Blues, the Glossary
Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated amongst African-Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s.[1]
Table of Contents
531 relations: A Hard Day's Night (song), Abolitionism in the United States, African Americans, African-American culture, African-American music, Akonting, Alan Lomax, Albert Ammons, Albert King, Alexis Korner, Alligator Records, AllMusic, Alternative rock, America the Beautiful, American folk music revival, American Record Corporation, Amiri Baraka, Anthology, Appalachian music, Archive of Folk Culture, Aretha Franklin, Arhoolie Records, Artie Matthews, Audio feedback, Aynsley Dunbar, B. B. King, Baby Franklin Seals, Back Door Man, Bambara people, Banjo, Bar form, Barack Obama, Barbecue Bob, Bass guitar, Bassline, Batman (TV series), Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Beale Street, Beat (music), Bebop, Bennie Moten, Bessie Smith, Bettye LaVette, Big band, Big Bill Broonzy, Big Joe Turner, Big Walter Horton, Biker metal, Bill Monroe, Billboard (magazine), ... Expand index (481 more) »
- Musical improvisation
A Hard Day's Night (song)
"A Hard Day's Night" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles.
See Blues and A Hard Day's Night (song)
Abolitionism in the United States
In the United States, abolitionism, the movement that sought to end slavery in the country, was active from the colonial era until the American Civil War, the end of which brought about the abolition of American slavery, except as punishment for a crime, through the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (ratified 1865).
See Blues and Abolitionism in the United States
African Americans
African Americans, also known as Black Americans or Afro-Americans, are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa.
See Blues and African Americans
African-American culture
African-American culture, also known as Black American culture or Black culture in American English, refers to the cultural expressions of African Americans, either as part of or distinct from mainstream American culture. Blues and African-American culture are African-American cultural history.
See Blues and African-American culture
African-American music
African-American music is a broad term covering a diverse range of musical genres largely developed by African Americans and their culture. Blues and African-American music are 19th-century music genres, 20th-century music genres and American styles of music.
See Blues and African-American music
Akonting
The akonting (or ekonting in French transliteration) is the folk lute of the Jola people, found in Senegal, Gambia, and Guinea-Bissau in West Africa.
Alan Lomax
Alan Lomax (January 31, 1915 – July 19, 2002) was an American ethnomusicologist, best known for his numerous field recordings of folk music of the 20th century.
Albert Ammons
Albert Clifton Ammons (March 1, 1907 – December 2, 1949) was an American pianist and player of boogie-woogie, a blues style popular from the late 1930s to the mid-1940s.
Albert King
Albert Nelson (April 25, 1923 – December 21, 1992), known by his stage name Albert King, was an American guitarist and singer who is often regarded as one of the greatest and most influential blues guitarists of all time.
Alexis Korner
Alexis Andrew Nicholas Koerner (19 April 1928 – 1 January 1984), known professionally as Alexis Korner, was a British blues musician and radio broadcaster, who has sometimes been referred to as "a founding father of British blues".
Alligator Records
Alligator Records is an American, Chicago-based independent blues record label founded by Bruce Iglauer in 1971.
See Blues and Alligator Records
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database.
Alternative rock
Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Blues and alternative rock are 20th-century music genres and American styles of music.
See Blues and Alternative rock
America the Beautiful
"America the Beautiful" is a patriotic American song.
See Blues and America the Beautiful
American folk music revival
The American folk music revival began during the 1940s and peaked in popularity in the mid-1960s.
See Blues and American folk music revival
American Record Corporation
American Record Corporation (ARC), also referred to as American Record Company, American Recording Corporation, or ARC Records, was an American record company in operation from 1929 to 1938, and again from 1978 to 1982.
See Blues and American Record Corporation
Amiri Baraka
Amiri Baraka (born Everett Leroy Jones; October 7, 1934 – January 9, 2014), previously known as LeRoi Jones and Imamu Amear Baraka, was an American writer of poetry, drama, fiction, essays, and music criticism.
Anthology
In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors.
Appalachian music
Appalachian music is the music of the region of Appalachia in the Eastern United States. Blues and Appalachian music are American styles of music.
See Blues and Appalachian music
Archive of Folk Culture
The Archive of Folk Culture (originally named The Archive of American Folk Song) was established in 1928 as the first national collection of American folk music in the United States of America.
See Blues and Archive of Folk Culture
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin (March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist.
Arhoolie Records
Arhoolie Records is an American small independent record label that was run by Chris Strachwitz and is based in El Cerrito, California, United States (it is actually located in Richmond Annex but has an El Cerrito postal address.) The label was founded by Strachwitz in 1960 as a way for him to record and produce music by previously obscure "down-home blues" artists such as Lightnin' Hopkins, Snooks Eaglin, and Bill Gaither.
See Blues and Arhoolie Records
Artie Matthews
Artie Matthews (November 15, 1888 – October 25, 1958) was an American songwriter, pianist, and ragtime composer.
Audio feedback
Audio feedback (also known as acoustic feedback, simply as feedback) is a positive feedback situation that may occur when an acoustic path exists between an audio output (for example, a loudspeaker) and its audio input (for example, a microphone or guitar pickup).
Aynsley Dunbar
Aynsley Thomas Dunbar (born 10 January 1946) is an English drummer.
B. B. King
Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record producer.
Baby Franklin Seals
H.
See Blues and Baby Franklin Seals
Back Door Man
"Back Door Man" is a blues song written by American musician Willie Dixon and recorded by Howlin' Wolf in 1960.
Bambara people
The Bambara (Bamana or ߓߊ߲ߡߊߣߊ߲ Banmana) are a Mandé ethnic group native to much of West Africa, primarily southern Mali, Ghana, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Senegal.
Banjo
The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. Blues and banjo are African-American music.
See Blues and Banjo
Bar form
Bar form (German: die Barform or der Bar) is a musical form of the pattern AAB.
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017.
Barbecue Bob
Robert Hicks (September 11, 1902 – October 21, 1931), known by the stage name Barbecue Bob, was an early American Piedmont blues musician.
Bass guitar
The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family.
Bassline
Bassline (also known as a bass line or bass part) is the term used in many styles of music, such as blues, jazz, funk, dub and electronic, traditional, and classical music, for the low-pitched instrumental part or line played (in jazz and some forms of popular music) by a rhythm section instrument such as the electric bass, double bass, cello, tuba or keyboard (piano, Hammond organ, electric organ, or synthesizer).
