Portal:Blues

Portal topics: Activities; Culture; Geography; Health; History; Mathematics; Nature; People; Philosophy; Religion; Society; Technology; Random portal

The Blues Portal

Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated amongst African-Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the African-American culture. The blues form is ubiquitous in jazz, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll, and is characterized by the call-and-response pattern, the blues scale, and specific chord progressions, of which the twelve-bar blues is the most common. Blue notes (or "worried notes"), usually thirds, fifths or sevenths flattened in pitch, are also an essential part of the sound. Blues shuffles or walking bass reinforce the trance-like rhythm and form a repetitive effect known as the groove.

Blues music is characterized by its lyrics, bass lines, and instrumentation. Early traditional blues verses consisted of a single line repeated four times. It was only in the first decades of the 20th century that the most common current structure became standard: the AAB pattern, consisting of a line sung over the four first bars, its repetition over the next four, and then a longer concluding line over the last bars. Early blues frequently took the form of a loose narrative, often relating the racial discrimination and other challenges experienced by African-Americans.

Many elements, such as the call-and-response format and the use of blue notes, can be traced back to the music of Africa. The origins of the blues are also closely related to the religious music of the African-American community, the spirituals. The first appearance of the blues is often dated to after the ending of slavery, with the development of juke joints occurring later. It is associated with the newly acquired freedom of the former slaves. Chroniclers began to report about blues music at the dawn of the 20th century. The first publication of blues sheet music was in 1908. Blues has since evolved from unaccompanied vocal music and oral traditions of slaves into a wide variety of styles and subgenres. Blues subgenres include country blues, Delta blues and Piedmont blues, as well as urban blues styles such as Chicago blues and West Coast blues. World War II marked the transition from acoustic to electric blues and the progressive opening of blues music to a wider audience, especially white listeners. In the 1960s and 1970s, a hybrid form called blues rock developed, which blended blues styles with rock music. (Full article...)

Refresh with new selections below (purge)

Selected article - show another

In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note that—for expressive purposes—is sung or played at a slightly different pitch from standard. Typically the alteration is between a quartertone and a semitone, but this varies depending on the musical context. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

edit

Selected picture

B.B. King in concert.

More images...

edit

Quotes

“

Blues is really America's finest art form and most dominant art form of the 20th century.

”

— Georgie Fame

“

Blues is a natural fact, something that a fellow lives. If you don't live it, you don't have it.

”

— Big Bill Broonzy

“

The blues is a low-down achin' heart disease
Like consumption killing me by degrees.

”

— Robert Johnson, "Preaching Blues (Up Jumped the Devil)"

“

When you lay down at night, turning from one side of the bed to the other and can't sleep, what's the matter? Blues got you.

”

— Lead Belly

“

The blues had a baby and they named it rock and roll.

”

— Muddy Waters

Selected biography - show another

Vaughan performing at the Ritz Theater in Austin, Texas, March 1983

Stephen Ray Vaughan (also known as SRV; October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990) was an American musician, best known as the guitarist and frontman of the blues rock trio Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble. Although his mainstream career spanned only seven years, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians in the history of blues music, and one of the greatest guitarists of all time. He was the younger brother of guitarist Jimmie Vaughan.

Born and raised in Dallas, Vaughan began playing guitar at age seven, initially inspired by his brother Jimmie. In 1972, he dropped out of high school and moved to Austin, where he began to gain a following after playing gigs on the local club circuit. Vaughan joined forces with Tommy Shannon on bass and Chris Layton on drums as Double Trouble in 1978. The band established itself in the Austin music scene and soon became one of the most popular acts in Texas. They performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in July 1982, where David Bowie saw Vaughan play. Bowie contacted him for a studio gig in December where he played blues guitar on the album Let's Dance (1983). John Hammond heard a demo album that Vaughan and Double Trouble had recorded and interested major label Epic Records in signing them to a record deal in March 1983. Within months, they achieved mainstream success for the critically acclaimed debut album Texas Flood. With a series of successful network television appearances and extensive concert tours, Vaughan became the leading figure in the blues revival of the 1980s. (Full article...)

