues and jazz became the more defined. Artists straddling the boundary between jazz and blues are categorized into the ] sub-genre. | |||
| The blues' twelve-bar structure and the blues scale was a major influence on ] music. Rock-and-roll has been called "blues with a ]". ] called ] "blues with a ] beat". Rockabillies were also said to be twelve-bar blues played with a ] beat. Elvis Presley's "]", with its unmodified twelve-bar structure (in both harmony and lyrics) and a melody centered on flatted third of the tonic (and flatted seventh of the subdominant), is a blues song transformed into a rock-and-roll song. | |||
| Many early rock-and-roll songs are based on blues: "]", "]", "]", "]", "]", and "]". The early African American rock musicians retained the sexual themes and innuendos of blues music: "Got a gal named Sue, knows just what to do" ("]", ]) or "See the girl with the red dress on, She can do the Birdland all night long" ("]", ]). Even the subject matter of "]" contains well-hidden sexual ]s. | |||
| More sanitized early "white" rock borrowed the structure and harmonics of blues, although there was less harmonic creativity and sexual frankness (e.g., Bill Haley's "]"). Many white musicians who performed black songs changed the words; ]'s performance of "Tutti Frutti" changed the original lyrics ("Tutti frutti, loose booty . . . a wop bop a lu bop, a good Goddamn") to a tamer version. | |||
| ==Social impact== | |||
| ]: ] (left) and ].]] | |||
| Like ], ], ], ], ], ], and ], blues has been accused of being the "]'s music" and of inciting violence and other poor behavior.<ref>SFGate</ref> In the early 20th century, the blues was considered disreputable, especially as white audiences began listening to the blues during the 1920s.<ref>Garofalo, pg. 27</ref> In the early twentieth century, ] was the first to make the blues more respectable to non-black Americans. | |||
| Now blues is a major component of the ] and ] in general. This status is not only mirrored in | |||
| scholar studies in the field<ref>{{cite web | title=Research centers for American music | url=http://www.american-music.org/resources/ResearchCenters.htm | accessmonthday = December 6 | accessyear=2005 }}</ref> but also in main stream movies such as '']'' (1972), ''the ]'' (1980 and 1998), and '']'' (1986). The ''Blues Brothers'' movies, which mix up almost all kinds of music related to blues such as R&B or ], have had a major impact on the image of blues music (even though the music in the more famous first film is mostly rhythm and blues). | |||
| They promoted the standard traditional blues "Sweet Home Chicago" to the unofficial status of Chicago's city anthem. More recently, in 2003, ] made significant efforts to promote the blues to a larger audience. He asked several famous directors such as ] and ] to participate in a series of films called ''The Blues''.<ref>{{imdb title | title="The Blues" (2003) (mini) | id = 0287198 }}</ref> He also participated in the rendition of compilations of major blues artists in a series of high quality CDs. | |||
| {{see also|List of films based on blues music}} | |||
| ==References== | |||
| * {{cite journal | author = William Barlow | title = Cashing In | journal = Split Image: African Americans in the Mass Media | year = 1993 | pages = 31}} | |||
| *Bransford, Steve. ''Southern Spaces'' 2004 | |||
| * {{cite book | author = Clarke, Donald | title = The Rise and Fall of Popular Music | publisher = St. Martin's Press | year = 1995 | id = ISBN 0-312-11573-3}} | |||
| * {{cite book | author = Ewen, David | title = Panorama of American Popular Music | publisher = Prentice Hall | year = 1957 | id = ISBN 0-13-648360-7 }} | |||
| * {{cite book | author = Ferris, Jean | title = America's Musical Landscape | publisher = Brown & Benchmark | year = 1993 | id = ISBN 0-697-12516-5}} | |||
| * {{cite book | author = Garofalo, Reebee | title = Rockin' Out: Popular Music in the USA | publisher = Allyn & Bacon | year = 1997 | id = ISBN 0-205-13703-2}} | |||
| * {{cite book | author = Morales, Ed | title = The Latin Beat | publisher = Da Capo Press | year = 2003 | id = ISBN 0-306-81018-2}} | |||
| * {{cite book | author = Schuller, Gunther | title = Early Jazz: Its Roots and Musical Development | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 1968 | id = ISBN 0-19-504043-0}} | |||
| * {{cite book | author = Southern, Eileen | title = The Music of Black Americans | publisher = W. W. Norton & Company, Inc | year = 1997 | id = ISBN 0-393-03843-2}} | |||
| * {{cite web | url = http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/08/15/INGMC85SSK1.DTL | title = Muslim Roots of the Blues | work = SFGate | accessmonthday = ] | accessyear = 2005}} | |||
| ==Further reading== | |||
| *Brown, Luther. "" ''Southern Spaces'' June 22 2006. | |||
| * {{cite book | |||
| | first = Giles | last = Oakley | |||
| | title = The Devil's Music: a History of the Blues | |||
| | publisher = BBC | |||
| | year = 1976 | |||
| | pages = 287 pages | |||
| | id = ISBN 0-563-16012-8 | |||
| }} | |||
| * {{cite book | |||
| | first = Paul | last = Oliver | |||
| | title = The Story Of The Blues | |||
| | edition = new edition | |||
| | publisher = Northeastern University Press | |||
| | year = 1998 | |||
| | pages = 212 pages | |||
| | id = ISBN 1-55553-355-8 | |||
| }} | |||
| * {{cite book | |||
| | first = Robert | last = Palmer | |||
| | authorlink = Robert Palmer (author/producer) | |||
| | title = Deep Blues | |||
| | publisher = Viking | |||
| | year = 1981 | |||
| | pages = 310 pages | |||
| | id = ISBN 0-670-49511-5 | |||
| }} | |||
| * {{cite book | |||
| | first = Mike | last = Rowe | |||
| | title = Chicago Breakdown | |||
| | publisher = Eddison Press | |||
| | year = 1973 | |||
| | pages = 226 pages | |||
| | id = ISBN 0-85649-015-6 | |||
| }} | |||
| * {{cite book | |||
| | first = Jeff Todd | last = Titon | |||
| | title = Early Downhome Blues: a Musical and Cultural Analysis | |||
| | edition = 2nd edition | |||
| | publisher = University of North Carolina Press | |||
| | year = 1994 | |||
| | pages = 318 pages | |||
| | id = ISBN 0-8078-4482-9 | |||
| }} | |||
| ==Notes== | |||
| {{reflist|2}} | |||
| <!-- No longer referenced: # {{note|BessieSmith}} Ewen, pg. 146--> | |||
| <!-- No longer referenced: # {{note|tracy}} Introduction of ''Write Me a Few of Your Lines'', ed. Steven Tracy, 1999, ] Press, pg. 3--> | |||
| ==See also== | |||
| *] | |||
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| ==External links== | |||
| <!-- Please do not add fansites, non-notable websites, or websites not relating directly to the blues to this article. Chances are, there are already plenty of links here, and adding more would just degrade the quality of the article. It is advised that you discuss any additions on the talk page, or at least provide reasoning for a new link's inclusion in your edit summary.--> | |||
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| *, available free for public use from the State Archives of ] | |||
| * — ] lesson plan on the blues, for teachers | |||
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| *, documentary by ], aired on ]. | |||
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