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Books > Arts & Architecture > Music > Contemporary popular music > Blues
Contributions by Luther Allison, John Broven, Daniel Droixhe, David
Evans, William Ferris, Jim O'Neal, Mike Rowe, Robert Sacre, Arnold
Shaw, and Dick Shurman Fifty years after Charley Patton's death in
1934, a team of blues experts gathered five thousand miles from
Dockery Farms at the University of Liege in Belgium to honor the
life and music of the most influential artist of the Mississippi
Delta blues. This volume brings together essays from that
international symposium on Charley Patton and Mississippi blues
traditions, influences, and comparisons. Originally published by
Presses Universitaires de Liege in Belgium, this collection has
been revised and updated with a new foreword by William Ferris, new
images added, and some essays translated into English for the first
time. Patton's personal life and his recorded music bear witness to
how he endured and prevailed in his struggle as a black man during
the early twentieth century. Within this volume, that story offers
hope and wonder. Organized in two parts--""Origins and Traditions""
and ""Comparison with Other Regional Styles and Mutual
Influence""--the essays create an invaluable resource on the life
and music of this early master. Written by a distinguished group of
scholars, these pieces secure the legacy of Charley Patton as the
fountainhead of Mississippi Delta blues.
Beginning in the late 1950s, an influential cadre of young, white,
mostly middle-class British men were consuming and appropriating
African-American blues music, using blues tropes in their own music
and creating a network of admirers and emulators that spanned the
Atlantic. This cross-fertilization helped create a commercially
successful rock idiom that gave rise to some of the most famous
British groups of the era, including The Rolling Stones, The
Yardbirds, Eric Clapton, and Led Zeppelin. What empowered these
white, middle-class British men to identify with and claim aspects
of the musical idiom of African-American blues musicians? The
British Blues Network examines the role of British narratives of
masculinity and power in the postwar era of decolonization and
national decline that contributed to the creation of this network,
and how its members used the tropes, vocabulary, and mythology of
African-American blues traditions to forge their own musical
identities.
Mamie Smith's 1920 recording of "Crazy Blues" is commonly thought
to signify the beginning of commercial attention to blues music and
culture, but by that year more than 450 other blues titles had
already appeared in sheet music and on recordings. In this
examination of early popular blues, Peter C. Muir traces the
genre's early history and the highly creative interplay between
folk and popular forms, focusing especially on the roles W. C.
Handy played in both blues music and the music business. Long Lost
Blues exposes for the first time the full scope and importance of
early popular blues to mainstream American culture in the early
twentieth century. Closely analyzing sheet music and other print
sources that have previously gone unexamined, Muir revises our
understanding of the evolution and sociology of blues at its
inception. An internationally recognized pianist, composer,
scholar, and conductor, Peter C. Muir is the cofounder and
codirector of the Institute for Music and Health in Verbank, New
York.
One of the greats of blues music, Willie Dixon was a recording
artist whose abilities extended beyond that of bass player. A
singer, songwriter, arranger, and producer, Dixon's work influenced
countless artists across the music spectrum. In Willie Dixon:
Preacher of the Blues, Mitsutoshi Inaba examines Dixon's career,
from his earliest recordings with the Five Breezes through his
major work with Chess Records and Cobra Records. Focusing on
Dixon's work on the Chicago blues from the 1940s to the early
1970s, this book details the development of Dixon's songwriting
techniques from his early professional career to his mature period
and compares the compositions he provided for different artists.
This volume also explores Dixon's philosophy of songwriting and its
social, historical, and cultural background. This is the first
study to discuss his compositions in an African American cultural
context, drawing upon interviews with his family and former band
members. This volume also includes a detailed list of Dixon's
session work, in which his compositions are chronologically
organized.
