03-0105_ETF_46_56 2/13/03 2:15 PM Page 46

WORKSHOP IV
7:Entertainment

© AP/WideWorld Photos

46
Queen
DI N A
J
of
W
the
U L Y
Blues
H2 0 0 1 EA S HT I N GF T O N
N G L I S H E A C H I N G O R U M
 03-0105_ETF_46_56 2/13/03 2:15 PM Page 47

tthh e by Kent S. Markle

Red Hot
J
Blues AZZ MUSIC HAS OFTEN BEEN CALLED THE ONLY ART FORM
to originate in the United States, yet blues music arose right beside jazz.
In fact, the two styles have many parallels. Both were created by African-
Americans in the southern United States in the latter part of the 19th century
and spread from there in the early decades of the 20th century; both contain
the sad sounding “blue note,” which is the bending of a particular note a quar-
ter or half tone; and both feature syncopation and improvisation.
Blues and jazz have had huge influences on American popular music. In fact,
many key elements we hear in pop, soul, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll (opposite)

Dinah Washington
have their beginnings in blues music. A careful study of the blues can contribute © AP/WideWorld Photos

to a greater understanding of these other musical genres. Though never the Born in 1924 as Ruth Lee Jones,
she took the stage name Dinah
leader in music sales, blues music has retained a significant presence, not only in Washington and was later known
as the “Queen of the Blues.” She
began with singing gospel music
concerts and festivals throughout the United States but also in our daily lives. in Chicago and was later famous
for her ability to sing any style
Nowadays, we can hear the sound of the blues in unexpected places, from the music with a brilliant sense of tim-
ing and drama and perfect enun-
warm warble of an amplified harmonica on a television commercial to the sad ciation. By today’s standards, she
© AP/WideWorld Photos

would be considered a cross-over

cry of a slide guitar on a new country and western song. star. During her short career, she
had over 40 hit songs in blues,

What exactly are the blues? According to renowned songwriter and record jazz, R&B, and pop. In 1959,
she recorded one of her best
selling hits, “What a Difference a
producer Willie Dixon, the blues are “the true facts of life.” Let’s find out what Day Makes.” In 1963 at the age

es he meant by going back to the birth of the blues, to where it all began.

E N G L I S H T E A C H I N G F O R U M J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 3
of 39, Washington died from an
accidental overdose of diet pills.

47
03-0105_ETF_46_56 2/13/03 2:15 PM Page 48

New Orleans
The History of the Blues
Out of the great suffering of African-Americans came
the art form known as the blues. Between 1619 and
1808, thousands of West Africans, many from the
Arada, Dahomey, and Fulani tribes, were captured at
gunpoint and under brutal conditions brought to the
New World as slaves. They were sold at auctions,
brought to large farms and plantations, and forced to
work in the fields from sunrise until sunset with little

© AP/WideWorld Photos
regard for their humanity. While working, they
expressed their sorrow by singing old melodies from
Africa. In the work song tradition of their former home-
land, workers sang together. Many of these work songs
had a call-and-response pattern in which one person led
by singing a line that others repeated or “answered” in
song. This type of song was called a “field holler.” The Blues Go to the City
After the freeing of the slaves in 1863 with the Eman- Blues music traveled with southern black Americans
cipation Proclamation and through the decades after- from rural farms to the cities along the Mississippi River,
ward, African-Americans in the South kept their work in particular New Orleans, Memphis, and St. Louis.
songs and worked the same fields as poorly paid tenant Traveling bandleader W.C. Handy noted the growth of
farmers. They were exposed to European music through this new form by writing the songs “Memphis Blues” in
their churches and through traveling shows and circuses. 1912 and “St. Louis Blues” in 1914. In 1920, “Crazy
Some blacks participated in minstrel shows, a type of Blues” by Mamie Smith was the first blues record. Dur-
musical comedy review. The variations of old African ing the 1920s and 1930s, the blues flourished, and a
melodies, combined with exposure to musical styles of number of singers and musicians became popular
Europe, developed into the form of music we know among the African-American community through their
today as the blues. Around 1900, the guitar replaced the concerts and records sales.
originally African banjo as the primary blues instru- Many blues-playing African-Americans moved to the
ment, and the call-and-response pattern of the earlier northern cities during World War II. After the war, a
field hollers was mirrored in the way the singer’s words new kind of blues, urban blues, developed. In the late
were “answered” by the guitar player. 1940s, the urban blues became electrified, and drums
were added to a band lineup that now included bass,
piano, electric guitar, and amplified harmonica. Chicago
became the capital of the new electric blues, and by the

