The Blues

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The Blues
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The Blues

• The blues is a 12 bar structure
• The blues is a combination of West African
  Rhythms,
• Call and Response pattern, And Western European
  chord structure.
• The blues evolution began on Beale Street in
  Memphis Tennessee
• Beale Street is the Broadway of Blues music

• Blue Notes add color and texture to a song, extra
  added harmony
• The blues scale is 1 b3 4 4 5 b7 1.
• This is the primary scale all blues musicians use
• The 12 bar blues structure became standard in the
  1920s.
• This structure influenced rock and roll.
• Is the same structure for rock and roll songs

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The Blues

• Blues and Country music got their start around
  the same time in the early 20th century
• Blues was race music
• Country was hillbilly music
• First Blues song was Memphis Blues by W. C.
  Handy, recorded in 1912
• Country Blues was first started in the south,
  used slide guitar.

• Leadbelly, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Blake
  were first county blues artists.
• Artists sang Solo, on banjo or guitar was big
  influence on Delta blues
• Delta Blues from Mississippi Delta
• slide guitar, harmonica
• best delta blues musician was Robert Johnson

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The Blues

• Memphis blues was established in Memphis
  Tennessee
• Influenced by Jug bands. Washboards, fiddles,
  kazoo, mandolin
• Memphis blues musicians moved to Chicago and
  created Chicago blues or Urban Blues
• Used electric instruments.
• Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker were important
  Chicago blues musicians

• Mamie Smith, Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, popular
  female blues singers of the 1920s
• Mamie Smith was first black woman to record a
  blues song in 1920
• called Crazy Blues. 75,000 copies sold in the
  first month of release
• MA Rainey was the mother of the blues.

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The Blues

• Jump blues was started in Kansas City by Big Joe
  Turner
• Influenced by Stride Piano version of ragtime
  music
• direct influence on Boogie Woogie early rock and
  roll of Little Richard and Jerry lee Lewis
• B.B. King is most influential and important
  modern blues guitarist

• influenced musicians like Bo Diddley, Chuck
  Berry, Eric Clapton
• Albert King, Buddy Guy influential modern day
  blues musicians
• Had major influence on British rock and rollers
  like Rolling Stones, Cream,
• Lead Zeppelin, Jimmi Hendrix

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The Blues

• Texas rock and roll was influenced by Texas blues
  musicians like Stevie Ray Vaughn.
• Influenced Southern rock bands like ZZ top,
  Lynard Skynard, Doobie Brothers
• The movie The Blues Brothers was released in 1980
  Was an important movie about the blues

• featured blues music and blues musicians.
• Created a renewed interest in blues music and
  restarted the careers of many blues artists.
• W.C. Handy award is the award for best blues
  artists,
• is the Grammy for Blues music

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W. C. handy

• Known as the Father of the Blues
• First educated musician
• Born in a log cabin built by his grandfather
• Deeply religious, religious themes in his music

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W. C. Handy

• Started to learn the guitar, switched to trumpet
• Age 23 led his own band, performed at the Chicago
  Worlds Fair in 1893
• Toured the county until 1900 Accepted teaching
  position at Alabama Agriculture and Mechanical
  College for Negroes.
• Only Negro college in Alabama
• 1903 resigned from teaching for lack of pay.
  Started touring again

• 1909 moved to Memphis, recorded Memphis Blues in
  1912
• Became music publisher in 1917 because blacks
  could not get music published
• Moved to New York City to open publishing company
• Published Beale street blues and Kansas City
  Blues
• 1920 opened Handy record Company

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W. C. Handy

• 1925 Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong recorded
  his St. Louis Blues
• In 1926 became an author.
• Wrote anthologies of blues music
• Wrote 5 books

• 1929 St. Louis Blues was made into a movie
  starring Bessie Smith
• Was considered one of the worlds greatest
  musicians and song writers

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Ma Rainey

• 1886- 1939
• Considered the mother of the blues
• Earliest known professional blues singers

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Ma Rainey

• Mentor and major influence on Bessie Smith
• First public performance was at age 14
• 1904 joined the Rabbit Foot Minstrels
• 1912 met Bessie Smith, took her under her wing
• Trained her in stage presence and how to be a
  performer

• out spoken supported of womens rights
• 1923 made her first recordings
• Signed with Paramount records, recorded 100 songs
• Great Depression hurt her career, retired in 1933

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Bessie Smith

• 1894-1937
• Most popular and successful blues singer of the
  1920s
• Enormous influence on modern singers
• like Janis Joplin, Nora Jones, Billie Holliday
  and Mahalia Jackson

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Bessie Smith

• started singing with her brother on the streets
  of Tennessee
• 1904 brother left to join minstrel show
• 1912 he returns to take Bessie with him
• Joined the Moses Stokes Theater Company
• Met Ma Rainey
• 1913 developed her own act.

