Chapter 3: The Blues

The blues is neither an era in the chronological development of jazz nor a

particular style of playing or singing jazz. Because of the great variety of

individual styles used by those who are referred to as blues singers, it can

be said that there is no single set manner of interpreting this type of jazz

that should be labeled a blues style. General research has pictured the

blues as something sung by old people accompanied by guitar; yet, from

the mid-1920s through the 1930s, young energetic singers in Kansas City

were accompanied by complete jazz bands.

The blues has been played and sung in every era in the development of

jazz and can be performed with many interpretations. Any recorded

anthology of jazz in general, or of blues in particular, shows this great

variety of styles.

Blues can be slow and sad like a dirge, or it can be happy and rollicking.

Blues is as important today in jazz as it ever was. Many modern jazz

selections still use the basic blues progression with expanded harmonies.

Charlie Parker’s “Another Hair Do” is a good example of blues in bop, and

Milt Jackson’s “Bags’ Groove” is played in both cool and funky styles,

showing minor blues to be apropos in a contemporary setting.

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OnMusic Jazz

Chapter 3Overview

CHAPTER 3 - The Blues 2© 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Blues

• The blues has been played and sung in every era of jazz

• The blues can be performed with many interpretations

CHAPTER 3 - The Blues 3© 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Origin

• Early “blues” was a result of the slaves singing very sad songs about their suffering– It was in unison and no chords were used

CHAPTER 3 - The Blues 4© 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Origin

• After the Civil War, it took on a special musical form - AAB (2-part form)

• The chords or harmonies that supported the vocal line became standardized

• These harmonies supported the three sung phrases

CHAPTER 3 - The Blues 5© 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Origin

• Many titles of music have the word “blues” in the title but are often not the blues because they lack the blues harmonic construction

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Blue Notes

• One characteristic associated with the blues is the blues tonalities

• Blue tonalities are midway between the tone E-flatand E-natural and between B-flat and B-natural

• Blues notes are heard in work songs, spirituals, and all styles of Jazz

CHAPTER 3 - The Blues 7© 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Field and Prison Hollers

• The work song sung collectively by plantation workers evolved into solo “hollers” or “cries”

• Work songs were sung across the open field (plantation)– Very free in form

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Field and Prison Hollers

• Prison Hollers were songs sung by prison inmates– Contributed to the type of vocalizations now associated

with blues singing

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Blues Lyrics

• The meter of the blues lyrics is generally written in iambic pentameter.– Three lines of lyrics, the first 2 being similar - AAB

• Each line of the lyrics has 5(penta) accented syllables which alternate with unaccented syllables (iambic)

• Example of lyrics written in “iambic pentameter”:» “I hate to see the ev’nin sun go down”

CHAPTER 3 - The Blues 10© 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Blues Lyrics

• Blues Lyrics are usually 4 measures long and consists of 3 lines (AAB)

• Each line of the lyrics consists of 2 measures of music…and the remainder of the 2 measure is completed by an instrumentalist – Fill-ins

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Blues Lyrics

• Fill-ins: 1st means to hear some of the jazz instrumentalists

• Later fill-ins were replaced by:– Breaks: a place were the entire ensemble stopped

playing to feature the solo instrument filling in

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Blues Lyrics

• Blues lyrics are usually concerned with unhappy situations– Result: Their melancholy lyrics usually describe the

blues emotion

• Blues is only recognized by its melancholy lyrics

• But…blues can also be happy, swinging tunes

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Blues Lyrics

• One common misconception about the blues is that:– The blues originated with work songs…but work songs

were functional….but rather blues songs were emotional and had no specific function

• The word “blue” has been associated with melancholia as far back as Elizabethan times

CHAPTER 3 - The Blues 14© 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Country and Urban Blues

• Country Blues – usually accompanied by a guitar, harmonica, or both– Singer was usually a man

– Most important figure of late country blue was:

• Robert Johnson

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Country and Urban Blues

• Urban Blues - seems to be more rhythmic, more crisp than country blues; accompanied by a small group.

– Singer was usually a woman

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Two Blues Periods

• 1st Blues period: Latter part of the 19th century to about 1930– Country Blues: e.g. Huddie Ledbetter

– Urban Blues: e.g. Bessie Smith

• 2nd Blues period: 1930 to the present– e.g. B.B. King

CHAPTER 3 - The Blues 17© 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Blues Singers

• Bessie Smith (1894-1937)

• Ethel Waters (1896-1977)

• Billie Holiday (1915-1959)

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Bessie Smith

• Born in Tennessee

• Made her first recording “Downhearted Blues” in 1923

• Best known blues singer of the 1920s

• Reshaped any given song with her own special vocal style and feelings about the text

• Embellished the melodic line

• Known as the “Empress of the Blues”

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Bessie Smith

• Helped train singers on the minstrel circuits

• Set the standard for all future singing of the blues

• Recorded 160 songs

• At the time of her death, about ten million of her records had been sold (1927)

• In 1937, she died penniless in an automobile accident

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Ethel Waters

• Made a name for herself in the early 1920

• Repertoire ranged from the blues to jazz styles of singing and then to pop

• Recorded with swing bands such as Benny Goodman and the Dorsey Brothers

• Star of Broadway musicals, films and television shows

CHAPTER 3 - The Blues 21© 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Ethel Waters

• Her singing style influenced such singers as: Ella Fitzgerald, Pearl Bailey, Lena Horne, Sarah Vaughan and others

• Different from other blues singers– She was not a shouter

– Her singing style was smoother, and her tones and vibrato were unique

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Billie Holiday

• Holiday crossed many musical lines while staying with her individual singing style

• Influenced by Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong

• Frustrating aspect of Holiday’s career must have been that unwillingness of the public to accept black and white musicians performing together on the same bandstand

CHAPTER 3 - The Blues 23© 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Billie Holiday

• Admired and was influenced by Louis Armstrong and Lester Young

• She added her own feelings, her own lifestyles to her singing style

CHAPTER 3 - The Blues 24© 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Contemporary Blues

• The blues is a tradition all its own

• The blues continues to export its influence on other music styles while maintaining its own identity

• Contemporary blues singers like B.B. King and Robert Cray– Represent the contemporary vitality of the blues tradition

itself