List of selected biographies

General images - load new batch

The following are images from various blues-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Billy Boy Arnold (from List of blues musicians)
Image 2T-Bone Walker at American Folk Blues Festival, Hamburg, 1972 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 3An 1890s photo of the tourist steamer Okahumke'e on the Ocklawaha River, with black guitarists on board (from Origins of the blues)
Image 4Ethel Waters, 1943 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 5Blind Lemon Jefferson (from List of blues musicians)
Image 6Eddie Shaw, 2015 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 7Robben Ford, 2007 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 8A watercolor painting of a camp meeting circa 1839 (New Bedford Whaling Museum). (from Origins of the blues)
Image 9Big Joe Williams, 1971 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 10Roy Rogers, 2014 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 11Master Kora maker Alieu Suso in the Gambia (from Origins of the blues)
Image 12Eric Clapton, 2006 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 13Dexter Allen, 2004 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 14Charlie Musselwhite, 2003 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 15Memphis Minnie, 1930 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 16Lead Belly (from List of blues musicians)
Image 17Shemekia Copeland, 2019 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 18John Lee Hooker in Toronto, 1978 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 19Big Joe Turner, 1955 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 20Lucky Peterson (from List of blues musicians)
Image 21Detail from cover of The Celebrated Negro Melodies, as Sung by the Virginia Minstrels, 1843 (from Origins of the blues)
Image 22Koko Taylor, 2006 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 23B.B. King in Rome, 1984 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 24Luther Tucker, 1964 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 25RonnieEarl, 1996 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 26Lonnie Johnson, 1941 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 27Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, 1999 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 28Muddy Waters with James Cotton, 1971 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 29Junior Wells, 1983 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 30Son House (from List of blues musicians)
Image 31Pinetop Perkins in Paris, 1976 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 32Jimmy Rogers, 1991 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 33Sara Martin and Sylvester Weaver (from List of blues musicians)
Image 34Luther Allison (from List of blues musicians)
Image 35Susan Tedeschi, 2006 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 36Albert Collins at Long Beach Blues Festival, 1990 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 37Kenny Neal, 2012 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 38Eric Bibb, 2006 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 39Albert King in Paris, 1978 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 40Paul Butterfield at Woodstock Reunion, 1979 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 41Eddie Clearwater in Montreux, 1978 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 42Mississippi Fred McDowell, 1972 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 43Debbie Davies, 2019 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 44Son Seals, 1977 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 45Joe Louis Walker, 2007 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 46Jimmy Burns, 2012 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 47"Sweet Home Chicago" performed at the White House with Barack Obama joining B.B. King on the chorus (from List of blues standards)
Image 48Jimmy Rushing, 1946 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 49Willie Dixon at Monterey Jazz Festival, 1981 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 50Freddie King in Paris, 1975 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 51Mississippi John Hurt, 1964 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 52Emancipation from Freedmen's viewpoint; illustration from Harper's Weekly 1865 (from Origins of the blues)
Image 53Otis Rush, 1997 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 54Cedric Burnside, 2018 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 55Alvin Youngblood Hart, 2009 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 56Mamie Smith (from List of blues musicians)
Image 57Ma Rainey (from List of blues musicians)
Image 58Curley Weaver (from List of blues musicians)
Image 59George "Harmonica" Smith, 1980 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 60Henry Townsend, 1983 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 61Robert Jr. Lockwood, 1982 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 62Bobby "Blue" Bland (from List of blues musicians)
Image 63Keb' Mo', 2012 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 64Deborah Coleman, 2009 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 65Jimmy Witherspoon, 1974 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 66Corey Harris, 2006 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 67Buddy Guy, 2008 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 68Lowell Fulson in Paris, 1980 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 69Robert Cray, 2007 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 70Louis Jordan in New York City, 1946 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 71Kenny Wayne Shepherd, 2010 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 72Jay McShann in Edinburgh, c.1995 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 73Chris Thomas King, 2005 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 74Buddy Moss in Georgia prison camp, 1941 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 75Hubert Sumlin in Montreux, 1978 (from List of blues musicians)
Image 76Bessie Smith, 1936 (from List of blues musicians)