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Bessie Smith

• 1920 started to gain fame
• 1923 Joined the TOBA
• First big hit was Down Hearted Blues
• Became highest paid black performer
• Was the Madonna or Beyonce of her time
• 1929 performed in her first Broadway play
• 1929 stared in the movie St Louis Blues
• A talkie movie that was written with her in
  mind to star in

• 1933 signed with Okeh music label was paid 37.50
  per recording
• Recorded with the likes of Louis Armstrong and
  Benny Goodman

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Bessie Smith

• September 1937 injured in car wreck on US 61
• Since she was black she was forced to go to a
  segregated Afro- Hospital
• that was 4 hours away from crash site

• instead of the white hospital that was 45 mins
  away.
• Arm was amputated and died from complication
• recanted in the book Death of Bessie Smith in
  1959

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Robert Johnson

• Most famous Delta Blues musician
• Did not start recording until 1935
• influenced many modern musicians like Eric
  Clapton, Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones
• Recorded only 29 songs total of 42 tracks, over 2
  day period in San Antonio Texas

• Most famous song was Sweet Home Chicago
• legend says he sold his soul to the Devil at the
  crossroads
• US 61 and US 49 in Mississippi
• considered greatest blues singers of all times

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Robert Johnson

• Used raw emotion in his lyrics,
• used bass strings on his guitar for melody
• this is opposite of usual guitar playing
• Many musicians have recorded his songs.

• Movies like The Blues Brothers, O Brother, Where
  Art Thou, and Crossroads have cameo story lines
  on his life

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Lead Belly

• Huddie William Leadbetter
• 1885-1949
• Folk and blues musician
• One of the first guitarists to use 12 strings

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Lead Belly

• Wrote folk music and blues song book
• started playing guitar at 5 years old
• At age 20 he left home to become a musician
• Worked as a musician and laborer (handy man etc)

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Lead Belly

• 1918 first trouble with the law
• Thrown in jail for killing man in a bar fight.
• Would be in and out of prison most of his life
• Was stabbed in prison and survived. Which is how
  he got his nick name
• 1930 was discovered by Alan Lomax while in prison

• Recorded his music for book history of the blues
• Wrote a song to the governor of Louisiana
• He liked the song so much was granted parole
• 1934 moved to New York
• Recorded with American Record Company
• 1939 back in prison for assult, 15th time in jail

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Lead Belly

• released in 1940 became hero of folk musicians
• 1949 European tour
• Became ill
• Diagnosed with Lou Gerigs disease

• Wrote huge song book for folk and blues music
• Has been recorded by thousands of musicians
• Wrote famous songs like
• Black Betty
• House of the Rising Sun

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Big Joe Turner

• 1911-1985
• Boss of the Blues
• From Kansas City
• Wrote hit rock and roll song Shake, rattle and
  Roll
• One of the first to mix RB with boogie-woogie,
  resulting in jump blues

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Big Joe Turner

• Shake Rattle and Roll is one of the first rock
  and roll hits
• The originator of Jump Blues
• Was a huge man, almost 6 foot tall and rarely
  used a microphone

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Big Joe Turner

• Was main influence on Bill Haley and the Comets
  and Elvis Presley
• won award for best blues singer in 1945
• Worked as a bouncer, bartender and singer in
  Kansas city
• Teamed up with piano player Pete Johnson to
  create the fist jump blues band

• Worked with Johnson well into the 1950s
• Went on Alan Freed Tours with Fats Domino, the
  Clovers, Bo Diddley and other pioneers of rock
  and roll
• Last hit was The 1983 album Blues Train

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Muddy Waters

• 1915-1983
• Father of Chicago Blues
• 1930 bought first guitar
• recorded by Alan Lomax for history of blues
  recordings