Batman (TV series)
Batman is an American live-action television series based on the DC Comics character of the same name.
See Blues and Batman (TV series)
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Baton Rouge (French: Baton Rouge or Bâton-Rouge,; Batonrouj) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Louisiana.
See Blues and Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Beale Street
Beale Street is a street in Downtown Memphis, Tennessee, which runs from the Mississippi River to East Street, a distance of approximately.
Beat (music)
In music and music theory, the beat is the basic unit of time, the pulse (regularly repeating event), of the mensural level (or beat level). Blues and beat (music) are popular music.
Bebop
Bebop or bop is a style of jazz developed in the early to mid-1940s in the United States. Blues and Bebop are 20th-century music genres, African-American music and jazz terminology.
See Blues and Bebop
Bennie Moten
Benjamin Moten (November 13, 1893 – April 2, 1935) was an American jazz pianist and band leader born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, United States.
Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith (April 15, 1894 – September 26, 1937) was an African-American blues singer widely renowned during the Jazz Age.
Bettye LaVette
Bettye LaVette (born Betty Jo Haskins, January 29, 1946) is an American soul singer who made her first record at sixteen, but achieved only intermittent fame until 2005, when her album I've Got My Own Hell to Raise was released to widespread critical acclaim, and was named on many critics' "Best of 2005" lists.
Big band
A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section.
Big Bill Broonzy
Big Bill Broonzy (born Lee Conley Bradley; June 26, 1893 or 1903August 14, 1958) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist.
See Blues and Big Bill Broonzy
Big Joe Turner
Joseph Vernon "Big Joe" Turner Jr. (May 18, 1911 – November 24, 1985) was an American blues shouter from Kansas City, Missouri.
Big Walter Horton
Walter Horton (April 6, 1921 – December 8, 1981), known as Big Walter (Horton) or Walter "Shakey" Horton, was an American blues harmonica player.
See Blues and Big Walter Horton
Biker metal (also known as biker punk) is a fusion genre that combines elements of punk rock, heavy metal, rock and roll and blues, that was pioneered in the late-1970s to early-1980s in England and the United States, by Motörhead, Plasmatics, Anti-Nowhere League and Girlschool. Blues and biker metal are 20th-century music genres and American styles of music.
Bill Monroe
William Smith Monroe (September 13, 1911 – September 9, 1996) was an American mandolinist, singer, and songwriter, and created the bluegrass music genre.
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard (stylized in lowercase since 2013) is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation.
See Blues and Billboard (magazine)
Blind Blake
Arthur Blake (1896 – December 1, 1934), known as Blind Blake, was an American blues and ragtime singer and guitarist.
Blind Boy Fuller
Fulton Allen (July 10, 1904February 13, 1941), known as Blind Boy Fuller, was an American blues guitarist and singer.
See Blues and Blind Boy Fuller
Blind Lemon Jefferson
Lemon Henry "Blind Lemon" Jefferson (September 24, 1893 – December 19, 1929)Some sources indicate Jefferson was born on October 26, 1894.
See Blues and Blind Lemon Jefferson
Blind Willie Johnson
Blind Willie Johnson (January 25, 1897 – September 18, 1945) was an American gospel blues singer and guitarist.
See Blues and Blind Willie Johnson
Blind Willie McTell
Blind Willie McTell (born William Samuel McTier; May 5, 1898 – August 19, 1959) was a Piedmont blues and ragtime singer and guitarist.
See Blues and Blind Willie McTell
Blue law
Blue laws, also known as Sunday laws, Sunday trade laws, and Sunday closing laws, are laws restricting or banning certain activities on specified days, usually Sundays in the western world.
Blue note
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. Blues and blue note are jazz terminology.
Blue Suede Shoes
"Blue Suede Shoes" is a rock and roll standard written and first recorded by American singer, songwriter and guitarist Carl Perkins in 1955.
See Blues and Blue Suede Shoes
Bluebird Records
Bluebird Records is an American record label best known for its low-cost releases, primarily of children's music, blues, jazz and swing in the 1930s and 1940s.
See Blues and Bluebird Records
Bluegrass music
Bluegrass music is a genre of American roots music that developed in the 1940s in the Appalachian region of the United States. Blues and Bluegrass music are 20th-century music genres and American styles of music.
Blues
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 and Blues are 19th-century music genres, 20th-century music genres, African-American cultural history, African-American music, American styles of music, jazz terminology, musical improvisation, popular music and radio formats.
See Blues and Blues
Blues ballad
The term blues ballad is used to refer to a specific form of popular music which fused Anglo-American and Afro-American styles from the late 19th century onward.
Blues Brothers 2000
Blues Brothers 2000 is a 1998 American musical action comedy film directed by John Landis from a screenplay written by Landis and Dan Aykroyd, both of whom were also producers, and starring Aykroyd and John Goodman.
See Blues and Blues Brothers 2000
Blues Fell This Morning
Blues Fell This Morning is a notable 1960 book published by Cassell and written by Paul Oliver.
See Blues and Blues Fell This Morning
Blues Music Awards
The Blues Music Awards, formerly known as the W. C. Handy Awards (or "The Handys"), are awards presented by the Blues Foundation, a non-profit organization set up to foster blues heritage.
See Blues and Blues Music Awards
Blues rock
Blues rock is a fusion genre and form of rock music that relies on the chords/scales and instrumental improvisation of blues. Blues and blues rock are 20th-century music genres and American styles of music.
Blues scale
The term blues scale refers to several different scales with differing numbers of pitches and related characteristics.
Blues shouter
A blues shouter is a blues singer, often male, capable of singing unamplified with a band.
Blues Traveler
Blues Traveler is an American rock band that formed in Princeton, New Jersey in 1987.
Bo Carter
Armenter (or Armentia) Chatmon (March 21, 1893 or January 1894 – September 21, 1964), known as Bo Carter, was an early American blues musician.
Bo Diddley
Ellas Otha Bates (December 30, 1928 – June 2, 2008), known professionally as Bo Diddley, was an American guitarist and singer who played a key role in the transition from the blues to rock and roll.
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter.
Bob Wills
James Robert Wills (March 6, 1905 – May 13, 1975) was an American Western swing musician, songwriter, and bandleader.
