1. Blues Timeline
Blues stared to develop its own lyrical form in the 12 bar blues with an AAB structure, often sung about events at the time: Rising High Water Blues (Blind Lemon Jefferson, father of Texas Blues)
A: Backwater rising, Southern peoples can't make no time A: I said, backwater rising, Southern peoples can't make no time B: And I can't get no hearing from that Memphis girl of mine
African-American slave trade brings workers to Southern states (Mississippi) in America, forced to work on plantations. Work songs are sung to pass the time and poor working conditions that caused people to feel depressed (‘The Blues’)
BB King performs at Cook County Jail, considered to be one of the greatest Blues performances of all time
Howlin’ Wolf records ‘Smokestack Lightning’, a seminal moment for Chicago Blues, making full use of modern recording technology, helping to bring the electric line-up to Blues (guitar, bass, drums)
1800s
1912
1927
1936
1947
1957
1966
1971
T-Bone Walker records ‘Stormy Monday’, now considered a Blues ‘standard’. Walker also contributes to the genre with Jump Blues, a more up-tempo style with more energetic performances. The modern Blues sound is characterised by walking bass lines and swing rhythms.
Robert Johnson records for AMC (American Music Company), a milestone for the Guitar as an instrument in Delta Blues.
Dominant 7th chords are accepted as a tonal centre, ignoring their conventional function as a means of resolving cadences
‘Dallas Blues’ (Hart Wand) appears
as the first copyrighted composition
to feature a 12 bar blues, initial instruments include ‘horn’ (Trumpet, Trombone, Jazz instruments)
John Mayall and the Blues Breakers
Record with Eric Clapton, a Blues Rock album which would have an incredible impact on Rock Music, featuring powerful
solos and making use of the Blues scale (minor pentatonic) with a #4)