Blues Continuum, Development of Blues - Essay Example

Blues Continuum s Music Department In his seminal work devoted to the development of music in America, Leroi Jones aka Amiri Baraka focused on a very peculiar issue and a unique property of American culture. Since the epoch of slavery, culture of the U.S. has been developing under strong influence of African American people, who have formed a great part of musical culture. The book’s core message lies in the statement that African American people sought to oppose racism in their music and this eventually gave rise to a vast number of styles and genres from simple work songs to bebop, New Orleans jazz and Delta blues (Holley Jr., 2013). Baraka’s position revolves around the idea that music of the people is inseparably connected to its history, therefore, one of the grounding principles of his philosophical approach is to use music for “imparting African American history” (Schultz, 2013, p.153); as the lion’s share of original black music genres arose from the Afro-American experience of being oppressed. And the whole range of musical forms derived from that experience were intended to reflect life of those who were considered different. As Shapiro puts it, African-American jazz and blues forms based on authentic African vocal norms and rhythms were aimed at addressing life of a community, sensing their difference and struggling for solidarity (Shapiro, 2004, p.90). Blues, in particular, is a significant expression of Afro-American hardships connected to life in American white society. Although nowadays this genuine Negro genre is perceived predominantly as a romantic genre, its roots drive it rather far from romance: blues is a product that has evolved “out of African-American sorrow songs” (Beşe, 2011, p.228). Considering the vast cultural and social background of blues, this genre can be considered something more than just the style of playing or singing’ instead, it would be rather reasonable to think about blues as of the frame of mind or a kind of disposition. The ability to communicate the musician’s state of mind has been the principal extramusical property of blues. Beginning with the 16th century, the expression “blue devils” meant the state of mind characterized by melancholy or depression; therefore, performing blues music meant being in a certain mood. Moreover, blues has stricken roots in American culture so deeply that it is hard to deny its influence on the great variety of the succeeding genres and music forms. Therefore, Baraka in his work (1999) speaks about the notion of the blues continuum, as blues as an authentic “black” aspect of it found its reflection in cultural heritage of Afro-Americans, who were reluctant to assimilate to the full extent, and in many musical forms that were embraced by the white community. However, its form has undergone numerous modifications in the course of time. Development of blues Forming its identity in the course of the first decades of the 20th century, blues experienced certain modifications. The earliest form, country or folk blues, formed at the turn of the 20th century and was an immediate reflection of hardships experienced by Negro workers, particularly, in the Mississippi delta, which is considered the homeland of delta blues. Except its immediate purpose to express concerns of the Negro inhabitants of the South, this form of blues – on a larger scale – was the reflection of the position and self-perception of the Negro people within American society. Viewed from the musical perspective, country blues was predominantly a balanced synthesis of African rhythms, hollers and country ballads typical for America (Wasserman, 2009, p.38); it was dominated by vocal aspect, involving no sophisticated arrangements or instruments except guitar or blues harp. For instance, “Cool Drink of Water Blues” (1928) created by Tommy Johnson involves rather expressive melancholic plangent singing accompanied with rather simple guitar patterns, and lyrics is filled with “blues” of uncertainty about returning home. Such characteristics are typical for a wide range of country blues musicians, which hints at the very nature of this genre. Later, due to urbanization of the Northern part of the U.S. and thus wider prospects for further life opening for Negroes, the sociocultural image changed considerably in 1910’s-1920’s with immense flow of Afro-Americans migrating from the South (especially during the World War I). Amiri Baraka gives a comprehensive description of the social conditions faced by Negro people in the early 20th century. As Negro people began to move to industrialized Northern states, their environment changed and there were no fieldwork and hard routine in farmlands anymore; instead, Negroes encountered a new lifestyle in ghettos of large cities offering jobs and a new social position – as Baraka wrote, they “got into the mainstream of American society” (Baraka, 1999, p.118). Moreover, the war eventually contributed to Negro’s integration to American culture. Therefore, the era of classic