Bobby Bland
Robert Calvin Bland (born Robert Calvin Brooks; January 27, 1930 – June 23, 2013), known professionally as Bobby "Blue" Bland, was an American blues singer.
Bobby Rush (musician)
Bobby Rush (born Emmett Ellis Jr. in Homer, Louisiana on November 10, 1933) is an American blues musician, composer, and singer.
See Blues and Bobby Rush (musician)
Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Lynn Raitt (born November 8, 1949) is an American blues rock singer, guitarist, and songwriter.
Boogie Chillen'
"Boogie Chillen'" or "Boogie Chillun" is a blues song first recorded by John Lee Hooker in 1948.
Boogie-woogie
Boogie-woogie is a genre of blues music that became popular during the late 1920s, developed in African-American communities since the 1870s. Blues and Boogie-woogie are 19th-century music genres, 20th-century music genres, African-American music, American styles of music and jazz terminology.
Booker T. & the M.G.'s
Booker T. & the M.G.'s were an American instrumental R&B/funk band that was influential in shaping the sound of Southern soul and Memphis soul.
See Blues and Booker T. & the M.G.'s
Brass band
A brass band is a musical ensemble generally consisting primarily of brass instruments, most often with a percussion section.
Brass instrument
A brass instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the player's lips.
See Blues and Brass instrument
British Academy of Film and Television Arts
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom.
See Blues and British Academy of Film and Television Arts
British blues
British blues is a form of music derived from American blues that originated in the late 1950s, and reached its height of mainstream popularity in the 1960s.
British Invasion
The British Invasion was a cultural phenomenon of the mid-1960s, when rock and pop music acts from the United Kingdom and other aspects of British culture became popular in the United States with significant influence on the rising "counterculture" on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.
See Blues and British Invasion
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre,Although theater is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), many of the extant or closed Broadway venues use or used the spelling Theatre as the proper noun in their names.
See Blues and Broadway theatre
Buddy Guy
George "Buddy" Guy (born July 30, 1936) is an American blues guitarist and singer.
Cab Calloway
Cabell Calloway III (December 25, 1907 – November 18, 1994) was an American jazz singer and bandleader.
Cajuns
The Cajuns (French: les Cadjins or les Cadiens), also known as Louisiana Acadians (French: les Acadiens), are a Louisiana French ethnicity mainly found in the U.S. state of Louisiana and surrounding Gulf Coast states.
See Blues and Cajuns
Call and response (music)
In music, call and response is a compositional technique, often a succession of two distinct phrases that works like a conversation in music. Blues and call and response (music) are jazz terminology.
See Blues and Call and response (music)
Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge.
See Blues and Cambridge University Press
Camp meeting
The camp meeting is a form of Protestant Christian religious service originating in England and Scotland as an evangelical event in association with the communion season.
Canadian blues
Canadian blues is the blues and blues-related music (e.g., blues rock) performed by blues bands and performers in Canada.
Canned Heat
Canned Heat is an American blues and rock band that was formed in Los Angeles in 1965.
Carl Perkins
Carl Lee Perkins (April 9, 1932 – January 19, 1998)Pareles. was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter.
Casey Bill Weldon
William "Casey Bill" Weldon (February 2, 1901, or December 10, 1909 – September 28, 1972) was an American country blues musician.
See Blues and Casey Bill Weldon
Chant
A chant (from French chanter, from Latin cantare, "to sing") is the iterative speaking or singing of words or sounds, often primarily on one or two main pitches called reciting tones.
See Blues and Chant
Charles Brown (musician)
Tony Russell "Charles" Brown (September 13, 1922 – January 21, 1999) was an American singer and pianist whose soft-toned, slow-paced nightclub style influenced West Coast blues in the 1940s and 1950s.
See Blues and Charles Brown (musician)
Charley Patton
Charlie Patton (April 1891 (probable) – April 28, 1934), more often spelled Charley Patton, was an American Delta blues musician and songwriter.
Charlie Musselwhite
Charles Douglas Musselwhite (born January 31, 1944) is an American blues harmonica player and bandleader, one who came to prominence, along with Mike Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield, and Elvin Bishop, as a pivotal figure in helping to revive the Chicago Blues movement of the 1960s.
See Blues and Charlie Musselwhite
Charlie Parker
Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz saxophonist, band leader, and composer.
Charlotte Forten Grimké
Charlotte Louise Bridges Grimké (Forten; August 17, 1837 – July 23, 1914) was an African American anti-slavery activist, poet, and educator.
See Blues and Charlotte Forten Grimké
Checker Records
Checker Records is a defunct record label that was started in 1952 as a subsidiary of Chess Records in Chicago, Illinois.
Chess Records
Chess Records was an American record company established in 1950 in Chicago, specializing in blues and rhythm and blues.
Chicago
Chicago is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States.
Chicago blues
Chicago blues is a form of blues music that developed in Chicago, Illinois. Blues and Chicago blues are 20th-century music genres.
Chicken Shack
Chicken Shack are a British blues band, founded in the mid-1960s by Stan Webb (guitar and vocals), Andy Silvester (bass guitar), and Alan Morley (drums), who were later joined by Christine Perfect (later McVie) (vocals and keyboards) in 1967.
Chord (music)
In music, a chord is a group of two or more notes played simultaneously, typically consisting of a root note, a third, and a fifth.
Chord progression
In a musical composition, a chord progression or harmonic progression (informally chord changes, used as a plural) is a succession of chords. Blues and chord progression are jazz terminology.
See Blues and Chord progression
Chuck Berry
Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, guitarist and songwriter who pioneered rock and roll.
Cinderella Rockefella
"Cinderella Rockefella" is a novelty song written by Mason Williams and Nancy Ames.
See Blues and Cinderella Rockefella
Civil rights movement
The civil rights movement was a social movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement in the country.
See Blues and Civil rights movement
Clarence Carter
Clarence George Carter (born January 14, 1936) is an American singer, songwriter, musician and record producer.
Clarksdale, Mississippi
Clarksdale is a city in and the county seat of Coahoma County, Mississippi, United States.
See Blues and Clarksdale, Mississippi
Classic female blues
Classic female blues was an early form of blues music, popular in the 1920s. Blues and Classic female blues are 20th-century music genres.
