African American Blues Music
Contents
The African American Blues Music blog is dedicated to sharing information on the blues and its influence on American music.
Origins
The African American Blues is a style of music that originated in the Deep South of the United States around the end of the 19th century. The music was originally created by African American musicians who were mostly illiterate and could not read or write music. The music was originally created for their own enjoyment and for the enjoyment of other African Americans.
African American work songs
Work songs were an important part of African American culture, particularly in the years leading up to the Civil War. These songs served a number of purposes, from helping workers stay synchronized while performing difficult or dangerous tasks to providing a way to vent their frustrations with the brutal conditions they were facing. Many of these songs were later adapted by blues and jazz musicians, and their influence can still be heard in popular music today.
Spirituals
African American spirituals are religious and semi-religious songs created by African Americans during the period of slavery. These songs were often created to express the difficulties and struggles of life as a slave, as well as to maintain hope and faith. Many of the spirituals were adapted from white Christian hymns, and they often incorporated elements of African music, such as call-and-response singing.
The spirituals became an important part of the African American musical tradition, and they were passed down orally from generation to generation. In the early 20th century, some of the spirituals were collected and published in books, which helped to preserve the music and ensure its continued popularity.
Field hollers
Field hollers were work songs sung by African American laborers in the fields, usually accompanied by clapping, snapping fingers, or stomping feet. These songs were used to keep up the tempo of the work and to relieve boredom. Many of the melodies and lyrics of early blues songs can be traced back to field hollers.
Development
African American blues music has developed over the years from the African griots to the modern blues we know today. The original blues were a mix of African and European music that was born in the American South. The blues were originally sung by slaves and former slaves as a way to express their sorrow and joy. African American blues music has been influenced by a number of other genres over the years, including Jazz and Rock and Roll.
Ragtime
Ragtime – a forerunner of jazz – was popular from about 1895 to 1918. It began in the playing of solo piano and quickly spread to other instruments. Although ragtime was not originally written down, it was transmitted by word of mouth and notation from player to player. Because it was passed on in this way, there are many variations of the original rags. One of the most famous is Maple Leaf Rag by Scott Joplin (1868–1917), which can be heard on many recordings.
Ragtime is characterised by its syncopated or ‘ragged’ rhythm, which gives it a distinctive sound. This is created by playing notes that normally would be played on the weak beats of the measure (beats 2 and 4 in 4/4 time) on the strong beats instead (beats 1 and 3). The result is a ‘rolling’ effect, like that of a train wheels on a track.
Early jazz
Early jazz was a musically innovative blend of African and European music styles that originated around the start of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. By the 1920s, early jazz had become a major part of American popular music and continued to evolve.
The term “jazz” first emerged in the early 1900s as a descriptive label for this new type of music. It originally referred to a distinctive style of dance music known as “jass” or “jasmine music” that was popular among African Americans in New Orleans, Louisiana. Over time, the word “jazz” came to be used as a generic term for all types of popular music featuring syncopated rhythms, improvisation, and a swinging beat.
Early jazz was heavily influenced by the blues, a musical style that arose in the late 19th century from the experience of African Americans who were brought to the United States as slaves. The blues is characterized by its use of blue notes—flattened or “blue” third and seventh degrees—and by its lyrical focus on themes of hardship and despair. Early jazz musicians often incorporated blue notes into their playing and drew on blues culture for inspiration, but they also drew extensively from European musical traditions.
One important influence was ragtime, a type of piano music that became popular in the early 1900s and featured syncopated rhythms similar to those used in jazz. Ragtime was originally created by African American musicians, but it quickly spread to white audiences and became one of the most popular forms of American pop music in the years leading up to World War I. Other significant influences on early jazz included brass band music, military marching bands, church hymns, and folk songs from Europe and Africa.
The blues
The blues is a genre of music that originated in the African-American communities of the United States around the end of the 19th century. It is characterized by its use of blue notes, call-and-response patterns, and specific chord progressions, as well as a recurring theme of despair, hardship, or oppression. The blues has been a major influence on later American and Western music genres, including jazz, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll.
The term “blues” itself may have come from “blue devils”, meaning melancholy and sadness; an early use of the term in this sense was documented in George Colman’s play The Devil upon Two Sticks (1706).[3][4] Blue notes (or “worried notes”), however, can be found in earlier works such as Maria Radziwiłł’s Miscellaneous Songs (1623).
Styles
The term “African American blues” refers to blues music created by African Americans. This genre of music evolved out of slavery and the African American experience in the United States. African American blues has been a major influence on other genres of music, such as jazz and rock and roll.
Delta blues
The Delta blues is a style of blues music that originated in the Mississippi Delta region around the early 1900s. This style of music is characterized by its use of the slide guitar, its rhythmic patterns, and its intense, emotional vocals. The Delta blues was developed by African American musicians who were influenced by the music of their homeland, as well as by the music of other cultures. The style eventually found its way into the mainstream, and it has influenced many other genres of music.
Piedmont blues
Piedmont blues is a style of blues music that originated in the Piedmont region of the United States. Named for the area’s hilly terrain, it is sometimes referred to as East Coast or Southeast blues. It uses a fingerpicked guitar style and incorporates elements of ragtime, providing a foundation for Appalachian music and country blues. Additionally, Piedmont blues helped develop the sound and style of urban Chicago blues.
