IV. Becoming Urban A. Female “classic” blues singers create

demand and the chance to make money playing the blues

– beginning in the 1920s

IV. Becoming Urban

B. Piano and guitar are played in combination

– 1. Creates a polished “city” or “urban” sound

– 2. 1928 and after

– 3. ex. 2. “Midnight Hour Blues” – ‘32

Leroy Carr and Scrapper Blackwell

IV. Becoming Urban C. Boogie-Woogie

– Transfers to the piano the standard harmonic sequence of the 12-bar blues with a persistent rhythmic figure in the left hand and rhythmic-melodic configurations in the right

D. Jimmy Yancey [1898-1951]

– 1. “Five O'clock Blues” - 1939

– 2. “Midnight Blues”

– 3. “How Long Blues”

Leads to…

IV. Becoming Urban

E. Leads to…– 1. Clarence “Pine Top” Smith [1900-1928]

– 2. Meade Lux Lewis [1905-1964]

– 3. Albert Ammons [1907-1949]

All early jazz musicians, influenced by the blues

F. Pete Johnson and Big Joe Turner with – 1. “Roll ‘Em Pete” - 1938

– 2. The beginning of rhythm and blues; one of the forerunners of rock and roll

IV. Becoming Urban

G. These various trends and styles pointed toward the transition from country blues to the city/urban blues

– 1. country blues = basically characterized by the self-accompanied guitarist

– 2. urban blues = characterized by group accompaniments that eventually relied heavily on electric guitar

V. Urban Blues

A. Large influx of African Americans into the northern urban centers– Between 1930s and 1950s

B. country blues become “intensified” in the urban setting

C. Chicago becomes major urban blues city– a. b/c of existence of major race recording labels– 2. adopt the country/delta traditions

D. Memphis, Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City, Detroit, New York and other urban centers become important blues cities

VII. Blues Post-1960s

A. Cecil Taylor and Ornette Coleman “restored the legitimacy of blues as the most important basic form of Afro-American music” – Chase

B. However, many young Americans think the blues are from a not-so-fond memory from the not-so

-long-ago past…