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Muddy Waters

• 1943 moved to Chicago
• Switched from acoustic to electric guitar
• used bottle neck style of playing
• 1946 first recordings for Columbia records

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Muddy Waters

• used guitar, bass, rhythms section, first to use
  trio type setting
• direct influence on rock and roll
• 1960s rock stars site him as major influence
  because of his singing and playing
• Influenced major rock stars of the 60s to
  present
• He created the Power Trio setting

• influenced Chuck Berry and other rock stars
• Rolling stones named their band after one of his
  hit songs.
• Led Zepplin recorded his song Whole Lotta Love
• Influnence on AC/DC, The Who, The Beatles,
  Nirvana, etc

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John Lee Hooker

• 1917-2001
• influential Chicago blues guitarist
• famous songs were Boom Boom and Boogie Chillin
• ran away from home at 15 to become a musician

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John Lee Hooker

• 1930s worked on Beal Street to make a name for
  himself
• Moved to Detroit in the 1940s to work for Ford
  motor company
• Started recording career
• Boogie Chillin was first hit

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John Lee Hooker

• he was illiterate, could not read or write
• Known for his dramatic lyrics
• sang in the movie the blues brothers
• 1989 received a Grammy award for his album the
  healer
• recorded over 100 albums
• Star on the Hollywood walk of fame in 1991

• Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
• Has 2 songs on top 500 songs of all time
• Inducted into the blues hall of fame
• 2000 Grammy award for life time achievement

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B.B. King

• born in 1925
• Best modern day blues musician
• Lucille is the name of his guitar, named after
  his wife
• started performing in the 1940s
• Is a good humanitarian and spokesman for diabetic
  causes.

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B.B. King

• 1947 started recording for RPM records
• Produced by Sam Phillips, who found Elvis.
• Was nick named Beale Street Blues Boy
• Was a D.J. on Beal Street in Memphis
• Shortened name to B.B

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B. B. King

• 1962 signed with Paramount records
• First major hit in 1969 with The Thrill is Gone
• Opening act for the Rolling stones
• from 1951-1985 appeared on Bill board top 10
  charts 74 times
• 1988 performed with U2 on Rattle and Hum
• 2000 performed with Eric Clapton on Riding with
  the King
• 2003 performed with Phish

• 2006 age of 80- European tour
• Huge influence on modern day guitarists and rock
  musicians
• 1990 received national Medal of Arts
• 2004 PHD from University of Mississippi
• 2006 Presidential Medal of Freedom
• 14 Grammy Awards
• number 3 on the list of 100 greatest guitar
  players
• Favorite singer is Frank Sinatra

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Buddy Guy

• 1936- present
• Rock and Chicago blues guitarist
• Main influence on Jimi Hendrix
• Father of Rapper Shawnna
• Known for his showmanship
• Plays guitar behind his back
• Gave Hendrix idea for stage gimmicks

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Buddy Guy

• moved to Chicago in 1957
• Met and taught by Muddy Waters
• 1960 influence felt on British bands
• American Folk Blues festival in London
• Eric Clapton, Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart

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Buddy Guy

• 1969 headliner on concert that featured Eric
  Clapton and Led Zeppelin
• Bridge between blues and rock and roll
• Huge influence on Stevie Ray Vaughn, Clapton,
  Zeppelin, Hendrix, Rolling Stones,
• Used distortion, and feed back (like Hendrix)

• Buddy Guy was to blues what Elvis was to Rock
• Inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
• 5 Grammy awards
• 23 W. C. Handy awards
• Billboard Musician of the Century award
• Congressional Medal of Arts

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Stevie Ray Vaughn

• 1954-1990
• one of the most influential modern blues
  guitarists
• Huge influence on southern rock
• Band was named Double Trouble

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Stevie Ray Vaughn

• Influence on ZZ Top, Lynard Skynard, Doobie
  Brothers
• performed with David bow on his hits China Girl
  and Lets Dance
• top selling records in the 1980s before drug
  addiction aught up with him

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Stevie Ray Vaughn

• After stint in rehab re-invented his career
• Played with Clapton and the fabulous Thunderbirds
• Died in Helicopter crash in 1990
• Number 7 on the top 100 guitarists of all times

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