Blues and Early Jazz

What is Jazz?

Blues

Origins of Blues

• Develops 1890s; clear genre by c. 1910

• Deep South• Mississippi Delta• Rural; small towns• Working class; manual labor• Cultural isolation/segregation

• Typical Topics• Suffering• Heartbreak• Dark humor

• Musical Origins• Spirituals• Field Hollers• Work Songs• Ballads

Mississippi Delta

Typical Characteristics

• Instrumentation• Voice• Guitar• Bottleneck• Electric vs. Acoustic

• Piano• String Bass• Wind Instruments• Percussion

• Improvisatory

• Call and Response• Between voice and instr.

• “Blue” notes• Lowered 3rd and/or 7th scale

degrees

• Oral Tradition

• Strophic Form

• Twelve Bar Blues• Three line poetic stanza• aab = statement,

restatement, response

Robert Johnson1911-1938

• Considered by many the “king” of Delta Blues; not until 1961

• Known for his impressive guitar playing; overnight talent? • Crossroads

• Traveled around; women, alcohol• Played in ‘jukes’• Pop music, more than blues

• Recorded 1937• Modest fame

• Died in 1938• Cause?

Examples of Delta Blues

• Also known as “Country Blues”• Freddie Spruell• Milk Cow Blues – earliest Delta Blues recording, 1926

• Robert Johnson• Me and the Devil Blues• I Believe I’ll Dust My Broom

• Son House• Death Letter Blues

Gertrude “Ma” Rainey1886-1939

• Born in Georgia• Early career: toured with

minstrel show; husband William

• Started singing blues c. 1910

• “Mother of the Blues”; “Songbird of the South”; “Gold-neck Woman of the Blues”

• Ma and Pa Rainey• Had a big influence on

Bessie Smith, another prominent Classic Blues musician

Examples of Classic Blues

• Also known as “City” or “Urban” Blues

• Ma Rainey• Deep Moanin’ Blues• Countin’ The Blues (featuring

Louis Armstrong on cornet)• Bessie Smith• I Need a Little Sugar In My Bowl• Downhearted Blues• Black Water Blues• St. Louis Blues (featuring Louis

Armstrong on cornet)• Listen for call and response; non-

standard form• First Blues Song in Print, 1912

• Tampa Red• Hard Road Blues

Muddy “Mississippi” Waters1913-1983

• Real name “McKinley Morganfield”• From Mississippi• Heavily influenced by Robert Johnson

and Son House• Father of “Chicago Blues”• Visits Chicago, 1940; Moves to Chicago,

1943• Ran a juke joint in Mississippi; performed

there• Moved to Chicago to become professional

blues musician

• Typically faster; uses wider range of instruments; electric guitar

Examples of Chicago Blues

• A type of “Urban Blues”• Muddy Waters• Got My Mojo Workin’• Hoochie Coochie Man

• Howlin’ Wolf• Don’t Laugh At Me• Smokestack Lightning

• Elmore James• Dust My Broom

Examples of Tin Pan Alley “Blues”

• Might not actually be the blues

• Lovesick Blues• From TPA – musical called

“Oh! Ernest”

• Home Again Blues• Words by Irving Berlin

I got the blues.

• Why do you have the blues? • Blues Back-Up Track

Example LyricsI’m sittin’ here in Am Studies, tryin’ to stay awakeI said, I’m sittin’ here in Am Studies, tryin’ to stay awakeI was up too late with my homework – what a big mistake.

Example Chords (in C Major)Line 1 C7 C7 C7 C7Line 2 F7 F7 C7 C7Line 3 G7 F7 C7 C7

Early Jazz

• Late 1890s; growing out of ragtime, influenced by blues• When? Where? How? • New Orleans plays key role

• Jazz: originally refers not to a specific genre, but to a way of performing that was at least partially improvised

• Dixieland• First clear genre within jazz

Dixieland

• Develops early 20th Century

• First “dixieland” recording is in 1917

• New Orleans• Pre-Civil War – many free

black people• Still racially divided: whites;

lighter-skinned Creoles, Francophones, downtown; darker-skinned Anglophones, uptown

• Cajun?

Original Dixieland Jazz Band (ODJB)

• Five white men from New Orleans

• Cornet, clarinet, trombone, drums, and piano

• Livery Stable Blues (1917) – animal sounds

• Tiger Rag (1917)

Early Jazz and Dance

• Shimmy• Black Bottom• Charleston• Foxtrot