See Blues and Classic female blues
Clifton Chenier
Clifton Chenier (June 25, 1925 – December 12, 1987), was an American musician known as a pioneer of zydeco, a style of music that arose from Creole music, with R&B, blues, and Cajun influences.
Clint Eastwood
Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director.
Cobra Records
Cobra Records was an independent record label that operated in Chicago from 1956 to 1959 and launched the careers of Chicago blues artists Otis Rush, Magic Sam and Buddy Guy, a new generation who pioneered the West Side Sound.
Contradanza
Contradanza (also called contradanza criolla, danza, danza criolla, or habanera) is the Spanish and Spanish-American version of the contradanse, which was an internationally popular style of music and dance in the 18th century, derived from the English country dance and adopted at the court of France. Blues and contradanza are 19th-century music genres and 20th-century music genres.
Cotton Club
The Cotton Club was a New York City nightclub from 1923 to 1940.
Count Basie Orchestra
The Count Basie Orchestra is a 16- to 18-piece big band, one of the most prominent jazz performing groups of the swing era, founded by Count Basie in 1935 and recording regularly from 1936.
See Blues and Count Basie Orchestra
Country blues
Country blues (also folk blues, rural blues, backwoods blues, or downhome blues) is one of the earliest forms of blues music. Blues and Country blues are 20th-century music genres.
Country music
Country (also called country and western) is a music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and the Southwest. Blues and country music are 20th-century music genres, African-American music, American styles of music, popular music and radio formats.
Crazy Blues
"Crazy Blues" is a song, renamed from the originally titled "Harlem Blues" song of 1918, written by Perry Bradford.
Cream (band)
Cream were a British rock band formed in London in 1966.
Cross Road Blues
"Cross Road Blues" (commonly known as "Crossroads") is a song written by the American blues artist Robert Johnson.
See Blues and Cross Road Blues
Curley Weaver
Curley James Weaver (March 25, 1906 – September 20, 1962) was an American blues musician, also known as Slim Gordon.
Cyclic form
Cyclic form is a technique of musical construction, involving multiple sections or movements, in which a theme, melody, or thematic material occurs in more than one movement as a unifying device.
Cyril Davies
Cyril Davies (23 January 1932 – 7 January 1964) was an English blues musician, and one of the first blues harmonica players in England.
Da Capo Press
Da Capo Press is an American publishing company with headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts.
Dallas Blues
"Dallas Blues", written by Hart Wand, is an early blues song, first published in 1912.
Dan Aykroyd
Daniel Edward Aykroyd (born July 1, 1952) is a Canadian and American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer.
Deep South
The Deep South or the Lower South is a cultural and geographic subregion of the Southern United States.
Degree (music)
In music theory, the scale degree is the position of a particular note on a scale relative to the tonic—the first and main note of the scale from which each octave is assumed to begin.
Delmark Records
Delmark Records is an American jazz and blues independent record label.
Delta blues
Delta blues is one of the earliest-known styles of blues. Blues and Delta blues are 20th-century music genres and African-American music.
Denise LaSalle
Ora D. Allen (July 16, 1934 – January 8, 2018), known by the stage name Denise LaSalle, was an American blues, R&B and soul singer, songwriter, and record producer who, since the death of Koko Taylor, had been recognized as the "Queen of the Blues".
Derek Trucks
Derek Trucks (born June 8, 1979) is an American guitarist, songwriter, and founder of The Derek Trucks Band.
Desert blues
Tishoumaren (ⵜⵉⵛⵓⵎⴰⵔⴻⵏ in Neo-Tifinagh script) or assouf, internationally known as desert blues, is a style of music from the Sahara region of northern and west Africa.
Detroit
Detroit is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan.
Diatonic scale
In music theory, a diatonic scale is any heptatonic scale that includes five whole steps (whole tones) and two half steps (semitones) in each octave, in which the two half steps are separated from each other by either two or three whole steps, depending on their position in the scale.
Dick Waterman
Dick Waterman (July 14, 1935 – January 26, 2024) was an American writer, promoter and photographer who was influential in the development and recording of the blues from the 1960s.
Diddley bow
The diddley bow is a single-stringed American instrument which influenced the development of the blues sound.
Digital recording
In digital recording, an audio or video signal is converted into a stream of discrete numbers representing the changes over time in air pressure for audio, or chroma and luminance values for video.
See Blues and Digital recording
Dirty blues
Dirty blues (also known as bawdy blues) is a form of blues music that deals with socially taboo and obscene subjects, often referring to sexual acts and drug use.
Distortion
In signal processing, distortion is the alteration of the original shape (or other characteristic) of a signal.
Distortion (music)
Distortion and overdrive are forms of audio signal processing used to alter the sound of amplified electric musical instruments, usually by increasing their gain, producing a "fuzzy", "growling", or "gritty" tone.
See Blues and Distortion (music)
Dominant (music)
In music, the dominant is the fifth scale degree of the diatonic scale.
See Blues and Dominant (music)
Dominant seventh chord
In music theory, a dominant seventh chord, or major minor seventh chord, is a seventh chord, composed of a root, major third, perfect fifth, and minor seventh.
See Blues and Dominant seventh chord
Dotdash Meredith
Dotdash Meredith (formerly The Mining Company, About.com and Dotdash) is an American digital media company based in New York City.
See Blues and Dotdash Meredith
Double bass
The double bass, also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched chordophone in the modern symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions such as the octobass).
Dr. John
Malcolm John Rebennack Jr. (November 20, 1941 – June 6, 2019), better known by his stage name Dr.
Drum kit
A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums in popular music context) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and sometimes other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person.
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life.
Earl Hines
Earl Kenneth Hines, also known as Earl "Fatha" Hines (December 28, 1903 – April 22, 1983), was an American jazz pianist and bandleader.
Eddy Arnold
Richard Edward Arnold (May 15, 1918 – May 8, 2008) was an American country music singer.
Eight-bar blues
In music, an eight-bar blues is a common blues chord progression.
Electric blues
Electric blues is blues music distinguished by the use of electric amplification for musical instruments.
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar.
Elegua
Elegua (Yoruba: Èṣù-Ẹlẹ́gbára and Ẹlẹ́gbá, also spelled Eleggua; known as Eleguá in Latin America and Spanish-speaking Caribbean islands) is an Orisha, a deity of roads in the religions of Santería, Winti, Umbanda, Quimbanda, Holy Infant of Atocha, and Candomblé.