W. C. Handy (left)
This 1936 photograph shows Handy who was living in New York at the time
on a return visit to Memphis, Tennessee where his career began. He had
stopped at Church Park on Beale Street to play with the children.

Dancing in the streets of the French Quarter (above left)

Two tourists from Florida stop to dance in the street to the music of saxo-
phonist Sheik Rasheed. New Orleans remains one of the cities that proudly
preserves its blues and jazz music.
© AP/WideWorld Photos

Elvis Presley’s first album (above right)

RCA Victor released Presley’s first album on January 11, 1956. It was the
first album in history to top all three music charts: country and western,
rhythm and blues, and pop, at number 1.

Chuck Berry (right)

Guitarist and singer Chuck Berry performs his signature “duck walk” during

Memphis
a concert in 1980.

J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 3 E N G L I S H T E A C H I N G F O R U M
 03-0105_ETF_46_56 2/13/03 2:15 PM Page 49

ns
The Blues’ Influence on Popular Music
The early hits of stars like Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee
Lewis in the 1950s followed the chord progressions and
verse patterns of a standard twelve-bar blues. The basic
beat of the blues, a syncopated 4/4 rhythm with a strong
backbeat, was also used. However, it was a speeding up

© AP/WideWorld Photos
of the beat that allowed characteristics of the blues to
evolve into rock and roll. Guitarist Chuck Berry’s 1954
recording “In the Wee, Wee Hours” has the same
rhythm guitar pattern that, played twice as fast in 1955,
became the hit “Johnny B. Goode.” Little Richard’s hits
“Tutti Frutti” and “Lucille” are essentially blues songs,
speeded up a bit. Eventually, rock and roll became a
huge part of popular music, while the blues retained its
small market.

early 1950s, Chess Records was selling records by

numerous blues bands.
As more black Americans moved northward from
the South after World War II, blues music traveled with
them, and different styles developed. One style, Chica-
go blues, retained its emphasis on guitar and harmoni-
ca. Another style, Memphis blues, featured musicians
such as B. B. King who combined their guitar skills
with horn players, typically saxophone and trumpet. Yet
another style, known as the Delta blues, featured an
acoustic guitar. Finally, in Texas, electric guitarists
Albert Collins and Gatemouth Brown developed a style
using a capo (a small bar on the instrument’s neck to
raise the pitch of the strings) and plucking the strings
with the fingers or thumb.

In one of his numerous hit songs, Muddy Waters sang,

Here’s a story that’s never been told:

One of the blues got pregnant
And they named the baby
‘rock and roll.’
© AP/WideWorld Photos

M U D D Y W AT E R S
1915–1983
Blues composer and guitarist

E N G L I S H T E A C H I N G F O R U M J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 3 49
 03-0105_ETF_46_56 2/13/03 2:15 PM Page 52

a sad sounding “blue note,”

