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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Dirty blues (also known as bawdy blues) is a form of blues music that deals with socially taboo and obscene subjects, often referring to sexual acts and drug use. Because of the sometimes graphic subject matter, such music was often banned from radio and available only on jukeboxes. The style was most popular in the years before World War II, although it experienced a revival in the early 1950s.

Many songs used innuendo, slang terms, or double entendres, such as Lil Johnson's "Press My Button (Ring My Bell)" ("Come on baby, let's have some fun / Just put your hot dog in my bun"). However, some were very explicit. The most extreme examples were rarely recorded at all, a notable exception being Lucille Bogan's obscene version of "Shave 'Em Dry" (1935), which Elijah Wald has noted as "by far the most explicit blues song preserved at a commercial pre-war recording session". (Full article...)

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Albert King in concert, 1968.

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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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Robert Leroy Johnson (May 8, 1911 – August 16, 1938) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His singing, guitar playing and songwriting on his landmark 1936 and 1937 recordings has influenced later generations of musicians. Although his recording career spanned only seven months, he is recognized as a master of the blues, particularly the Delta blues style, and as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame describes him as perhaps "the first ever rock star".

As a traveling performer who played mostly on street corners, in juke joints, and at Saturday night dances, Johnson had little commercial success or public recognition in his lifetime. He had only two recording sessions both produced by Don Law, one in San Antonio in 1936, and one in Dallas in 1937, that produced 29 distinct songs (with 13 surviving alternate takes). These songs, recorded solo in improvised studios, were the sum of his recorded output. Most were released as 10-inch, 78 rpm singles from 1937–1938, with a few released after his death. Other than these recordings, very little was known of his life outside of the small musical circuit in the Mississippi Delta where he spent most of his time. Much of his story has been reconstructed by researchers. Johnson's poorly documented life and death have given rise to legends. The one most often associated with him is that he sold his soul to the devil at a local crossroads in return for musical success. (Full article...)

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

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