The Blues is a music genre that emerged during the end of the 19th century in New Orleans. The Blues influenced many other styles of music and is considered the backbone of other genres, such as country music, jazz, rock and roll, and classical music. The blues originated from African American slaves from the Southern part of America. The Blues allowed artists to express their stories and bring attention to problems within America's society's.
Many blues artists used the call and response style in the songs. Songs that that were in the call and response style involved having verses that served as the call and verses that answer/repond back. Both the call and reponse can be done verbally or instrumentally. The call is usually done by one person
…show more content…
When the blues declined the introduction of the electric guitar re-popularized the blues. The electric guitar amplified the music and gave artists the ability to change change their music, as well as give their it character. In the 1950's. Blues Revived due to the electric guitar. The electric blues popularized attracting new audiences with its distinct sound. Modern blues emerged due to African American musicians incorpirating rock and roll sounds into thier music. white preformers dabeled in the the blues at this time and brought it foward to white and foreign audiences. An artist who popularizedt= this modern blues rock was B.B. King
Riley B. King, better known by his stage name B.B. King , is recognized as one of the most influential blues musicians.
B.B KIng was born on September 16, 1925 in Beclair, Mississippi, U.S. on a cotton gin plantation. He was named Riley after his uncle who had the same name. B.B King was musically inclined as a child due to his mother and grandmother singing for their church's chior. He became intersted in music and joined the chuche's chior and sang gospels and
The first appearance of jazz was at the turn of the century in New Orleans and is called “Dixieland Jazz,” or “Classic Jazz.” It developed out of music for street parades in the black community. It also had deeper roots in a style of music called “Blues,” which was used to express the daily experiences of the community (History). Other influences include the combination of West African folk music with the popular classical music of Europe, developing into syncopated rhythms and chord variations on classical pieces (Passion).
The blues is also about saying what you feel the moment expressing yourself without even caring what others think which is kind of like modern day rap. In American history, the blues all started on Southern
The second characteristic of 12 bar blues, that both of these songs obtain is rhymed couplets. Song lyrics like chill and will, blues and shoes, and blue and you are all examples of this element in “Walking Blues”. Elvis also rhymes with words such as bright and tonight and high and bye. 12 bar blues is not the only similarity that this duo has, though.
Rhythm and Blues also known as R&B has become one of the most identifiable art-forms of the 20th Century, with an enormous influence on the development of both the sound and attitude of modern music. The history of R&B series of box sets investigates the accidental synthesis of Jazz, Gospel, Blues, Ragtime, Latin, Country and Pop into a definable from of Black music. The hardship of segregation caused by the Jim Crow laws caused a cultural revolution within Afro-American society. In the 1900s, as a method of self-expression in the southern states, the Blues gradually became a form of public entertainment in juke joints and dance halls picking up new rhythm along the way. In 1910, nearly five million African Americans left the south for the
Perhaps the blues was representation of optimism and faith for the entire city of Harlem and all of African-American descent. Music is portrayed fluently and abundantly throughout the entire story of “Sonny’s Blues”. Despite the fact that Sonny frequently plays the piano, there is always a juke box playing, the “humming an old church song”, a “jangling beat of a tambourine”, a tune being whistled, or a revival meeting with the singing of religious words (Baldwin 293-307). The repetition of music in the short story is a realistic portrayal of how regular the blues, musically and emotionally, was present in an African-American’s life during the era of racial discrimination. Flibbert explains that the rooted, burdensome emotion felt by African Americans is difficult to put to words, other than describing it as the blues. He best defines the blues as “a mental and emotional state arising from recognition of limitation imposed-in the case of African-Americans-by racial barriers to the community” (Flibbert). Though a definite definition exists, the blues cannot simply be construed. To cope with this unexplainable feeling of blue, the African-American folk genre of jazz music was created. Finally, the blues was something African-Americans owned and that the white man could not strip them of. Though music appears to show up at the most troublesome times in “Sonny’s Blues”, it brings along “a glimmer of life within the
Back in 1951, a young blues guitarist named Riley King had his first hit song titled "3 O’clock Blues.'' The song was so great, promoters whisked the young man from his Memphis, Tennessee home to the big top of New York City, where he shortened his stage name from Beale Street Blues Boy to "B.B.''
