Portal:Blues

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The Blues Portal

Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated amongst African-Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the African-American culture. The blues form is ubiquitous in jazz, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll, and is characterized by the call-and-response pattern, the blues scale, and specific chord progressions, of which the twelve-bar blues is the most common. Blue notes (or "worried notes"), usually thirds, fifths or sevenths flattened in pitch, are also an essential part of the sound. Blues shuffles or walking bass reinforce the trance-like rhythm and form a repetitive effect known as the groove.

Blues music is characterized by its lyrics, bass lines, and instrumentation. Early traditional blues verses consisted of a single line repeated four times. It was only in the first decades of the 20th century that the most common current structure became standard: the AAB pattern, consisting of a line sung over the four first bars, its repetition over the next four, and then a longer concluding line over the last bars. Early blues frequently took the form of a loose narrative, often relating the racial discrimination and other challenges experienced by African-Americans.

Many elements, such as the call-and-response format and the use of blue notes, can be traced back to the music of Africa. The origins of the blues are also closely related to the religious music of the African-American community, the spirituals. The first appearance of the blues is often dated to after the ending of slavery, with the development of juke joints occurring later. It is associated with the newly acquired freedom of the former slaves. Chroniclers began to report about blues music at the dawn of the 20th century. The first publication of blues sheet music was in 1908. Blues has since evolved from unaccompanied vocal music and oral traditions of slaves into a wide variety of styles and subgenres. Blues subgenres include country blues, Delta blues and Piedmont blues, as well as urban blues styles such as Chicago blues and West Coast blues. World War II marked the transition from acoustic to electric blues and the progressive opening of blues music to a wider audience, especially white listeners. In the 1960s and 1970s, a hybrid form called blues rock developed, which blended blues styles with rock music. (Full article...)

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Blues People: Negro Music in White America is a seminal study of Afro-American music (and culture generally) by Amiri Baraka, who published it as LeRoi Jones in 1963. In Blues People Baraka explores the possibility that the history of black Americans can be traced through the evolution of their music. It is considered a classic work on jazz and blues music in American culture. The book documents the effects of jazz and blues on American culture, at musical, economic, and social levels. It chronicles the types of music dating back to the slaves up to the 1960s. Blues People argues that "negro music"—as Amiri Baraka calls it—appealed to and influenced new America. According to Baraka, music and melody is not the only way the gap between American culture and African-American culture was bridged. Music also helped spread values and customs through its media exposure. Blues People demonstrates the influence of African Americans and their culture on American culture and history. The book examines blues music as performance, as cultural expression, even in the face of its commodification. To Baraka, Blues People represented "everything [he] had carried for years, what [he] had to say, and [himself]". The book is deeply personal and chronicles what brought him to believe that blues was a personal history of his people in the United States. The resonance and desperation of this type of music is what compelled Baraka to learn about the history of blues music. He learned through his studies that the "Africanisms" is directly related to American culture, rather than being solely related to Black people. Baraka dedicates the book "to my parents ... the first Negroes I ever met". (Full article...)

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Buddy Guy performing in Toronto, Canada

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Quotes

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Blues is really America's finest art form and most dominant art form of the 20th century.

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— Georgie Fame

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Blues is a natural fact, something that a fellow lives. If you don't live it, you don't have it.

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— Big Bill Broonzy

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The blues is a low-down achin' heart disease
Like consumption killing me by degrees.

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— Robert Johnson, "Preaching Blues (Up Jumped the Devil)"

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When you lay down at night, turning from one side of the bed to the other and can't sleep, what's the matter? Blues got you.

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— Lead Belly

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The blues had a baby and they named it rock and roll.

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— Muddy Waters

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The only known photograph of Johnson, 1927

Willie Johnson (January 25, 1897 – September 18, 1945), commonly known as Blind Willie Johnson, was an American gospel blues singer and guitarist. His landmark recordings completed between 1927 and 1930, thirty songs in all, display a combination of powerful chest voice singing, slide guitar skills and originality that has influenced generations of musicians. His records sold well though as a street performer and preacher, he had little wealth in his lifetime. His life was poorly documented, but over time, music historians such as Samuel Charters have uncovered more about him and his five recording sessions.

