Re: [Harp-L] Is the blues a microscopic part of global culture?



A lot of the jazz players who were prominent in the 60s came up in jump blues and R&B bands because that's where the work was. There were a lot of jazz players up through the 70s and beyond that had a blues focus, e.g. Ramsey Lewis, Jimmy Smith, Les McCann.... A lot of the original bop players started in bands that played a lot of blues, e.g. Charlie Parker with Jay McShann. Before bebop the distinction between jazz and blues wasn't as clear as it is now, partly because nobody thought it was terribly important to separate them. A lot of the Bluebird blues records out of Chicago in the 30s and 40s had horn players on them, some not so good and others who were. Gutbucket trombone player Ike Rodgers played on a lot of St. Louis based blues records. Phineas (Jr.) and Calvin Newborn were sidemen on early recordings by B. B. King and Walter Horton as well as other Memphis based blues players at the time. Hot Lips Page was one of the best blues singers ever to record.

Like Hash says, these days a lot of jazz players just aren't at home with the blues. Much of jazz today has a different direction from the music that came before. It's not bad, it's just different.

HASHBB@xxxxxxx wrote:
In a message dated 7/22/06 11:35:11 AM, winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx writes:

<< Jazz musicians can play blues but blues musicians are seldom able

to play jazz. >>

This in itself is too sweeping of a statement. There is today a large number of Jazz
musicians who can 'play at' blues, but the notion that they have a clear understanding of playing blues is all together a different thing. The presumption that a jazz musician can play a pentatonic scale and the changes necessary to play blues does not mean that the blues will sound proficient in their hands. I believe today that there is a growing number of Jazz musicians that can't play blues very well, not what it was like pre 1970's when just about any proficient jazz musician could cut it on either side. As for blues musicians seldom being able to play jazz, that may be a truer statement. It all depends on what your definitions of 'blues musician' and 'blues music' are. The lines we're more blurred in the past as far as jazz or blues musician. Case in point, F
enton Robinson and Roy Gaines. Do you classify them as Jazz or blues? probably both. Also modern blues guitarists Duke Robillard, and Charley Baty. On the harmonica side of things, both Jerry Portnoy and Gary Primich have delved into jazz, as has Magic Dave Therault. Add to this many prewar guitarists and piano players could play blues, jazz, pop music, whatever the occasion or gig called for. This is just naming a few, but ithink you can get my point. I think they probably saw it all as music, not really categorizing like we tend to do today. Your post is definately food for thought.
HB
_______________________________________________
Harp-L is sponsored by SPAH, http://www.spah.org
Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx
http://harp-l.org/mailman/listinfo/harp-l



-- Hear Barrelhouse Solly--that's me--on the web. http://www.soundclick.com/barrelhousesolly

And now...What everyone's been clamoring for, pictures of the cats.
http://ratemykitten.com/my/?gallery=willie_mctell





This archive was generated by a fusion of Pipermail 0.09 (Mailman edition) and MHonArc 2.6.8.