the bending of a particular note
by a quarter or a half tone.
Elements of the Blues
SONG STRUCTURE The basic structure of the
standard blues song has changed little since W.C.
Handy’s “St. Louis Blues” of 1914. A blues verse
usually has three lines over twelve measures, or
bars. The root (one) chord of a major scale is played
during the first line for the first four measures, then
The
the four chord is played for measures five and six,
and the one chord is played again for measures Rolling
seven and eight. The last line is different, with the
five chord played for measures nine and ten and
the one chord played again for measures eleven
Stones
© AP/WideWorld Photos
L
and twelve. A verse in a blues song has three lines
Hyde Park, 1969 (above)
of lyrics; the first and second lines are the same Mick Jagger, lead singer of The Rolling Stones, reaches out to the audi-
ence during this free concert in Hyde Park in London, England on July
(with different chords) while the third line is differ- 5, 1969. More than 250,000 of their fans attended this concert. The
Rolling Stones have recorded some of the old blues songs on their vari-
ent. This structure is known as “twelve-bar blues.” ous record albums over the years.

For example, from “St. Louis Blues”:

By the 1960s, however, the blues had lost much of its
following and many of the original blues artists had
I hate to see that evening sun go down, retired or passed away. The appearance of old blues
songs on the recordings of popular rock bands, such as
I hate to see that evening sun go down, the Rolling Stones and Led Zepplin, led to a rediscovery
of the blues by younger audiences. Many older blues
It makes me think I’m on my last go-round. musicians, some who had made their first records
decades earlier, were rediscovered, including Muddy
INSTRUMENTATION In modern blues bands Waters, Junior Wells, Buddy Guy, Freddie King, James
with electrified instruments, there is more than one Cotton, Bo Diddley, Howlin’ Wolf, John Lee Hooker,
standard set of instruments. For Chicago-style urban and B.B. King. As younger audiences embraced the
blues, the lineup is an electric guitar and amplified blues, no longer was it the sole province of black musi-
cians. White musicians, such as guitarists Duane Allman
harmonica as lead instruments, and a rhythm sec- and Johnny Winter and harmonica player Paul Butter-
tion of bass, drums, piano, and rhythm guitar. field, became well known for their inspired interpreta-
Bands from the South, such as Memphis and New tions of older blues compositions.
Blues music also became popular with British musi-
Orleans, often have wind sections of saxophones and
cians. Pianist-harmonica player John Mayall led a blues
trumpets, but these instruments are rarely featured band that featured a succession of guitar virtuosos,
soloists. The singer’s voice has always been promi- including Eric Clapton, who later went on to record
nently featured in blues music, but primarily as a numerous blues songs and bring blues music to a wide
audience of rock fans. Ironically, young white British
lead singer. Harmony vocals are rare in the blues. musicians were largely responsible for the revival of the

J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 3 E N G L I S H T E A C H I N G F O R U M
03-0105_ETF_46_56 2/13/03 2:15 PM Page 53

Led Zepplin
© AP/WideWorld Photos

Melody Maker Pop Poll Winners (above) B.B. King Blues Club & Grill, New York (below)
John Bonham, Robert Plant, and Jimmy Page (left to right) of Led Zep- Blues legend, B.B. King (left) performs with Bo Diddley at the second
pelin pose with singer Sandy Denny (second from right) in London in anniversary celebration in 2002 of B.B. King’s Blues Club and Grill in
1970. Led Zeppelin was voted top group in both British and Internation- New York’s Times Square. They remain active in the music scene con-
al categories. This band, like The Rolling Stones, recorded various tinuing to inspire younger musicians. King received the Handy Award in
blues songs over the years. 2001 for his album featuring a collaboration with Eric Clapton.

blues in the U.S. during the 1960s and 1970s. Social similarities between the blues and hip hop. Both were
commentators have credited this musical integration of created by poor African-Americans; both start with a
older black musicians and young white audiences with steady, primitive beat; both feature singers lamenting the
contributing to the success of the civil rights movement hardships and injustices of life; and both feature the call-
in the United States and, ultimately, helping to improve and-response pattern of singing. Because the blues has
race relations there. served as the basis for other forms of American music, its
Although the blues and today’s pop music have little influence has been significant.
in common musically, there are a surprising number of
© AP/WideWorld Photos

53
03-0105_ETF_46_56 2/13/03 2:15 PM Page 54

Eric Clapton and Buddy Guy, 2001 (top)

These two guitarists of rock and blues fame embrace after their
performance at a concert at Madison Square Gardens in 2001.
Bo Diddley and Leontyne Price, 2002 (bottom)
Blues musician Bo Diddley shares a moment with opera singer
Leontyne Price at the National Association of Black Broadcasters
18th Annual Communications Awards. Diddley received the Pio-
neer in Entertainment Award; Price was honored with the Life-
time Achievement Award.