Guitarist Michael Bloomfield shot to stardom in the '60s with the
Paul Butterfield Blues Band Bob Dylan the Electric Flag and on Al
Kooper's Super Session. His story is told in the words of his
brother musicians such as B.B. King producer Paul Rothchild and
dozens of others a including Bloomfield himself. Features a
foreword by Carlos Santana and access to online audio of unreleased
early studio tracks.TH (This book) is a look inside the psyche of a
musical innovator who deserves a posthumous Nobel Prize and a
statue on Rush Street in Chicago. If you love his blues you'll love
this book. THa Al Kooper
Benny Joseph made his living as a professional photographer in
Houston's black community during the crucial decades from the 1950s
through the early 1980s, when the amplified pulse of rhythm and
blues underscored the social changes sweeping the nation. Joseph
photographed everything from parades and teen hops to impassioned
speeches by civil rights leaders Martin Luther King, Jr., and
Thurgood Marshall. Under contract to the pioneering black
entrepreneur Don Robey, owner of the Duke and Peacock recording
labels, Joseph photographed many of the popular recording artists
of the day, including B.B. King, Mahalia Jackson, Buddy Ace,
Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, and Della Reese. With over 120 unique
black and white photographs, this is a must have for all rhythm and
blues enthusiasts, and a valuable historical resource for
photography collectors. Writer, photographer, and filmmaker Alan
Govenar met Joseph in 1984 when he was closing his studio in
Houston's Third Ward and worked with him over the next five years,
sifting through thousands of negatives to identify and
contextualize his most compelling images of this remarkable era.
Singing was just one element of blues performance in the early
twentieth century. Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, and other classic blues
singers also tapped, joked, and flaunted extravagant costumes on
tent show and black vaudeville stages. The press even described
these women as "actresses" long before they achieved worldwide fame
for their musical recordings. In "Staging the Blues," Paige A.
McGinley shows that even though folklorists, record producers, and
festival promoters set the theatricality of early blues aside in
favor of notions of authenticity, it remained creatively vibrant
throughout the twentieth century. Highlighting performances by
Rainey, Smith, Lead Belly, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Sonny Terry, and
Brownie McGhee in small Mississippi towns, Harlem theaters, and the
industrial British North, this pioneering study foregrounds
virtuoso blues artists who used the conventions of the theater,
including dance, comedy, and costume, to stage black mobility, to
challenge narratives of racial authenticity, and to fight for
racial and economic justice.
Search the Internet for the 100 best songs or best albums. Dozens
of lists will appear from aficionados to major music personalities.
But what if you not only love listening to the blues or country
music or jazz or rock, you love reading about it, too. How do you
separate what matters from what doesn't among the
hundreds-sometimes thousands-of books on the music you so love? In
the Best Music Books series, readers finally have a quick-and-ready
list of the most important works published on modern major music
genres by leading experts. In 100 Books Every Blues Fan Should Own,
Edward Komara, former Blues Archivist of the University of
Mississippi, and his successor Greg Johnson select those histories,
biographies, surveys, transcriptions and studies from the many
hundreds of works that have been published about this vital
American musical genre. Komara and Johnson provide a short
description of the contents and the achievement of each title
selected for their "Blues 100." Entries include full bibliographic
citations, prices of copies in print, and even descriptions of
specific editions for book collectors. 100 Books Every Blues Fan
Should Own also includes suggested blues recordings to accompany
each recommended work, as well as a concluding section on key
reference titles-or as Komara and Johnson phrase it: "The Books
behind the Blues 100." 100 Books Every Blues Fan Should Own serves
as a guide for any blues fan looking for a road map through the
history of-and even history of the scholarship on-the blues. Here
Komara and Johnson answer the question of not only what is a
"blues" book, but which ones are worth owning.