Correspondingly, blues was used as labor music, which developed the term ‘call and response’ . Call and response was a way of unifying everyone who was undertaking the same hardship. Blues has thus become a way of bringing people together; they share misery, protest and express themselves through using this genre as their vehicle. The blues has a purpose of making the voice of the people heard by their oppressors, or the social, political or economic hardships experienced.
“The Blues are the roots; everything else is the fruits”-Willie Dixon. The blues has deep roots in American history, particularly African-American history. How can something so simple become a massive tree whose roots transcended through different genres? According to Biography.com, W.C. Handy, “the father of the Blues,” brought the Blues to the mainstream in1912 with the hit “Memphis Blues.” After the public heard the twelve note structure with the deep bass lines, the tree began to bear fruit. The Blues tree produced pioneers in all forms of music, from the haunting sound of Robert Johnson to the “King of the Juke Box” Louis Jordan. After all, where would other forms of music be if the “Carter Family” did not hook up with Lesley Riddle, Jelly “Roll” Morton did not get the message, and the “King” did not have the Blues?
Riley B. King better known as B.B. King was born on September 16th 1925 to a family of sharecropping farmers near a small town named Itta Bena in the Mississippi Delta. King's parents Albert and Nora Ella King separated when he was five years old and shortly after his mother moved to Kilmicheal Mississippi where Riley spent most of his time living with is grandmother. By age seven King was now working the field like a grown man. A couple of years later at the age of nine his mother died. King continued to live with his grandmother after his mother had past away. His grandmother was very religious and he attended church services with her. It was in the church where King begins to take an interest in music. He had dreams of becoming a gospel singer and learned how to play basic notes on the guitar from his preacher. In 1940 King's grandmother died and he had trouble making ends meet and eventually went to live with his father. (The King of Blues)
Blues music emerged as an African American music genre derived from spiritual and work songs at the end of the 19th century and became increasingly popular across cultures in America. The Blues is the parent to modern day genre’s like jazz, rhythm and blue and even rock and roll, it uses a call-and-response pattern. While Blues songs frequently expressed individual emotions and problems, such as lost love, they were also used to express despair at social injustice. Even though Blues singing was started by men, it became increasing popular among women, creating one of the first feminist movements. Ma Rainey, a pioneer in women’s
Blues was usually raw and improvised. Also it was simpler, easier to play. Blues pieces don 't change harmonies (chords) all that often, sometimes only three chords in a piece. However with ragtime it changes harmonies every few beats, less catchy and more difficult to execute. Ragtime also is more mechanical, favoring harmonic orthodoxy and “meticulous precision” (Monk). The meter for blues is what we refer to has the twelve bar blues. The line form for that is usually AABA. This form can be traced back to the African call-and response form, which is still evident in jazz. An example of AABA pattern would be Robert Johnson’s “Cross Road Blues which is does an amazing job at playing. Ragtime had multiple forms and themes, that were a little more complex. In Cy Seymour’s “Holy Moses” Rag it features a AA BB A CC DD
The American Heritage Dictionary defines blues as (1) a state of depression or melancholy, and (2) a style of jazz evolved from southern American Negro secular songs. It is also inclusive of pensive reflection and contemplation which is descriptive of Baldwin's writing of Sonny's Blues.
In the years after slavery, the blues developed and expanded just as the bluesmen could spread it from place to place. It has a long history and stemmed during times of slavery which means it has to be this world for at least 200 years. And because of the blues, there are lots of best artists come out at that time,what African American black women like Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith. Alberta Hunter could perform on stage, amazed their new American audience who were stunned by this soulful new genre. These good artists make the blues spray all over the world, let people enjoy this kind of music, and open a new gene music.
Call and Response is a style of singing that was utilized by slaves under the watchful eye of an overseer. The West African culture traditionally used this style of singing in public gatherings and religious rituals (Wikipedia).
They were a mixture of story telling and talking with a definite call and response. Religious music was very important in forming blues music. Because most blacks went to Christian churches from an early age and were exposed to Christian hymns. Ragtime was an influence that came later and is a faster blues played with the piano and someone singing which was usually played in bars called barrel houses.