A revival of interest in Johnson's music began in the 1960s following his inclusion on Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music and by the efforts of the blues guitarist Reverend Gary Davis. Along with Davis, he has since been considered the dominant player of holy blues music which convey religious themes in a blues style, often with a blues style of guitar accompaniment. (Full article...)

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The following are images from various blues-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Buddy Guy, 2008 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 2RonnieEarl, 1996 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 3Big Joe Williams, 1971 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 4Kenny Neal, 2012 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 5Son House (from List of blues musicians)
Image 6Curley Weaver (from List of blues musicians)
Image 7Robert Cray, 2007 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 8Chris Thomas King, 2005 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 9Lonnie Johnson, 1941 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 10Ma Rainey (from List of blues musicians)
Image 11Lead Belly (from List of blues musicians)
Image 12Mamie Smith (from List of blues musicians)
Image 13Susan Tedeschi, 2006 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 14Jimmy Rogers, 1991 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 15George "Harmonica" Smith, 1980 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 16Debbie Davies, 2019 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 17Hubert Sumlin in Montreux, 1978 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 18Eric Clapton, 2006 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 19Eddie Clearwater in Montreux, 1978 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 20Jimmy Witherspoon, 1974 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 21Louis Jordan in New York City, 1946 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 22Henry Townsend, 1983 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 23Ethel Waters, 1943 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 24Cedric Burnside, 2018 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 25Willie Dixon at Monterey Jazz Festival, 1981 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 26Jimmy Burns, 2012 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 27Keb' Mo', 2012 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 28Corey Harris, 2006 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 29B.B. King in Rome, 1984 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 30Detail from cover of The Celebrated Negro Melodies, as Sung by the Virginia Minstrels, 1843 (from Origins of the blues)
Image 31Muddy Waters with James Cotton, 1971 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 32Emancipation from Freedmen's viewpoint; illustration from Harper's Weekly 1865 (from Origins of the blues)
Image 33Billy Boy Arnold (from List of blues musicians)
Image 34Blind Lemon Jefferson (from List of blues musicians)
Image 35Pinetop Perkins in Paris, 1976 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 36Joe Louis Walker, 2007 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 37Eric Bibb, 2006 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 38Memphis Minnie, 1930 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 39Luther Allison (from List of blues musicians)
Image 40Buddy Moss in Georgia prison camp, 1941 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 41Roy Rogers, 2014 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 42An 1890s photo of the tourist steamer Okahumke'e on the Ocklawaha River, with black guitarists on board (from Origins of the blues)
Image 43Deborah Coleman, 2009 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 44Albert King in Paris, 1978 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 45Son Seals, 1977 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 46Lowell Fulson in Paris, 1980 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 47Albert Collins at Long Beach Blues Festival, 1990 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 48"Sweet Home Chicago" performed at the White House with Barack Obama joining B.B. King on the chorus (from List of blues standards)
Image 49Freddie King in Paris, 1975 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 50Big Joe Turner, 1955 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 51A watercolor painting of a camp meeting circa 1839 (New Bedford Whaling Museum). (from Origins of the blues)
Image 52Mississippi John Hurt, 1964 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 53Alvin Youngblood Hart, 2009 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 54Master Kora maker Alieu Suso in the Gambia (from Origins of the blues)
Image 55T-Bone Walker at American Folk Blues Festival, Hamburg, 1972 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 56Sara Martin and Sylvester Weaver (from List of blues musicians)
Image 57Otis Rush, 1997 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 58Bessie Smith, 1936 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 59Robben Ford, 2007 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 60Robert Jr. Lockwood, 1982 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 61Charlie Musselwhite, 2003 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 62Junior Wells, 1983 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 63John Lee Hooker in Toronto, 1978 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 64Lucky Peterson (from List of blues musicians)
Image 65Jay McShann in Edinburgh, c.1995 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 66Jimmy Rushing, 1946 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 67Shemekia Copeland, 2019 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 68Koko Taylor, 2006 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 69Bobby "Blue" Bland (from List of blues musicians)
Image 70Eddie Shaw, 2015 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 71Mississippi Fred McDowell, 1972 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 72Dexter Allen, 2004 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 73Paul Butterfield at Woodstock Reunion, 1979 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 74Luther Tucker, 1964 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 75Kenny Wayne Shepherd, 2010 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 76Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, 1999 (from List of blues musicians)