See Blues and Elegua
Elmore James
Elmore James (Brooks; January 27, 1918 – May 24, 1963) was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, and bandleader.
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), known mononymously as Elvis, was an American singer and actor.
Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation, officially Proclamation 95, was a presidential proclamation and executive order issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the American Civil War.
See Blues and Emancipation Proclamation
Endless Boogie
Endless Boogie is a studio album by American blues musician John Lee Hooker, released in 1971 through ABC Records.
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter.
Erykah Badu
Erica Abi Wright (born February 26, 1971), known professionally as Erykah Badu, is an American singer and songwriter.
Esther & Abi Ofarim
Esther & Abi Ofarim were an Israeli musical duo active during the 1960s, consisting of husband and wife Abi Ofarim and Esther Ofarim.
See Blues and Esther & Abi Ofarim
Excello Records
Excello Records was an American blues independent record label, started by Ernie Young in Nashville, Tennessee, United States, in 1953 as a subsidiary of Nashboro, a gospel label.
Fabian Forte
Fabian Anthony Forte (born February 6, 1943), professionally known as Fabian, is an American singer and actor.
Farce
Farce is a comedy that seeks to entertain an audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, ridiculous, absurd, and improbable.
See Blues and Farce
Fat Possum Records
Fat Possum Records is an American independent record label based in Water Valley and Oxford, Mississippi.
See Blues and Fat Possum Records
Field holler
The field holler or field call is mostly a historical type of vocal work song sung by field slaves in the United States (and later by African American forced laborers accused of violating vagrancy laws) to accompany their tasked work, to communicate usefully, or to vent feelings. Blues and field holler are African-American cultural history and African-American music.
Fingerstyle guitar
Fingerstyle guitar is the technique of playing the guitar or bass guitar by plucking the strings directly with the fingertips, fingernails, or picks attached to fingers, as opposed to flatpicking (plucking individual notes with a single plectrum, commonly called a "pick").
See Blues and Fingerstyle guitar
Flat (music)
In music, flat means lower in pitch.
Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac are a British-American rock band formed in London in 1967 by guitarist and singer Peter Green.
Folk music
Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Blues and folk music are 20th-century music genres.
Folkways Records
Folkways Records was a record label founded by Moses Asch that documented folk, world, and children's music.
See Blues and Folkways Records
Frank Stokes (musician)
Frank Stokes (January 1, 1877 or 1888 – September 12, 1955) was an American blues musician, songster, and blackface minstrel, who is considered by many musicologists to be the father of the Memphis blues guitar style.
See Blues and Frank Stokes (musician)
Freddie King
Freddie King (September 3, 1934December 28, 1976) was an American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter.
Free Speech Movement
The Free Speech Movement (FSM) was a massive, long-lasting student protest which took place during the 1964–65 academic year on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley.
See Blues and Free Speech Movement
Fula people
The Fula, Fulani, or Fulɓe people are an ethnic group in Sahara, Sahel and West Africa, widely dispersed across the region.
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the mid-20th century. Blues and Funk are 20th-century music genres, African-American cultural history, African-American music, American styles of music and popular music.
See Blues and Funk
Gary Clark Jr.
Gary Lee Clark Jr. (born February 15, 1984) is an American guitarist and singer who fuses blues, rock and soul music with elements of hip hop.
George Colman the Younger
George Colman (21 October 1762 – 17 October 1836), known as "the Younger", was an English dramatist and miscellaneous writer.
See Blues and George Colman the Younger
George Gershwin
George Gershwin (born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned popular, jazz and classical genres.
Glenn Miller
Alton Glen "Glenn" Miller (March 1, 1904; disappeared December 15, 1944; declared dead December 16, 1945) was an American big band conductor, arranger, composer, trombone player, and recording artist before and during World War II, when he was an officer in the US Army Air Forces.
Golden Gate Quartet
The Golden Gate Quartet (a.k.a. The Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet) is an American vocal group.
See Blues and Golden Gate Quartet
Gospel blues
Gospel blues (or holy blues) is a form of blues-based gospel music that has been around since the inception of blues music.
Gospel music
Gospel music is a genre of Christian Music that spreads the word of God and a cornerstone of Christian media. Blues and Gospel music are African-American cultural history, African-American music and radio formats.
Gov't Mule
Gov't Mule (pronounced "Government Mule") is an American Southern rock jam band, formed in 1994 as a side project of the Allman Brothers Band by guitarist Warren Haynes and bassist Allen Woody.
Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album
The Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album was awarded from 1988 to 2011 and from 2017 onwards.
See Blues and Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album
Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album
The Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album was awarded from 1983 to 2011 and from 2017 onwards.
See Blues and Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album
Grammy Awards
The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in the music industry.
Great Migration (African American)
The Great Migration, sometimes known as the Great Northward Migration or the Black Migration, was the movement of six million African Americans out of the rural Southern United States to the urban Northeast, Midwest, and West between 1910 and 1970.
See Blues and Great Migration (African American)
Great Mississippi Flood of 1927
The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 was the most destructive river flood in the history of the United States, with inundated in depths of up to over the course of several months in early 1927.
See Blues and Great Mississippi Flood of 1927
Griot
A griot (Manding: jali or jeli (in N'Ko: ߖߋߟߌ, djeli or djéli in French spelling); kevel or kewel / okawul; gewel) is a West African historian, storyteller, praise singer, poet, and/or musician.
See Blues and Griot
Groove (music)
In music, groove is the sense of an effect ("feel") of changing pattern in a propulsive rhythm or sense of "swing". Blues and groove (music) are African-American music, jazz terminology and popular music.
Guitar amplifier
A guitar amplifier (or amp) is an electronic device or system that strengthens the electrical signal from a pickup on an electric guitar, bass guitar, or acoustic guitar so that it can produce sound through one or more loudspeakers, which are typically housed in a wooden cabinet.
See Blues and Guitar amplifier
Guitar solo
A guitar solo is a melodic passage, instrumental section, or entire piece of music, pre-written (or improvised) to be played on a classical, electric, or acoustic guitar.
Gus Cannon
Gustavus Cannon (September 12, 1883 – October 15, 1979) was an American blues musician who helped to popularize jug bands (such as his own Cannon's Jug Stompers) in the 1920s and 1930s.
Hank Williams
Hiram King "Hank" Williams (September 17, 1923 – January 1, 1953) was an American singer-songwriter.