In Crossing Traditions: American Popular Music in Local and Global
Contexts, a wide range of scholarly contributions on the local and
global significance of American popular music examines the
connections between selected American blues, rock and roll, and
hip-hop music and their equivalents from Senegal, Nigeria, England,
India, and Mexico. Contributors show how American popular music
promotes local and global awareness of such key issues as economic
inequality and social marginalization while inspiring
cross-cultural and interethnic influences among regional and
transnational communities. Specifically, Crossing Traditions
highlights the impact of American popular music on the spread of
sounds, rhythms, styles, and ideas about freedom, justice, love,
and sexuality among local and global communities, all of which
share the same desires, hopes, and concerns despite geographic
differences. Contributors look at the local contexts of Chicago
blues, early rock and roll, white Christian rap, and Frank Zappa
alongside the global influence of Mahalia Jackson on Senegalese
blues, the transatlantic character of the British Invasion's
relationship to African American rock, and the impact of Latin
house music, global hip-hop, and Bhangra in cross-cultural
settings. Essays also draw on a broad range of disciplines in their
analyses: American studies, popular culture studies, transnational
studies, history, musicology, ethnic studies, literature and media
studies, and critical theory. Crossing Traditions will appeal to a
wide range of readers, including college and university professors,
undergraduate and graduate students, and music scholars in general.
The Rolling Stones: Sociological Perspectives, edited by Helmut
Staubmann, draws from a broad spectrum of sociological perspectives
to contribute both to the understanding of the phenomenon of the
Rolling Stones and to an in-depth analysis of contemporary society
and culture that takes The Stones a starting point. Contributors
approach The Rolling Stones from a range of social science
perspectives including cultural studies, communication and film
studies, gender studies, and the sociology of popular music. The
essays in this volume focus on the question of how the worldwide
success of The Rolling Stones over the course of more than half a
century reflects society and the transformation of popular culture.
The Rolling Stones: Sociological Perspectives, edited by Helmut
Staubmann, draws from a broad spectrum of sociological perspectives
to contribute both to the understanding of the phenomenon Rolling
Stones and to an in-depth analysis of contemporary society and
culture that takes The Stones a starting point. Contributors
approach The Rolling Stones from a range of social science
perspectives including cultural studies, communication and film
studies, gender studies, and the sociology of popular music. The
essays in this volume focus on the question of how the worldwide
success of The Rolling Stones over the course of more than half a
century reflects society and the transformation of popular culture.
Experiencing Jazz, Second Edition, is an integrated textbook with
online resources for jazz appreciation and history courses. Through
readings, illustrations, timelines, listening guides, and a
streaming audio library, it immerses the reader in a journey
through the history of jazz, while placing the music within a
larger cultural and historical context. Designed to introduce the
novice to jazz, Experiencing Jazz describes the elements of music,
and the characteristics and roles of different instruments.
Prominent artists and styles from the roots of jazz to present day
are relayed in a story-telling prose. This new edition features
expanded coverage of women in jazz, the rise of jazz as a world
music, the influence of Afro-Cuban and Latin jazz, and streaming
audio. Features: Important musical trends are placed within a broad
cultural, social, political, and economic context Music
fundamentals are treated as integral to the understanding of jazz,
and concepts are explained easily with graphic representations and
audio examples Comprehensive treatment chronicles the roots of jazz
in African music to present day Commonly overlooked styles, such as
orchestral jazz, Cubop, and third-stream jazz are included Expanded
and up-to-date coverage of women in jazz The media-rich companion
website presents a comprehensive streaming audio library of key
jazz recordings by leading artists integrated with interactive
listening guides. Illustrated musical concepts with web-based
tutorials and audio interviews of prominent musicians acquaint new
listeners to the sounds, styles, and figures of jazz. Course
components The complete course comprises the textbook and Online
Access to Music token, which are available to purchase separately.
The textbook and Online Access to Music Token can also be purchased
together in the Experiencing Jazz Book and Online Access to Music
Pack. Book and Online Access to Music Pack: 978-0-415-65935-2
(Paperback and Online Access to Music) Book Only: 978-0-415-69960-0
(please note this does not include the Online Access to Music)
Online Access to Music Token: 978-0-415-83735-4 (please note this
does not include the textbook) eBook and Online Access to Music
Pack: 978-0-203-37981-3 (available from the Taylor & Francis
eBookstore) ebook: 978-0-203-37985-1 (please note this does not
include the audio and is available from the Taylor & Francis
eBookstore)
Born on Thursday Island in 1929, Seaman Dan didn't release his
debut album, 'Follow the Sun', until his 70th birthday. In the next
ten years he released five albums, showcasing traditional music
from the Torres Strait, as well as those revealing his love of jazz
and blues. Steady, Steady: The life and music of Seaman Dan is
replete with Uncle Seaman's stories of his active and sometimes
dangerous life in the islands in the heyday of pearl diving and
other jobs, and his later development as a professional
singer/musician. The book includes many evocative and previously
unknown images sourced from family and friends and will include a
CD of tracks reflecting important periods in the life of this
national treasure. Listen to a sample of Seaman Dan's favourite
songs
Exhilarating and exciting, subtle and profound-jazz requires
knowledge and understanding to be truly appreciated. Barry Kernfeld
here provides a thorough, learned, and accessible introduction to
jazz, discussing its musical concepts, procedures, and styles and
providing the background necessary to fully enjoy this musical art.