blues intertwined with changes of Negro people’s experience was rather distanced from earlier folk forms of blues. Blues was widely popularized by record companies and eventually turned from mere avocation to a sort of professional activity intended to entertain the public. In other words, the initial functionality of blues was replaced with the new entertaining nature, and blues became a commercialized genre due to attention on the part of recording labels. Baraka states that this the evidence of “formal recognition by America of the Negro’s movement back towards the definable society” (Baraka, 1999, p.99). Classic blues of the 1920’s was characterized by prevalence of female singers accompanied by bands and new dominating moods typical for Negro inhabitants of urban areas (O’Connor, 1991, p.33). Mamie Smith was among the blues icons of that period: one of her hits, “Harlem blues” (2011, Master Classic Records) involves typical sensual bluesy vocal and accompaniment created by the band including trumpet, piano etc. Moreover, recordings of classic blues compositions along with the viewpoint provided by Baraka bear evidence of transformation that occurred in the musical form of blues – music was not improvised expression of immediate mood by a single guitar player; instead, blues became limited by certain demands of the form such as tempo or the number of stanzas on the recording. However, after the period of classic blues prosperity, dramatic decline came with the Great Depression, which deprived blues musicians of their audiences (making potential listeners insolvent) and ruined recording and entertainment industries. Nevertheless, position of Negro people was already entrenched in American cultural landscape, thus blues continued with its natural development, being produced in the house-rent parties along with the related piano form of boogie-woogie. At the same time, classic and country blues persisted, too, developing far less actively, yet being preferred by many musicians (as these forms of blues were put into practice in the decades to come). Blues Continuum The shift in the focus from the country to urban areas altered both relations/perceptions of Afro-American people and the form of blues music itself. It turns out that even the Great Depression didn’t completely halt social process in Afro-American part of the society and development of their music. For instance, although production of race recordings was run down, some country and urban recordings were still released. At the same time, blues underwent certain transformations, absorbing influences of other related genres like boogie-woogie, jazz and harsher blues forms of Southwestern bands. The blues bands that moved to the underground of music industry as big jazz bands were gaining popularity eventually gave momentum to development of another music form, which “came from a noisier world” (McNamee, 2014, p.222) than traditional blues. These new features in Negro music were intended to respond to “chaotic harshness of the new world (Baraka, 1999, p.167) and thus were more accurate reflection of the new life conditions faced by the society. The notion of the blues continuum offered by Amiri Baraka in his book generally describes the variety of new manners and forms, in which blues revived after the Great Depression and the World War II; the way, in which blues actually persisted in conditions of ever-growing availability of radio throughout the country. However, blues got more harsh and expressive due to influence of numerous shouting blues singers, who were confronting rather powerful accompaniment of electric guitars, rhythm sections or harmonicas. Drumming became heavier, riffs – more powerful, and saxophones began squealing in unison or competing with other elements of composition to stand out. This vivid instrumental background made the singer’s voice try harder to get on the top of musical canvas, and singers influenced by Southwestern blues-oriented bands (Baraka, 1999, p.170) acquired the new shouting manner of presenting their vocal parties. The prominent blues shouter Wynonie Harris could be a great illustration of this new style: in “Rock Mr. Blues” (1950) one easily identifies his artful shouting manner, “massive voice” (as Templeton calls it (2014, p.4) and powerful accompaniment complemented by backing vocals. Also, we hear outstanding role of sax and increased intensity of rhythm section and drumming. The variety of stylistic shades Negro blues music acquired in the years following two world wars and the Great Depression was available to Afro-American people, as they existed in radio broadcasting, on recordings and even in live performances, for it was typical for blues singers to dwell in the same ghettos side by side with other people. This is the complex phenomenon defined by Baraka as the blues continuum: a spiral pattern of development and popularization of blues both in its new manner and older forms, demand for which reappeared with the upsurge of radio popularity. Blues literally never ceased to exist, going