Dick Weissman, Craig Morrison – Blues (2006)

Автор: Dick Weissman, Craig Morrison
Название книги: Blues (2006)
Формат: PDF
Жанр: Музыка
Качество: Изначально компьютерное, E-book

The blues as a genre of music is now more than
100 years old. In that time it has gone from a
music localized in the American South and made
by and for blacks to a music that is known internationally
and cherished by people of diverse
racial and cultural backgrounds. The people who
created and developed the blues, at least the ones
who managed to get recorded, have been acknowledged
in numerous ways. Though only some of
them lived to see it, their lives have been
researched, their music has been made available in
various formats, and their place in history is now
assured. Among music fans, the most famous
artists are household names, including BESSIE
SMITH, ROBERT JOHNSON, MUDDY WATERS, B. B.
KING, and JOHN LEE HOOKER. From postage
stamps to music festivals to historical plaques
marking significant locations, the blues heroes
have been honored. They now stand alongside the
greats in any other field, musical or otherwise.
The blues has triumphed by its indomitable
human spirit over the oppressive forces that gave it
birth. Because that spirit comes through, on records
and CDs, and in performances, the blues continues
to inspire and uplift those who can hear its messages.
Into it generations of men and women—
whether entertaining an audience, trying to get a hit
record, or giving themselves solace when alone—
have poured their frustrations, joys, hopes, and
observations about the business of living life. The
lyrics of the blues can be remarkably direct, beautifully
poetic, or both at the same time. Its musical
form is deceptively simple: The basics can be
learned by fledgling musicians in a matter of minutes.
However, the blues takes years to master,
because the notes and chords are only the outline;
the rest must be filled in by experience. Because of
its apparent simplicity, it is easy to grasp on an intuitive
level. Even listeners who do not understand
English are capable of feeling it, for its emotions are
expressed not just in lyrics but are conveyed in the
singing and in the musical mood.
The journey of the blues is as fascinating as the
lives of its performers. It appears to have crystallized
at the end of the 1800s, decades after slavery
was officially abolished (but while the oppression of
blacks was as bad, if not worse, than ever). Its roots
are deep in the cultural intermingling that took
place when the slaves brought from Africa to the
United States encountered the music of their overseers
whose background was European. On
European instruments and ones adapted from
Africa, the slaves and their descendants blended
these traditions, along with traces of others, into
something unique. Indications point to MISSISSIPPI
as the place where the blues began, and musicians
from that state have had an inordinate influence on
the music’s history.
From its rural origins, the blues was taken into
cities, adopted by professional bandleaders like W.
C. HANDY who composed sophisticated variations,
and played by jazz musicians. It was recorded by a
music industry that finally realized, in the 1920s,
that it existed and that there was a market for it. As
we can hear in the records made from then until
now, the blues blossomed into a variety of styles.
Each is a product of its time and the creativity of a
series of individuals. Blues influenced and was
influenced by other genres, particularly jazz, country,
gospel, and, since the 1950s, rock and roll.
Fanatical interest by British musicians was the
catalyst for an international awareness of the blues.
The object of their affection, in the 1950s, was folk
blues; their response to it led to skiffle, a style that
the Beatles played in the earliest part of their career.
In the 1960s, the electric blues coming out of the
cities, especially CHICAGO, was highly appealing; the
British response created blues rock. The ROLLING
STONES, the Who, the ANIMALS, the YARDBIRDS, JOHN
MAYALL, ERIC CLAPTON, LED ZEPPELIN, and
FLEETWOOD MAC, while forging ahead with their
own music, all helped to direct their audiences to
the blues. A related development occurred in
America, first with the folk revivalists, some of
whom rediscovered veteran blues musicians and
brought them to festival stages and back into
recordings studios, and then the blues rockers, such
as the PAUL BUTTERFIELD Blues Band, CANNED HEAT,
and JIMI HENDRIX (an American who first came to
prominence in England).
While the musicians were in the spotlight,
behind the scenes were record collectors, some of
whom would go “junking” by calling from door to
door in black neighborhoods with a car parked
nearby or even just a wheelbarrow to carry whatever
records they were able to purchase. Because of
their efforts, a lot of music that would have been
lost was recovered. There were writers, many of
them dedicated amateurs, who transcribed lyrics,
created discographies, interviewed blues players,
published magazines and books, and wrote liner
notes for the multitude of reissued records. An
industry sprang up around the teaching of the
blues. It included private lessons, workshops, summer
camps, instructional videos, and books of transcribed
songs showing the guitar and piano
techniques used on recordings.
In learning about the blues and its history, we
gain a sense of the broader context of historical
events and conditions.Among them are migrations,
racial issues, wars, advances in technology, and factors
of economics and geography. In hearing the
music and the lyrics, modern listeners can have
insight into facets and values of the culture in which
the blues is situated.A study of the music of notable
artists can provide a glimpse into their personalities.
We begin to see how each involves himself creatively
and subjectively in his music.
There is a world of sound in the blues. The
singer’s voice, grainy or smooth, shouting or crooning,
and with inflections that can betray a regional
upbringing, is the focal point for most presentations.
Also up front usually is the GUITAR, an instrument
capable of a seemingly endless array of colors.
One single player with an ACOUSTIC GUITAR can
make a room full of people dance, draw a crowd to
a sidewalk performance, or make a recording so full
of subtleties that generations of later musicians
devote themselves to making the same sounds. The
steady drone of a guitarist’s thumb bouncing
between two low strings can give a foundation for
plucking fingers that pick out a lively tune on the
higher ones. A chugging beat generated by strumming
two low strings together (with some minimal
finger movement on the higher of the strings) can
make for an infectious sound that can drive a band
or a dance floor. Notes can be made to whine by
sliding up and down the strings with a tube of glass,
metal, or bone placed over one of the fingers.
Anguish can be conveyed by the fretting hand bending
and releasing the strings. On electric guitar the
expressive possibilities are further increased with
more sustain, tonal variations, and greater volume
and presence.