| review | new ideas |
 |
 |
The blue story. Blues music is as old as the hills from whence it came. It's musical language creates that cool emotional color so favored by so many folks getting together to share their stories. Simple in form with a few pitches and steady beat, the simplistic qualities of the blues lends itself for enjoyment for all peoples. And thanks to all the great traveling musicians over the years, the blues has definitely become a global language, a style of music warmly accepted and played around most of the planet, whose original heart and soul are in America.
One of the main roots of the American music tree goes deep into the world of African Americans and the lives they led when first coming to a free America as a people held in bondage. The stories of human suffering in this country and throughout the world for that matter is one never to be forgotten and the search for freedom for all people always cherished and maintained. The history of our American music and the people who created it, can provide inspiration to us all, through the shear tenacity, bravery and unfailing faith of the people involved. Many of these early stories were told in what we commonly know today as the blues. History of American slavery.
About the theoretical elements of American blues. Thought to predate the Civil War era in American history ( fn ), American blues music is a unique combination of cultural diversity, societal interaction and musical resources. It combines elements from two distinctly different worlds, one mostly rural, one mostly urban. The "rural" element contributes the pitches known as the blue notes. These pitches are of somewhat indeterminate tuning and come to us originally from the human voice, imitated by other familiar instruments. Perhaps needless to say that these "blue notes" probably date from the dawn of humankind, when we lived in caves and the gig was the local campfire. The "urban" contribution is made by the European influence. What historians today call "western civilization." This music is characterized by a highly organized system of musical resources which roughly dates from the 16th century. These pitches are precisely tuned and perhaps best illustrated by well tuned piano, the crowning achievement of the equal tempered system of tonal organization.
Combining the "rural" and "urban" pitches together, present day blues players usually combine chords / harmony as created from the "well tuned" system with melodic lines created with the potentially "variably tuned" blue note pitches. Combining the two systems allows for a totally secure, in tune harmony to support melodies that have essentially no tuned boundaries. The overall effect rarely fails to get feet tapping or folks a dancing, connecting listeners from all walks of life with the common roots we all share. Thus, we can often find the blues color somewhere near the root of every major style of popular American music from the 1850's to present.
The following menu contains the names of some of the great blues innovators over the years. Blues, jazz and rock players are all grouped together, each name linked to a web site on the world wide web if available. Is it all about exploring on one's own terms?
| Louis Armstrong |
| Charlie Patton |
| Robert Johnson |
| Muddy Waters |
| Bessie Smith |
| Little Walter |
| Charlie Christian |
| Charlie Parker |
| Miles Davis |
| John Coltrane |
| T Bone Walker |
| B.B. King |
| Duane Allman |
| Eric Clapton |
| Stevie Ray Vaughn |
Got any favorite blues players to add to this list ...?
| Where to next? | ||||
|
I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which they has overcome while trying to succeed. Booker T. Washington
1. Schuller, Gunther. Early Jazz: It's Roots And Musical Development, page 51. New York: Oxford Press, 1968.