Is the blues a dying language?

[stoo schultz]

Congress has proclaimed 2003 The Year of the Blues . One reason for doing this is that blues as a genre of music, while not quite comatose, has definitely seen better days, and maybe it can be saved by a media blitz. There are very few hot young players now in the US and Britain, as compared to the boom decade of the 60s. Its like the old great players have nobody to pass the torch to.

 

What do yall think, is this true? It seems to me there are more hot young blues players these days than ever, but the difference is that they dont get as much respect in the US like they used to, 20-50 years ago. If youre a blues musician these days youre a lot better off living just about anywhere in Europe than in the U.S. What's wrong with the US of A? Do our teenagers need to be re-educated about this national historic treasure?

 

Part of the media blitz is coming up this weekend: it's the first show of a PBS series "Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues: A Musical Journey." This series is touted as an avenue for school teachers to introduce the blues to their students (and perhaps too to their administrators ) by showing videos in class. It looks like it's a great series. Check out the official website too, like the blues riff of the month and the guitar riff of the day.

[coyote]

One of the biggest problems comes from many so-called 'proponents' of the blues, who insist that if it ain't I-IV-V 12-bar then it ain't the blues. Let's face it: after the better part of a century such a simple formula can't have left too much unsaid. There's gotta be room to expand it a bit (this is, of course, called JAZZ lol)

 

But I think the blues gets more play now than ever in my lifetime. As soos as you step away from dance-oriented pop & electronica, you hear the blues in so much music.... no, the blues ain't nearly comatose. It's alive & kickin'

[Ouizel]

Well, considering that I play for a band called Big Daddy & the Funky Blues Band, I hope that the blues aren't a dying language. I do think that the blues will be around for a while, but as time passes, the definative lines between genres become increasingly blurred. What would have been rock several years ago is now modern country. What used to be considered blues is now jazz, and these are but 2 examples. That's not even touching Hip-Hop and Electronica, both of which are completely new genres. And they're not the only ones, either. Are the blues dying? No, I don't think so, but it may well be called something besides blues.

[djwayne]

I used to work with a band called "Gin House Blues". I ran their light show and did recordings for them. They played a lot of blues and rock. The whole point of the blues for us, was to take away the blues and have a party. It was a good time, and a fun band.

[Dave Pierce]

The blues is alive and well. And being played by hot musicians, both young and old, every day.

 

Whether they're making any money or not is a whole 'nother question.

 

--Dave

[Rod S]

Originally posted by Ouizel:

I do think that the blues will be around for a while, but as time passes, the definative lines between genres become increasingly blurred. What would have been rock several years ago is now modern country. What used to be considered blues is now jazz, and these are but 2 examples.

Yeah, good point. The line is definitely blurring. The whole lounge thing is pretty interesting, some of the stuff that's going on is a cool mixture of jazz, bossanova and electronica. A lot of it sucks, but some interesting stuff developing.

 

There seems to be however, less of a focus on 'performance' as far as music is concerned in the more traditional sense, which I think has hit blues and jazz. I definitely see a real diminishing interest in jazz from about 15 years ago, around here. I was kind of disappointed at the San Jose Jazz Festival a few years back - saw a lot of cool music, but not a lot of jazz per say.

[Phait]

I don't know what the current state of blues is, but I know there's been a few known younger players to keep it going: Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Jonny Lang being a couple..

 

But take yourself back to the late 70's/80's to the about 1990/1 and Stevie Ray was certainly helping the scene.. perhaps he did bring it back for us then, and maybe we need somebody to do it again.

 

I don't know.. I can tell you I love the blues.. Around age 10, 11, 12, I was really into Alice In Chains (still love 'em), Soundgarden (eh), Stone Temple Pilots (love 'em, inspired me to pickup guitar 7 years ago), Megadeth (loved Marty's guitar work, tried to emulate him, and quit for weeks frustrated because I couldn't)..

 

then my cousin plays SRV for me.. I was blown away. Ever since then I've developed an affinity for blues. SRV is the only bluesman that I've really gotten to enjoy because I haven't looked much further yet - but I have heard BB, Albert King, Kenny Wayne, Jonny.. Albert is great, Collins too..

 

I don't think it will die. Music (blues in this case) is archived from since it was allowed to be, it will be rediscovered, fluctuate.. but never die off.

 

*EDIT*

Damn, I must add John Lee Hooker with "Boogie Chillin'", "Shotgun" and "Dimples"!

[djwayne]

You want blues ?? Check out the real deal here. Mr. Buddy Guy's new CD, "Blues Singer". You can hear the whole cd online.

 

http://www.hyfntrak.com/buddyguy/thirdparty/

 

Guest appearances by Eric Clapton and B.B. King.

[RABid]

Every generation has a couple of artists that defines blues for them. For me it was the Winter brothers. Though I love Frankenstein and Free Ride, I wish Edgar Winter has concentrated on blues. His "Edger Winter's White Trash Live" album showed great potential and revealed just how much blues had affected rock. Im not sure who the current blues icon is for the young crowd. Too many musicians think you have to play jazz to be considered a top musician.

