|
Books > Music > Contemporary popular music > Blues
Praised as "suave, soulful, ebullient" (Tom Waits) and "a
meticulous researcher, a graceful writer, and a committed
contrarian" (New York Times Book Review), Elijah Wald is one of the
leading popular music critics of his generation. In The Blues, Wald
surveys a genre at the heart of American culture. It is not an easy
thing to pin down. As Howlin' Wolf once described it, "When you
ain't got no money and can't pay your house rent and can't buy you
no food, you've damn sure got the blues." It has been defined by
lyrical structure, or as a progression of chords, or as a set of
practices reflecting West African "tonal and rhythmic approaches,"
using a five-note "blues scale." Wald sees blues less as a style
than as a broad musical tradition within a constantly evolving pop
culture. He traces its roots in work and praise songs, and shows
how it was transformed by such professional performers as W. C.
Handy, who first popularized the blues a century ago. He follows
its evolution from Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith through Bob Dylan and
Jimi Hendrix; identifies the impact of rural field recordings of
Blind Lemon Jefferson, Charley Patton and others; explores the role
of blues in the development of both country music and jazz; and
looks at the popular rhythm and blues trends of the 1940s and
1950s, from the uptown West Coast style of T-Bone Walker to the
"down home" Chicago sound of Muddy Waters. Wald brings the story up
to the present, touching on the effects of blues on American
poetry, and its connection to modern styles such as rap. ABOUT THE
SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University
Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area.
These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new
subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis,
perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and
challenging topics highly readable.
For over one hundred years, Memphis, Tennessee, has been the center
of musical innovation for American popular music. From W. C. Handy
to Alberta Hunter and Lil Hardin Armstrong, in the early years, to
B. B. King in the late 1940s, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Jerry
Lee Lewis in the 1950s, to Otis Redding, Booker T. and the MGs, and
Al Green in the 1960s and early 1970s, Memphis music sizzled with a
level of creativity unrivaled in the history of American music. For
five decades of the city's marvelous music history, author James L.
Dickerson was at ground zero, first as a high school rock musician
and then as a student rhythm and blues musician at the University
of Mississippi, where his band made history by becoming the first
all-white musical group to perform at a black Memphis nightclub,
and finally as a Memphis journalist, magazine publisher, and radio
syndication owner, who had unparalleled access to many of the music
greats of the latter half of the century. Memphis Going Down is
told in the words of the record producers, performers, and
songwriters themselves as they reflect on their lives and music and
its impact on popular culture. You'll hear legendary record
producers such as Chips Moman, Willie Mitchell, Sam Phillips, and
Jim Stewart talk about the ups and downs of the industry. And
you'll hear the artists themselves: Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins,
Jerry Lee Lewis, Al Green, Bobby Womack, B. B. King, Bobby "Blue"
Bland, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Rufus Thomas, members of the Box Tops,
and the Fabulous Thunderbirds go one-on-one with the author in an
effort to understand the mysteries of Memphis music.
"From Buddy Collette's brilliant ruminations on Paul Robeson to
Horace Tapscott's extraordinary insights about artistic production
and community life . . . this collection of oral testimony presents
a unique and memorable portrait of the 'Avenue' and of the artists
whose creativity nurtured and sustained its golden age."--George
Lipsitz, author of "Dangerous Crossroads
"If ever the West Coast enjoyed its own equivalent of the Harlem
Renaissance, it was here on Central Avenue. This too-often
forgotten setting was nothing less than a center of cultural
ferment and a showplace for artistic achievement. Finally its story
has been told, with a richness of detail and vitality of
expression, by those who helped make it happen."--Ted Gioia, author
of "West Coast Jazz: Modern Jazz in California
"What a wonderful, comprehensive volume, full of knowledge and
insight about an important time and place in jazz history. This
book is a needed and welcomed addition on the rich African-American
musical heritage of Los Angeles. It is well written and edited by
people who were actually involved in the creation of the music,
along with others who have a deep concern for preserving that
legacy. This work gives the reader a truly in-depth look at the
musicians, the music, and the social and political climate during
that important development in American culture."--Kenny Burrell,
jazz guitarist and Director of the Jazz Studies Program and
Professor of Music and Ethnomusicology at the University of
California, Los Angeles
(Piano Instruction). Expand your keyboard knowledge with the
Keyboard Lesson Goldmine series The series contains four books:
Blues, Country, Jazz, and Rock. Each volume features 100 individual
modules that cover a giant array of topics. Each lesson includes
detailed instructions with playing examples. You'll also get
extremely useful tips and more to reinforce your learning
experience, plus two audio CDs featuring performance demos of all
the examples in the book 100 Blues Lessons includes 12-bar blues,
8-bar blues, 16-bar blues; right-hand fills, left-hand patterns;
stylings of the great blues pianists; chord voicings; dominant 7th
chords, dominant 9th chords; and much more
|
You may like...
Gary Moore
Harry Shapiro
Paperback
R409
Discovery Miles 4 090
|