Chicago blues
Chicago blues is a form of blues music developed in Chicago, Illinois, in the 1950s and 1960s. It is also the name given to a style of electric blues guitar and bass guitar that was developed in Chicago during the same period. The distinctive sound of Chicago blues is created by the use of amplified electric guitars, bass guitars, and harmonica played through a loud amplifier.
The first generation of Chicago blues musicians, who recorded from around the 1920s to the early 1950s, include such artists as Big Bill Broonzy, Muddy Waters, Tampa Red, Ashley’s Melody Men (with singer Ashley Smith), and Leroy Carr. These artists were influenced by earlier generations of Mississippi Delta blues musicians such as Robert Johnson and Son House.
The second generation of Chicago blues musicians, who recorded from the mid-1950s to the early 1970s, include such artists as Jimmy Reed, Junior Wells, Howlin’ Wolf (with his band featuring guitarist Hubert Sumlin), Buddy Guy (with his band featuring drummer Francis Clay), and Koko Taylor. These artists were influenced by earlier generations of New Orleans jazz musicians such as Louis Armstrong and Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown.
Notable musicians
African American blues is a musical genre that originated in the Mississippi Delta in the late 19th century. The genre is considered to be a major influence on the development of jazz and rock and roll. Some of the most notable musicians who played the blues are Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, and Howlin’ Wolf.
Robert Johnson
Robert Johnson was an American singer-songwriter and musician who is considered by many to be the “Father of the Blues.” He was born in Mississippi in 1911 and began playing guitar at a young age. He quickly developed a unique style that incorporated elements of both blues and country music. Johnson only recorded a handful of songs during his lifetime, but his influence on the development of the blues is incalculable. His best-known songs include “Cross Road Blues,” “Sweet Home Chicago,” and “Hellhound on My Trail.”
Muddy Waters
McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913 – April 30, 1983), known professionally as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer-songwriter and musician who is often cited as the “father of modern Chicago blues”, and an important figure on the postwar blues scene. Muddy Waters grew up on Stovall Plantation near Clarksdale, Mississippi, and by age 17 was playing the guitar and the harmonica, emulating the local country blues artists Son House and Robert Johnson. He recorded a few singles for small labels in 1941 and 1942. In 1943, he traveled to Chicago to make his first recordings for Columbia Records, which released them as a single and an EP. These recordings led to popularity; “I Can’t Be Satisfied” (1948) was a hit single that sold over a million copies.
B.B. King
B.B. King was an African American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is considered one of the most influential blues musicians of all time, and he helped to popularize the genre with both black and white audiences. King was born in Mississippi in 1925 and began playing the guitar when he was just a teenager. In the 1940s, he started performing on local radio stations and soon began touring with other blues musicians. In the 1950s, King began recording his own songs, many of which became hits, such as “3 O’Clock Blues” and “Sweet Little Angel.” He continued to perform and record until his death in 2015.
Legacy
African American blues music has been around for centuries, and it has been a huge influence on American music as a whole. The blues is a genre of music that was created by African Americans in the early 1900s. It is a mix of African and European musical traditions. The blues became popular in the American South, and it quickly spread to other parts of the United States.
Rock and roll
Rock and roll emerged as a defined musical style in the United States in the early to mid-1950s. It derived most directly from the rhythm and blues music of the 1940s, which had itself been influenced by earlier blues, boogie woogie, Jazz, and gospel music. Rock and roll incorporated elements of R&B, pop, country, and jazz, especially saxophone and piano. Elvis Presley was the first great rock and roll star. His recordings with Sun Records in Memphis (1954–1955), including “That’s All Right” (1954), “Blue Moon of Kentucky” (1954), and “Baby Let’s Play House” (1955), were major influences on the development of rockabilly—a uptempo, backbeat-driven fusion of country and R&B.
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, popular music created by African Americans in the early 1940s, with strong rhythms, aching ballads, and often a touch of jazz. Swinging jazz rhythm sections first appeared in blues recordings in the 1920s as part of what was called race music. Over time, as white bandleaders such as Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller began to incorporate some of these elements into their own recordings, black artists complained that their music was being appropriated. In the early 1940s, record companies such as RCA Victor and Columbia began to use the term rhythm and blues on their record labels to describe this African American popular music.
The first rhythm-and-blues recordings were made by such artists as Louis Jordan, whose easygoing style helped make him the most popular African American recording artist of the 1940s;Big Joe Turner, whose “Shake, Rattle and Roll” (1954) was one of the earliest rock-and-roll hits;and Muddy Waters, whose electric guitar and bass created a new sound that came to be known as Chicago blues. In the late 1940s and early 1950s rhythm and blues became increasingly popular with white audiences as performers such as Fats Domino crossed over from the black charts with hits such as “Ain’t That a Shame” (1955). The emergence of rock-and-roll in the mid-1950s marked the beginning of the end for rhythm and blues as a distinct musical genre, though many rhythm-and-blues artists, such as Ray Charles and James Brown, continued to have successful careers throughout the 1960s.