 

Robert

[stoo schultz]

Thanks for the Buddy Guy link, that's a great CD.

 

Let's see, Clapton is 58, Guy is 67, and BB is 78 (and still touring!)

 

My guess is that if these guys were starting out today, they might never get any recognition. When they're gone, who will take their place?

 

As for keyboard players, I don't offhand know of anyone in their 20s who could play like Otis Spann could when he was young, or Professor Longhair, or Sunnyland Slim, Memphis Slim etc. Is that because they don't exist, or because they're not getting any exposure?

[djwayne]

Originally posted by stoo schultz:

Thanks for the Buddy Guy link, that's a great CD.

 

Let's see, Clapton is 58, Guy is 67, and BB is 78 (and still touring!)

 

My guess is that if these guys were starting out today, they might never get any recognition. When they're gone, who will take their place?

 

As for keyboard players, I don't offhand know of anyone in their 20s who could play like Otis Spann could when he was young, or Professor Longhair, or Sunnyland Slim, Memphis Slim etc. Is that because they don't exist, or because they're not getting any exposure?

Norah Jones is getting exposure, and may open a few doors into the mainstream for blues and jazz musicians.

[Roto]

Blues has a lot of influence on the White Stripes. PBS has a series coming up on Sept. 28th that looks to be interesting. I was reading a bit in Rolling Stone about how Martin Scorsese talks to Chuck D of Public Enemy, and Chuck D raps with Muddy Waters' band. That ought to be interesting.

[Dave Horne]

The blues are here to stay. If someone sits in with a group and does not know any tunes, we can all agree to play the blues. It might not be the style we want to hear, but it's still, one way or another, the blues.

 

I didn't even know the blues language was remotely ill, let alone dying. Where should I send a card ... or flowers?

[Steve123]

The blues!!

 

Down here in good old Fort Worth, Texas you can see live blues in honky-tonks all over town. Many of them offer blues 4-7 nights a week. You could go to a jam and sit in almost any night of the week. The places are smoky, hot and smelly. The pay sucks and the backdoor man might come steal your old lady away while your on the bandstand. You wanna do it for a living? You better have a suger momma to pay your bills. Other than that dem old blues is alive and well.

 

Is it in the media no. But other than a small window in the 60s when some white brits took it up when was it ever?

 

Steve

[M Peasley]

If you cut your teeth on late 60s and 70s rock then, yeah, you can obviously hear that the blues is not the influence on mass appeal rock that it used to be. But it's still there in the heritage.

 

And the blues has such staying power. And the whole music scene cycles between digging the roots, then going agog over the latest innovations, then digging the roots, round and round.

 

Austin and Houston definitely have blues scenes, respected gurus, new faces making a splash, etc. No one is getting rich. The curmudgeons worry about authenticity as that is their destiny.

 

M Peasley

[David Loving]

Ain't nothin' wrong with the blues. I would worry more about the damage PBS [who's the guy who did the jazz series & the civil war, Ken somebody?] and Martin Scorsese [sp] and their ilk will do to the blues than the new players. Professional obsessive blues aficianados-'serious blues students'- are about as tiresome as their jazz-bo counterparts. Long live the blues.

[stoo schultz]

Well it will be interesting to see the PBS take on the current status of blues in the US. To me there is a real ambivalence. On the one hand, blues permeates American music. On the other hand, blues connotes the low end of the socioeconomic spectrum, which was hip in the 60s but not anymore. The ambivalence I think is really the old US racial ambivalence.

 

It seems like, when white musicians (Cream, Allmanns) got into the scene in the 60s and 70s and took over the market, black musicians left the scene. Or at least the young guys started looking elsewhere. Even modern R&B or soul has evolved into a kind of smooth synth rap with practically no obvious blues connection anymore. Everybody in R&B these days is trying to sound like Babyface or Whitney. Forget about James Brown or Aretha. Young black blues artists are a thing of the past.

 

I think the ambivalence is the most painfully obvious in Nashville. Most country promoters avoid blues like the plague. Occasionally theres a country/blues crossover like Kenny Wayne Shepard or SRV (roadhouse blues), but hes gotta be white. Nashville is still segregated, yet roadhouse is hot.

 

Still, the major labels wont touch blues with a 10 foot pole, whereas in the 40s, 50s, and 60s there were many big blues labels. Radio stations devoted to blues have disappeared just about everywhere, Mississippi being the major exception. The best blues acts like Kenny Wayne are on independent labels, and nobodys heard of them.

 

And like I said before, there used to be an incredibly rich tradition of piano blues, spectacularly popular for awhile, beginning in the late 30s. That tradition seems to be utterly dead now. Hardly anybody plays like Pete Johnson, Professor Longhair, Otis Spann, Memphis Slim, Sunnyland Slim, Pinetop Perkins, Jack Dupree, Meade Lux Lewis, etc. etc. etc. anymore, except for a few white academics.

[David Loving]

But, Stoo, hadn't it always been like that for the blues - low down on the totem pole?