Harmonic seventh
The harmonic seventh interval, also known as the septimal minor seventh, or subminor seventh, is one with an exact 7:4 ratio (about 969 cents).
See Blues and Harmonic seventh
Harmonica
The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock.
Harmony
In music, harmony is the concept of combining different sounds together in order to create new, distinct musical ideas.
Harold Arlen
Harold Arlen (born Hyman Arluck; February 15, 1905 – April 23, 1986) was an American composer of popular music, who composed over 500 songs, a number of which have become known worldwide.
Hart Wand
Hart Ancker Wand (March 3, 1887 – August 9, 1960), was an American early fiddler and bandleader from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817May 6, 1862) was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher.
See Blues and Henry David Thoreau
Henry Thomas (blues musician)
Henry Thomas (1874 1930) was an American country blues singer, songster and musician.
See Blues and Henry Thomas (blues musician)
Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer.
Hill country blues
Hill country blues (also known as North Mississippi hill country blues or North Mississippi blues) is a regional style of country blues.
See Blues and Hill country blues
Hillbilly
Hillbilly is a term for people who dwell in rural, mountainous areas in the United States, primarily in the Appalachian region and Ozarks.
Hokum
Hokum is a particular song type of American blues music—a song which uses extended analogies or euphemistic terms to make humorous, sexual innuendos.
See Blues and Hokum
Hoochie Coochie Man
"Hoochie Coochie Man" (originally titled "I'm Your Hoochie Cooche Man") is a blues standard written by Willie Dixon and first recorded by Muddy Waters in 1954.
See Blues and Hoochie Coochie Man
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by Billboard.
See Blues and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
Hound Dog (song)
"Hound Dog" is a twelve-bar blues song written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller.
See Blues and Hound Dog (song)
How Long, How Long Blues
"How Long, How Long Blues" (also known as "How Long Blues" or "How Long How Long") is a blues song recorded by the American blues duo Leroy Carr and Scrapper Blackwell in 1928.
See Blues and How Long, How Long Blues
Howard W. Odum
Howard Washington Odum (May 24, 1884 – November 8, 1954) was a white American sociologist and author who researched African-American life and folklore.
Howlin' Wolf
Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910January 10, 1976), better known by his stage name Howlin' Wolf, was an American blues singer and guitarist.
Hymn
A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification.
See Blues and Hymn
I Just Want to Make Love to You
"I Just Want to Make Love to You" is a blues song written by Willie Dixon.
See Blues and I Just Want to Make Love to You
I'm a King Bee
"I'm a King Bee" is a swamp blues song written and first recorded by Slim Harpo in 1957.
Igbo Americans
Igbo Americans, or Americans of Igbo ancestry, or Igbo Black Americans (Ṇ́dị́ Ígbò n'Emerịkà) are residents of the United States who identify as having Igbo ancestry from modern day Bight of Biafra, which includes Cameroon, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, São Tomé and Príncipe & Nigeria.
Igbo music
Igbo music (Igbo: Egwu nkwa ndi Igbo) is the music of the Igbo people, who are indigenous to the southeastern part of Nigeria.
Igbo people
The Igbo people (also spelled Ibo" and historically also Iboe, Ebo, Eboe, / / Eboans, Heebo; natively Ṇ́dị́ Ìgbò) are an ethnic group in Nigeria.
In Performance at the White House
In Performance at the White House is a PBS television series of performances from the White House, the residence of the president of the United States.
See Blues and In Performance at the White House
In the Mood
"In the Mood" is a popular big band-era jazz standard recorded by American bandleader Glenn Miller.
Instrument amplifier
An instrument amplifier is an electronic device that converts the often barely audible or purely electronic signal of a musical instrument into a larger electronic signal to feed to a loudspeaker.
See Blues and Instrument amplifier
Instrumentation (music)
In music, instrumentation is the particular combination of musical instruments employed in a composition, and the properties of those instruments individually.
See Blues and Instrumentation (music)
Isaac Watts
Isaac Watts (17 July 1674 – 25 November 1748) was an English Congregational minister, hymn writer, theologian, and logician.
It's Tight Like That
"It's Tight Like That" is a hokum or dirty blues song, recorded by Tampa Red and Georgia Tom on October 24, 1928.
See Blues and It's Tight Like That
J. B. Lenoir
J.
J. D. "Jay" Miller
Joseph Denton "Jay" Miller (May 5, 1922 – March 23, 1996) was an American record producer and songwriter from Louisiana, whose Cajun, swamp blues, and swamp pop recordings influenced American popular culture.
See Blues and J. D. "Jay" Miller
J. T. Brown (musician)
John Thomas Brown (April 2, 1918 – November 24, 1969) was an American tenor saxophonist of the Chicago blues era.
See Blues and J. T. Brown (musician)
J.O.B. Records
J.O.B. Records was an American, Chicago based independent record label, founded by businessman Joe Brown and bluesman St. Louis Jimmy Oden in 1949.
Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson is the capital of and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Mississippi.
See Blues and Jackson, Mississippi
James Brown
James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer and musician.
Janis Joplin
Janis Lyn Joplin (January 19, 1943 – October 4, 1970) was an American singer and songwriter.
Jay McShann
James Columbus "Jay" McShann (January 12, 1916 – December 7, 2006) was an American jazz pianist, vocalist, composer, and bandleader.
Jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues, ragtime, European harmony and African rhythmic rituals. Blues and Jazz are African-American cultural history, African-American music, American styles of music, jazz terminology, musical improvisation, popular music and radio formats.
See Blues and Jazz
Jeff Baxter
Jeffrey Allen "Skunk" Baxter (born December 13, 1948) is an American guitarist, known for his stints in the rock bands Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers during the 1970s and Spirit in the 1980s.
Jeff Beck
Geoffrey Arnold Beck (24 June 194410 January 2023) was an English guitarist.
Jelly Roll Morton
Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe (Lemott, later Morton; c. September 20, 1890 – July 10, 1941), known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American ragtime and jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer of Louisiana Creole descent.
See Blues and Jelly Roll Morton
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis (September 29, 1935October 28, 2022) was an American pianist, singer and songwriter.
Jerry McCain
Jerry McCain, often billed as Jerry "Boogie" McCain (June 18, 1930 – March 28, 2012), was an American electric blues musician, best known as a harmonica player.
