Blues History & Styles Outline (3/15/92)

–> Classic blues (first recorded form, composed blues w/jazz backing)
. Ma Rainey, 1923-8
. Bessie Smith, 1923-33
. Also: Alberta Hunter (Mamie Smith 1920 “Crazy Blues” was a trigger)

–> Pre-blues songsters (dance tunes; spirituals; pop songs; folk, hillbilly, & cowboy songs; work songs; narrative ballads; ragtime tunes; minstrel songs)
. Mississippi John Hurt, 1928, 63-6
. Leadbelly, 1933-42
. Mance Lipscomb, 1960-9

–> Texas country blues
. Blind Lemon Jefferson, 1926-9
. Blind Willie Johnson (gospel), 1927-30

–> Mississippi Delta blues
. Charley Patton, 1929-34
. Son House, 1930, 41-2, 65
. Bukka White, 1930, 37-40, 60s
. Skip James, 1931, 64-7
. Big Joe Williams, 1935-83
. Robert Johnson, 1936-7
. Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup, 194?
. Fred McDowell, 1962-72
. Also: Tommy Johnson, Muddy Waters, Johnny Shines

–> East Coast blues
. Atlanta 12-string style: Blind Willie McTell (1927-35, 40, 49-50, 56)
. Ragtime-influenced Piedmont style: Blind Blake, Blind Boy Fuller, Rev. Gary Davis (gospel)
. Also: Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee

–> Memphis country blues
. Furry Lewis, 1927-8, 60s
. Memphis Minnie, 1928-35
. Sleepy John Estes, 1929-40, 62
. Frank Stokes, Robert Wilkins, Memphis Jug Band, Cannon’s Jug Stompers

–> Miscellaneous prewar styles (St. Louis, Indianapolis, piano)
. Kokomo Arnold & Peetie Wheatstraw, 1930-41
. Lonnie Johnson, 1925-60s
. Leroy Carr & Scrapper Blackwell, 1928-35
. Piano blues & boogie woogie: Big Maceo, Memphis Slim
. Also: Albert Ammons, Champion Jack Dupree, Roosevelt Sykes

–> Prewar Chicago blues (Bluebird & Vocalion Records)
. Tampa Red (w/ Big Maceo), 1928-53
. Big Bill Broonzy, 1932-41
. Sonny Boy (John Lee) Williamson, 1937-48
. Also: Memphis Minnie

–> Rhythm & blues [–> separate tree; roots include blues, gospel, & jazz]
. Jump blues: Big Joe Turner, Wynonie Harris, Louis Jordan
. Also: Roy Brown, Charles Brown, Amos Milburn, Roy Milton, Johnny Otis, Percy Mayfield

–> Postwar Texas & West Coast blues
. Sam “Lightnin'” Hopkins, 1946-69
. T-Bone Walker, 1943-59
. Lowell Fulson, 1946-62
. Duke & Peacock Records: Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, Big Mama Thornton, Bobby “Blue” Bland
. Also: Albert Collins, Johnny Copeland, Junior Parker

–> Miscellaneous postwar blues (Detroit, Memphis)
. John Lee Hooker, 1948-92
. Sam Phillips: Early recordings of B.B. King, Howlin’ Wolf, & Bobby “Blue” Bland
. Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Miller), 1951
. Also: Junior Parker, Little Milton

–> Postwar Chicago blues (Chess & VeeJay Records)
. Muddy Waters, 1947-74
. Elmore James, 1951-63
. Robert Nighthawk, 1951-64
. Johnny Shines, 1950s-71
. Howlin’ Wolf, 1954-72
. Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Miller), 1955-64
. Little Walter, 1952-60
. Otis Spann, ?
. Jimmy Rogers, ?
. Junior Wells, 1953-65
. Jimmy Reed, 1953-65
. Fenton Robinson, ?
. Also: Hound Dog Taylor

–> Louisiana styles
. New Orleans rhythm: Professor Longhair, Smiley Lewis, Guitar Slim
. Zydeco: Clifton Chenier
. Swamp blues: Slim Harpo

–> Modern electric blues guitar
. T-Bone Walker, 1943-59
. B.B. King, 1951-92
. Otis Rush, 1956-8, 71
. Magic Sam, 1956-69
. Buddy Guy, 1958-68
. Freddie King, 1960-4
. Albert King, 1966-73
. Albert Collins, 1962-92
. Robert Cray, 1980-92
. Also: Little Milton

–> Soul blues
. Bobby Blue Bland, 1957-60s
. Junior Parker, 1957-60s
. Little Milton, 1957-60s
. Little Johnny Taylor, 1963-8
. Z.Z. Hill, 1968-72, 80-4
. Robert Cray, 1980-92

Blues comes from:
– Group work songs and individual hollers
– Spirituals (gospel feeling, vocal virtuosity, altered European progressions and resolutions)
– 19th century black entertainment tradition (encompassing a range of material from Schubert leider to minstrel songs to narrative ballads to ragtime tunes to fife & drum band music to hillbilly songs, as performed in medicine shows, vaudeville-style revues, dances, and country fairs).

Blues retains musical materials from African tradition: polyrhythms, parallel rhythmic structure, rhythmic drive, free use of time signatures, call & response (antiphony), stringed instrumentation, epic poet/singer, vocal techniques including melisma and falsetto, and microtonal flatting of 3rd and 7th notes.

Here, “blues” means vocal blues. Jazz emerged as a form of instrumentalized blues a decade earlier, in the 1890s, although W.C. Handy recognized a prototype of what came to be identified as blues around 1892. Blues was only one of many song forms available to early blues players (see “Pre-blues songsters”), but took root commercially in a way that other forms did not.

[W.C. Handy published 12-bar “Memphis Blues” in 1912.]