[Phait]

I've never known of a pure blues radio station in my life, and I had the idea several years ago of starting one in town. It was more of a kindof dream.. but I think there's always potential.

[Byrdman]

Originally posted by stoo schultz:

Hardly anybody plays like Pete Johnson, Professor Longhair, Otis Spann, Memphis Slim, Sunnyland Slim, Pinetop Perkins, Jack Dupree, Meade Lux Lewis, etc. etc. etc. anymore, except for a few white academics.

Well, Pinetop Perkins still plays like Pinetop Perkins. He's from the Chicago school.

 

Henry Butler is the leading New Orleans player, but is by no means alone. Certainly Henry has been an academic but is not currently.

 

Then you've got Marcia Ball who is very definitely an important modern player in the Texas tradition.

 

Then there's Kelly Hunt from Kansas.

 

There's lots of fine players who are not as famous playing in these styles all over the country. People like Annie Wooden (aka Annieville Blues) from Seattle and Dave Vest from Portland, for example.

 

So its not exactly no-one but academics

[stoo schultz]

I agree there are some great young players out there (Pinetop by the way is 90, god bless him). But they are damn scarce compared to 40-50 years ago, and they just don't have the same stature. In the 50s and 60s there were probably 10 times the number of great players as now, and they were exerting a tremendous influence on other kinds of music (e.g. jump blues pianists on rock & roll). In the 30s boogie players were performing in Carnegie Hall.

 

Nowadays the great young players seem to be more interested in jazz than blues, and more interested in synths and Hammond than in the piano (nothing wrong with that ).

 

You left my personal favorite out of your list, DK Stewart from Portland. DK if you're reading this, you're the greatest!

[Jode]

Blues jam sessions are still the medium of choice for most new players to get onstage with other people for the first time. I don't think that will change anytime soon.

[Roto]

Originally posted by stoo schultz:

It seems like, when white musicians (Cream, Allmanns) got into the scene in the 60s and 70s and took over the market, black musicians left the scene.

I think that's one of the topics in the PBS series. At least that's one of the things Chuck D was talking about in the Rolling Stone article. The only black blues artist to get popular recently that I can think of is Keb' Mo, and he doesn't sound much like blues anymore.

[stoo schultz]

Yeah I guess it's the same old story. When something in the "black culture" goes mainstream, suddenly it's like tap dancing. No self-respecting black artist wants to have anything to do with it.

 

For a black pianist to seriously perform barrelhouse or ragtime, for a lot of people, critics included, that probably feels a lot like tap dancing. Hopelessly uncool, embarrassing.

 

I tip my hat to the few who followed their love of the music and ignored all the critics who probably still call them corny or "Tom".

 

And then there's us white guys, who have to deal with the stereotype that we're really dorks who are trying to look cool by acting like black guys . . . . thank you Blues Bros for injecting that idea into the popular culture ! !

 

Here's an interview a couple years ago where BB King laments the fact that the blues audience is almost entirely a white audience nowadays:

 

"It seems to me that a lot of the white kids know more about [the blues] than a lot of the black adults. That's fine with me because I want the white kids to know about it and I'm glad somebody knows about it. But I wish young blacks would take more interest. I don't necessarily want black kids to like the blues; I wish they would, but I just want them to know about it. I want them to know about this music. To know what a lot of the people went through to start it -- the people that wrote it. And I'm one of the disciples of the people that started it. I want them to know that the people they like and love came from the very same people that they don't seem to care about. It worries me quite a bit."

[DanS]

Originally posted by djwayne:

Norah Jones is getting exposure, and may open a few doors into the mainstream for blues and jazz musicians.[/QB]

If she was playing jazz or blues.

She's more like stripped down AOR than anything else.

 

Can't say I'm really into blues myself. Aprt from a few players here and there, it's not a style I find very interesting.

[David R]

The blues is alive and well. A lot of more modern jazz players are getting away from it (*cough*Mehldau*cough*), but some are embracing it wholeheartedly. You can really hear it in Dave Douglas' and Chris Potter's playing, to name two.

 

I'd argue Norah Jones is playing jazz- and blues-infused music. But that's another thread. If you want blues keyboardists, look at Jon Cleary or Henry Butler.

 

Young blues-influenced artists I can think of off the top of my head: Derek Trucks, Corey Harris, Keb' Mo'. Cafe Campus still has their renowned blues series. It's alive and kickin'.

 

David

[Byrdman]

Originally posted by DavidRR:

The blues is alive and well. A lot of more modern jazz players are getting away from it (*cough*Mehldau*cough*), but some are embracing it wholeheartedly. You can really hear it in Dave Douglas' and Chris Potter's playing, to name two.

 

I'd argue Norah Jones is playing jazz- and blues-infused music. But that's another thread. If you want blues keyboardists, look at Jon Cleary or Henry Butler.

 

Young blues-influenced artists I can think of off the top of my head: Derek Trucks, Corey Harris, Keb' Mo'. Cafe Campus still has their renowned blues series. It's alive and kickin'.

 

David

Corey Harris and Henry Butler duoed to produce one of my favorite CDs - Vudu Menz.