Jethro Tull (band)
Jethro Tull are a British rock band formed in Blackpool, Lancashire, in 1967.
See Blues and Jethro Tull (band)
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, songwriter and singer.
Jimmie Rodgers
James Charles Rodgers (–) was an American singer-songwriter and musician who rose to popularity in the late 1920s.
Jimmie Vaughan
Jimmie Lawrence Vaughan Jr. (born March 20, 1951) is an American blues rock guitarist and singer based in Austin, Texas.
Jimmy Reed
Mathis James Reed (September 6, 1925 – August 29, 1976) was an American blues musician and songwriter.
Jimmy Rushing
James Andrew Rushing (August 26, 1901 – June 8, 1972) was an American singer and pianist from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S., best known as the featured vocalist of Count Basie's Orchestra from 1935 to 1948.
Jimmy Yancey
James Edward Yancey (February 20, c. 1895 – September 17, 1951) was an American boogie-woogie pianist, composer, and lyricist.
Jo Ann Kelly
Jo Ann Kelly (5 January 1944 – 21 October 1990) was an English blues singer and guitarist.
John Belushi
John Adam Belushi (January 24, 1949 – March 5, 1982) was an American comedian, actor and musician.
John James Audubon
John James Audubon (born Jean-Jacques Rabin, April 26, 1785 – January 27, 1851) was a French-American self-trained artist, naturalist, and ornithologist.
See Blues and John James Audubon
John Lee Hooker
John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1912 or 1917 – June 21, 2001) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist.
John Lomax
John Avery Lomax (September 23, 1867 – January 26, 1948) was an American teacher, a pioneering musicologist, and a folklorist who did much for the preservation of American folk music.
John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers
John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers were an English blues rock band led by multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter John Mayall.
See Blues and John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers
John Storm Roberts
John Storm Roberts (February 24, 1936 – November 29, 2009) was a British-born, U.S.-based ethnomusicologist, writer and record producer.
See Blues and John Storm Roberts
Johnny B. Goode
"Johnny B. Goode" is a song by American musician Chuck Berry, written and sung by Berry in 1958.
Johnny Winter
John Dawson Winter III (February 23, 1944 – July 16, 2014) was an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, and record producer.
Jug band
A jug band is a band employing a jug player and a mix of conventional and homemade instruments. Blues and jug band are African-American music.
Juke joint
Juke joint (also jukejoint, jook house, jook, or juke) is the African American vernacular term for an informal establishment featuring music, dancing, gambling, and drinking, primarily operated by African Americans in the southeastern United States. Blues and juke joint are African-American cultural history.
Jump blues
Jump blues is an up-tempo style of blues, jazz, and boogie woogie usually played by small groups and featuring horn instruments. Blues and Jump blues are jazz terminology.
Jumpin' at the Woodside
"Jumpin' at the Woodside" is a song first recorded in 1938 by the Count Basie Orchestra, and considered one of the band's signature tunes.
See Blues and Jumpin' at the Woodside
Junior Kimbrough
David "Junior" Kimbrough (July 28, 1930 – January 17, 1998) was an American blues musician.
See Blues and Junior Kimbrough
Kansas City metropolitan area
The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri.
See Blues and Kansas City metropolitan area
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri (KC or KCMO) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by population and area.
See Blues and Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas Joe McCoy
Wilbur Joe "Kansas Joe" McCoy (May 11, 1905 – January 28, 1950) was an American Delta blues singer, musician and songwriter.
See Blues and Kansas Joe McCoy
Kazoo
The kazoo is a musical instrument that adds a "buzzing" timbral quality to a player's voice when the player puts their lips in between the smaller hole and vocalizes into it.
See Blues and Kazoo
Keb' Mo'
Kevin Roosevelt Moore (born October 3, 1951), known as Keb' Mo', is an American blues musician.
Key (music)
In music theory, the key of a piece is the group of pitches, or scale, that forms the basis of a musical composition in Western classical music, art music, and pop music.
Key to the Highway
"Key to the Highway" is a blues standard that has been performed and recorded by several blues and other artists.
See Blues and Key to the Highway
Kim Wilson
Kim Wilson (born January 6, 1951) is an American blues singer and harmonica player.
Kokomo Arnold
James "Kokomo" Arnold (February 15, 1896 or 1901 – November 8, 1968) was an American blues musician.
Lafayette County, Mississippi
Lafayette County is a county in the U.S. state of Mississippi.
See Blues and Lafayette County, Mississippi
Lawrence Gellert
Lawrence Gellert (1898-1979?), was a music collector, who in the 1920s and 1930s amassed a significant collection of field-recorded African-American blues and spirituals and also claimed to have documented black protest traditions in the South of the United States.
See Blues and Lawrence Gellert
Lead Belly
Huddie William Ledbetter (January 1888 or 1889 – December 6, 1949), better known by the stage name Lead Belly, was an American folk and blues singer notable for his strong vocals, virtuosity on the twelve-string guitar, and the folk standards he introduced, including his renditions of "In the Pines", "Goodnight, Irene", "Midnight Special", "Cotton Fields", and "Boll Weevil".
Leroy Carr
Leroy Carr (March 27, 1904 or 1905 – April 29, 1935) was an American blues singer, songwriter and pianist who developed a laid-back, crooning technique and whose popularity and style influenced such artists as Nat King Cole and Ray Charles.
Level (music)
A level,van der Merwe, Peter (1989).
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C. that serves as the library and research service of the U.S. Congress and the de facto national library of the United States.
See Blues and Library of Congress
Lightnin' Hopkins
Samuel John "Lightnin'" Hopkins (March 15, 1912 – January 30, 1982) was an American country blues singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional pianist from Centerville, Texas.
See Blues and Lightnin' Hopkins
Lightnin' Slim
Otis Verries Hicks (March 13, 1913 – July 27, 1974), known as Lightnin' Slim, was an American blues musician who played Louisiana blues and swamp blues for Excello Records.
List of blues festivals
Blues festivals are music festivals which focus on blues music.
See Blues and List of blues festivals
List of blues musicians
Blues musicians are musical artists who are primarily recognized as writing, performing, and recording blues music.
See Blues and List of blues musicians
List of blues standards
Blues standards are blues songs that have attained a high level of recognition due to having been widely performed and recorded.