hand in hand with Afro-American people on the way of their evolution inside white American society; moreover, it managed to permeate into cultural life of white Americans: in fact, classic blues – sleek and mild to certain extent – had a kind of European-American face. The new form of blues music that made blues continuum possible (both in the time of Baraka’s “Blues People” and in later decades) was further from this sleekness and glamour; it was harsher and wilder to certain degree. It was rhythm and blues, the type of blues music that emerged outside mainstream, though would never be possible without it (Baraka, 1999, p.172). Rhythm & blues as a premise of “blues continuum” Having developed on the verge of 1930’s and 1940’s in ghettos of large cities of the North, rhythm and blues became the urbanized modification of traditional, classic, blues and, say, its continuation. The new blues style mirrored altered self-perception and cultural consciousness of Negroes after the war; moreover, it was a direct outcome of “growing urban tradition” (Baraka, 1999, p.171). Rhythm and blues was more harsh and expressive, involving emphasized instrumental aspect, faster tempos, energetic beat and outstanding vocal parties. Live performance, in its turn, experienced changes as well, as musicians sought to attract as much attention to themselves as possible: their manner of playing and behaving became extravagant and their purpose apparently as to create a kind of non-Western atmosphere for their music and thus remind of the real African origins of the music. Lynn Hope’s sax solo sounds extremely harsh and expressive in his “Sands of Sahara” (1999, Charly Records), backed by rather strong rhythm section. Therefore, it could be stated that rhythm and blues came to help distinguish genuine Afro-American manner in music from commercialized and shallow musical forms cultivated by white musicians and dance jazz bands. James Brown as one of the most famous shouting vocalists is a good example with his “Please Please Please” recorded in 1956 with the Federal label (Estell, 1994, p.555): strident shouting vocal, outstanding beat and downright lyrics of romantically suggestive nature make the song authentically “black”. Social significance of this style transformation was observed in the way the new style was also reflected in the way rhythm and blues became a universal name for most music performed and listened to by Negro people. The term was coined by Jerry Wexler in 1947 in order to replace an irrelevant “race record” with a more tolerant and general name for “black popular music” (Sacks, 1993), “rhythm and blues”. It could be stated that rhythm and blues in its nature and name became a symbol of integration and, at the same time, special position of authentic African cultural aspect in the postwar society. Some scholars consider rhythm and blues and earlier forms to be separated by jump blues that is thought to be the predecessor of the latter; however, Robert Palmer (1981) in his work views rhythm and blues as a synonym for jump blues. Rhythm and blues became the market-oriented commercial music, being more aggressive and loud (due to development of technologies and opportunities to amplify both vocal and instruments) in comparison to traditional blues style. Even such lyrical song as “Ain’t Nobody’s Business” recreated by Jimmy Witherspoon in 1947 (Supreme Records) with its romantic lyrics and overall mood sounds rather loud and vivid due to expressive singing, imposing rhythm set by piano and generally “colorful” accompaniment. On the edge of the 1950’s, inspired by Muddy Waters, young black guitarists such as Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley and piano players like Little Richard and Fats Domino made a sort of breakthrough in rhythm and blues (and in popular music in general) creating vigorous and energetic melodies complemented by lyrics of acute contemporary themes that were taboo before. Bo Diddley’s “I’m a man” (1955, Checker) is rather energetic, with numerous instruments creating the background for vocals (maracas, double bass, drums, guitar and harmonica), typical black manner of singing and downright sexually suggestive lyrics. Blues continuum in later music forms Via rhythm and blues, blues found its continuation in the new music forms and styles of the later decades: it was rhythm and blues that produced the direct impact of development of rock-n-roll, though the former persisted and evolved simultaneously with the new genres. The above-mentioned blues revolution of talented black musicians gave birth to the genre that later became the cradle for countless stylistic forms and trends – rock-n-roll. In fact, what rhythm and blues musicians did was already something very similar to the latter, but giving the style the new name opened it for white people and – as it can be seen nowadays – insured great future for the genre both in black and white part of American culture. Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly and others gave rock-n-roll “white” face and influenced its popularization both in America and abroad. Moreover, rhythm and blues along with rock-n-roll began developing in Britain as well. In the 1960’s, new musicians appears along with the old ones, who could be called founders of rhythm and blues; yet, music became more and more diverse. Therefore, two more genres that came out of rhythm and blues via modifications are soul and funk. As far as rhythm and blues was often stated to lack intimacy and sincerity in comparison to its predecessors, Sam Cooke created a peculiar singing style capturing spontaneity and ingeniousness of lyrical feelings. This feature created the atmosphere of improvisation typical for live performances (e.g. Ray Charles’ music possessed such features). Thus, this rhythm and blues manner, being more individualized, was called soul, for it created an impression of a singer opening his/her soul in the song. Funk, in its turn, was born in late 1960’s as a “harder” form of dance music. James Brown’s “I Feel Good” is often called one of the pioneering songs in funk. Eventually, funk continued to develop and its “electric” club form gave rise to the newer genre of disco in 1970’s. Conclusion Born on the turn of the 20th century, blues has survived until nowadays – both as a separate style and as the element laid in the basis of numerous other styles. Owing to the three milestones of American history – two world wars and the great depression – Negro culture acquired its face and integrated in white society, yet preserving its unique identity. Furthermore, blues as the Negro music and immediate reflection of Afro-American experience managed to persist and transform into the style that eventually achieved wide popularity and recognition. In the framework of blues continuum, blues can be understood as a universal source of inspiration and a basis for countless modifications responding to the needs of the contemporary Negro people and the society as a whole. In this context, having considered the trajectory of blues evolution in Baraka’s work and further, we can say that the majority of American popular music genres evolved from blues as a stem: rhythm and blues, soul, rock-n-roll, funk and others that formed later. Thus, it is difficult to deny the idea of blues continuum and – as a consequence – the idea of Negro culture and Negro experience being in the core of most modern American-born music genres. References BEŞE, A. (2011) The Significance of the Blues as a Cultural Expression in Ma Raineys Black Bottom. Journal Of Graduate School Of Social Sciences, 15, 1, pp. 227-234. [Online] Available from https://ebscohost.com/ [Accessed April 21, 2015] ESTELL, K. (1994) Country, Gospel, Rap, Rhythm And Blues, And Soul Musicians.. African America: Portrait Of A People, pp. 552-592. [Online] Available from https://ebscohost.com/ [Accessed April 21, 2015] HOLLEY JR., E. (2013) ‘Black History Meets Black Music: Blues People At 50’. NPR music. [Online] Available from http://www.npr.org/blogs/ablogsupreme/2013/07/26/205541225/black-history-meets-black-music-blues-people-at-50 [Accessed April 21, 2015] JONES, L. [Amiri Baraka] (1999) Blues People: The Negro Experience in White America and the Music That Developed From It. HarperCollins. MCNAMEE, G. (2014) Blues vs. Rhythm and Blues. Virginia Quarterly Review, 90, 1, p. 222. [Online] Available from https://ebscohost.com/ [Accessed April 21, 2015] OCONNOR, P. J. (1991) Discovering the Rich Differences in the Blues: The Rural and Urban Genres. Midwest Quarterly, 33, 1, pp. 28-42. [Online] Available from https://ebscohost.com/ [Accessed April 21, 2015] PALMER, R. (1981) Deep Blues: A Musical and Cultural History of the Mississippi Delta. Penguin Books. SACKS, L. (1993) ‘The Soul of Jerry Wexler’. The New York Times. [Online] Available from http://www.nytimes.com/1993/08/29/books/the-soul-of-jerry-wexler.html [Accessed April 21, 2015] SCHULTZ, K. L. (2013) The Afro-Modernist Epic and Literary History: Tolson, Hughes, Baraka. Palgrave Macmillan. SHAPIRO, M. J. (2004) Methods and Nations: Cultural Governance and the Indigenous Subject. Routledge. TEMPLETON, R. (2014) ‘Rock Mr. Blues’: Wynonie Harris’. Blues & Rhythm, Vol.8, pp.4-7. [Online] Available form http://www.bluesandrhythm.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Pages-from-BR-298-second-proof-TB-2.pdf [Accessed April 21, 2015] WASSERMAN, J. (2009) Whose Blues? Africanadian Theatre and the Blues Aesthetic. Theatre Research In Canada, 30, 1/2, pp. 37-57. [Online] Available from https://ebscohost.com/ [Accessed April 21, 2015] Discographic references Tommy Johnson, ‘Cool Drink of Water Blues’ (Victor Recordings, Memphis, TN, 1928). Mamie Smith, ‘Harlem Blues’, Blues Essentials, (CD: Master Classics Records, 2011). James Brown, “Please Please Please” (Federal label, 1956). Wynonie Harris, ‘Rock Mr. Blues’, Rock Mr. Blues (1950). Lynn Hope, ‘Sands of Sahara’, Juicy! (Charly Records, 1999). Bo Diddley, ‘I’m a man’, Im A Man (Score Records ‎– SCO 8917, 1981). Jimmy Witherspoon, ‘Ain’t Nobody’s Business’ (Supreme Records, 1947). Read More