Web Sites of Interest

© AP/WideWorld Photos The Blues Foundation
http://www.blues.org/
Current State of the Blues
This organization, based in Memphis, Tennessee, conducts the
Blues music is seeing a resurgence in popularity and W.C. Handy Awards. Its goals, according to the foundation’s Web
now enjoys a broad contemporary market of listeners site, are “preserving blues history, celebrating blues excellence,
and celebrating blues education.”
and concert goers. A few of the older generation blues-
men are still alive and remain active in the music scene. The Blue Highway
http://www.thebluehighway.com/
B. B. King and Buddy Guy are leading the way for
younger musicians who are continuing their traditions. This Web site has biographies of blues musicians, news and
essays about the blues, and a listing of blues radio stations. It
King won the 2001 Handy Award for contemporary includes an extensive, alphabetical listing of blues bands cur-
album of the year for “Riding With the King,” his long- rently performing in the United States.
awaited collaboration with Eric Clapton. Guy plays at
It’s Biscuit Time on the Blues Web
with his blues club Legends in Chicago, and his release http://www.island.net/~blues/
“Sweet Tea” won the 2002 Handy Awards for male artist
Hosted by harmonica player and writer Tony Glover, this Web site
and guitarist of the year. Some of the most notable mem- is loaded with music samples, interviews with musicians, and
bers of the younger generation of blues musicians articles about the blues.
include singer and guitarist Robert Cray, singer Etta Living Blues
Smith, guitarist Keb’ Mo,’ multi-instrumentalist Lucky http://www.livingblues.com

Peterson, and harmonica player Sugar Blue. This is the Web site of the magazine of the same name pub-
lished by the University of Mississippi. According to the site, the
A number of record companies feature blues artists.
magazine has been “the authoritative source on the blues” since
Chicago’s Alligator Records is one of the few recording it was founded in 1970.
companies dealing only in blues music. Mississippi -based
Blues in Britain
Malaco Records has been recording blues acts for years http://blueprint-blues.co.uk/
and is currently featuring Little Milton, Bobby Bland, and
This is the Web site of the British blues magazine of the same
Bobby Rush, among others. Chess Records has recently name. The site contains information about blues music in the
reissued collections of classic blues recordings. United Kingdom. It has hundreds of links to blues resources on
the Internet.
Live blues music continues to remain popular among
concert and club audiences, who appreciate its funda- References
mental qualities of deep feeling and improvisation.
Avakian, G. 1951. Album notes for The Bessie Smith
Blues festivals have proliferated, with most featuring Story,Vol. 1. Columbia Records.
band after band, all aimed at satisfying their eager fans Charters, S. 1967. The Bluesmen. New York: Oak Publica-
who love nothing better than listening to the blues from tions.
Guralnick, P. 1999. Feel Like Going Home. Boston: Back
afternoon until dawn. Bay-Little Brown & Co.
Oliver, P. 1969. The Story of the Blues. Philadelphia: Chilton
Book Co.
Palmer, R. 1981. Deep Blues. New York: Penguin Books.
Santelli, R. 1993. The Big Book of Blues. New York: Penguin
Books.

KENT S. MARKLE has been teaching ESL/EFL for 20

years and playing the blues for 30 years. He also
© AP/WideWorld Photos

sings and writes songs. Currently he plays electric

bass in Buzz and the Soul Senders and amplified
harmonica for Leesa Bunts in Arizona (USA).

54 J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 3 E N G L I S H T E A C H I N G F O R U M