The book is organized around twenty-one historical jazz
recordings-from the New Orleans Rhythm Kings' Tin Roof Blues (1923)
to Ornette Coleman's Honeymooners (1987)-that are analyzed in the
text and included in a compact disc that accompanies the book.
Barry Kernfeld draws from these musical works to illustrate jazz
rhythm, forms, arrangement, composition, improvisation, style, and
sound (recording fidelity, tuning systems, instrumentation, and
timbre). Included in the book are eighty-five notated music
examples keyed to the compact disc and a biographical dictionary of
musicians who figure prominently on the disc. By laying out musical
ideas that unify the genre, rather than by splintering it along
stylistic lines, this authoritative book offers a new method for
enhancing enjoyment and understanding of jazz. It will be a valued
resource for students and general listeners who wish to know more
about this unique musical form.
Bold and original, The Power of Black Music offers a new way of listening to the music of black America, and appreciating its profound contribution to all American music.
Art Pepper (1925-1982) was called the greatest alto saxophonist of
the post-Charlie Parker generation. But his autobiography,
"Straight Life," is much more than a jazz book--it is one of the
most explosive, yet one of the most lyrical, of all
autobiographies. This edition is updated with an extensive
afterword by Laurie Pepper covering Art Pepper's last years, and a
complete and up-to-date discography by Todd Selbert.
In "Getting the Blues," Stephen Nichols shows how blues music
offers powerful insight into the biblical narrative and the life of
Jesus. Weaving Bible stories together with intriguing details of
the lives of blues musicians, he leads readers in a vivid
exploration of how blues music teaches about sin, suffering,
alienation, and worship. Nichols unpacks the Psalms, portions of
the prophets, and Paul's writings in this unique way, revealing new
facets of Scripture.
"Getting the Blues" will resonate with all readers interested in
Christianity and culture. In the end they will emerge with a
greater understanding of the value of "theology in a minor key"--a
theology that embraces suffering as well as joy.
EXCERPT
This book attempts a theology in a minor key, a theology that
lingers, however uncomfortably, over Good Friday. It takes its cue
from the blues, harmonizing narratives of Scripture with narratives
of the Mississippi Delta, the land of cotton fields and Cyprus
swamps and the moaning slide guitar. This is not a book by a
musician, however, but by a theologian. And so I offer a
theological interpretation of the blues. Cambridge theologian
Jeremy Begbie has argued for music's intrinsic ability to teach
theology. As an improvisation on Begbie's thesis, I take the blues
to be intrinsically suited to teach a particular theology, a
theology in a minor key. This is not to suggest that a theology in
a minor key, or the blues for that matter, utterly sounds out
despair like the torrents of a spinning hurricane. A theology in a
minor key is no mere existential scream. In fact, a theology in a
minor key sounds a rather hopeful melody. Good Friday yearns for
Easter, and eventually Easter comes. Blues singers, even when
groaning of the worst of times, know to cry out for mercy because
they know that, despite appearances, Sunday's coming. . . . The
blues, like the writings of Flannery O'Connor, need not mention him
Christ] in every line, or in every song, but he haunts the music
just the same. At the end of the day, he serves as the resolution
to the conflict churning throughout the blues, the conflict that
keeps the music surging like the floodwaters of the Mississippi
River.
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