See Blues and List of blues standards
Lists of blues musicians by genre
This article contains lists of blues musicians by their respective genres and styles.
See Blues and Lists of blues musicians by genre
Little Milton
James Milton Campbell Jr. (September 7, 1934 – August 4, 2005), better known as Little Milton, was an American blues singer and guitarist, best known for his number-one R&B single "We're Gonna Make It".
Little Richard
Richard Wayne Penniman (December 5, 1932 – May 9, 2020), known professionally as Little Richard, was an American singer, pianist, and songwriter.
Little Walter
Marion Walter Jacobs (May 1, 1930 – February 15, 1968), known as Little Walter, was an American blues musician, singer, and songwriter, whose revolutionary approach to the harmonica had a strong impact on succeeding generations, earning him comparisons to such seminal artists as Django Reinhardt, Charlie Parker and Jimi Hendrix.
Living Blues
Living Blues: The Magazine of the African American Blues Tradition is a bi-monthly magazine focused on blues music, and America's oldest blues periodical.
Long Tall Sally
"Long Tall Sally", also known as "Long Tall Sally (The Thing)", is a rock and roll song written by Robert "Bumps" Blackwell, Enotris Johnson, and Little Richard.
Lonnie Johnson (musician)
Alonzo "Lonnie" Johnson (February 8, 1899 – June 16, 1970) was an American blues and jazz singer, guitarist, violinist and songwriter.
See Blues and Lonnie Johnson (musician)
Louis Armstrong
Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist.
Louis Jordan
Louis Thomas Jordan (July 8, 1908 – February 4, 1975) was an American saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and bandleader who was popular from the late 1930s to the early 1950s.
Louisiana
Louisiana (Louisiane; Luisiana; Lwizyàn) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States.
Louisiana blues
Louisiana blues is a genre of blues music that developed in the period after World War II in the state of Louisiana.
Lucille Bogan
Lucille Bogan (née Anderson; April 1, 1897August 10, 1948) was an American classic female blues singer and songwriter, among the first to be recorded.
Lucille Hegamin
Lucille Nelson Hegamin (November 29, 1894 – March 1, 1970) was an American singer and entertainer and an early African-American blues recording artist.
Lucy Bakewell Audubon
Lucy Bakewell Audubon (Bakewell; January 18, 1787 – June 18, 1874) was a British-born educator and philanthropist.
See Blues and Lucy Bakewell Audubon
Luther Allison
Luther Sylvester Allison (August 17, 1939 – August 12, 1997) was an American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist.
Lyrics
Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses.
See Blues and Lyrics
Ma Rainey
Gertrude "Ma" Rainey (Pridgett; April 26, 1886 – December 22, 1939) was an American blues singer and influential early-blues recording artist.
Magic Sam
Samuel Gene Maghett (February 14, 1937 – December 1, 1969), known as Magic Sam, was an American Chicago blues musician.
Magic Slim
Morris Holt (August 7, 1937 – February 21, 2013), known as Magic Slim, was an American blues singer and guitarist.
Major scale
The major scale (or Ionian mode) is one of the most commonly used musical scales, especially in Western music.
Major third
In classical music, a third is a musical interval encompassing three staff positions (see Interval number for more details), and the major third is a third spanning four half steps or two whole steps. Along with the minor third, the major third is one of two commonly occurring thirds.
Malaco Records
Malaco Records is an American independent record label based in Jackson, Mississippi, United States, that has been the home of various major blues and gospel acts, such as Johnnie Taylor, Bobby Bland, Mel Waiters, Z. Z. Hill, Denise LaSalle, Latimore, Dorothy Moore, Little Milton, Shirley Brown, Tyrone Davis, Marvin Sease, and the Mississippi Mass Choir.
Mamie Smith
Mamie Smith (Robinson; May 26, 1891 – September 16, 1946) was an American singer.
Mandinka people
The Mandinka or Malinke are a West African ethnic group primarily found in southern Mali, The Gambia, southern Senegal and eastern Guinea.
Mandolin
A mandolin (mandolino,; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick.
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese (born November 17, 1942) is an American filmmaker.
Marvin Sease
Marvin Monnie Sease (February 16, 1946 – February 8, 2011) - accessed February 2011 was an American blues and soul singer-songwriter known for his gospel-infused vocal style and erotic lyrics.
Meade Lux Lewis
Anderson Meade "Lux" Lewis (September 4, 1905 – June 7, 1964) was an American pianist and composer, remembered for his playing in the boogie-woogie style.
Melody
A melody, also tune, voice or line, is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity.
See Blues and Melody
Memphis blues
The Memphis blues is a style of blues music created from the 1910s to the 1930s by musicians in the Memphis area, such as Frank Stokes, Sleepy John Estes, Furry Lewis and Memphis Minnie.
Memphis Jug Band
The Memphis Jug Band was an American musical group active from the mid-1920s to the late-1950s.
See Blues and Memphis Jug Band
Memphis Minnie
Lizzie Douglas (June 3, 1897 – August 6, 1973), better known as Memphis Minnie, was a blues guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter whose recording career lasted for over three decades.
Memphis Slim
John Len Chatman (September 3, 1915 – February 24, 1988), known professionally as Memphis Slim, was an American blues pianist, singer, and composer.
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee.
See Blues and Memphis, Tennessee
Michelle Obama
Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama (Robinson; born January 17, 1964) is an American attorney and author who served as the first lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017, being married to Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States.
Mike Bloomfield
Michael Bernard Bloomfield (July 28, 1943 – February 15, 1981) was an American blues guitarist and composer.
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer.
Minor seventh
In music theory, a minor seventh is one of two musical intervals that span seven staff positions.
Minor third
In music theory, a minor third is a musical interval that encompasses three half steps, or semitones.
Minstrel show
The minstrel show, also called minstrelsy, was an American form of theater developed in the early 19th century. Blues and minstrel show are African-American cultural history and African-American music.
Miser
A miser is a person who is reluctant to spend money, sometimes to the point of forgoing even basic comforts and some necessities, in order to hoard money or other possessions.
See Blues and Miser
Mississippi
Mississippi is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States.
Mississippi Delta
The Mississippi Delta, also known as the Yazoo–Mississippi Delta, or simply the Delta, is the distinctive northwest section of the U.S. state of Mississippi (and portions of Arkansas and Louisiana) that lies between the Mississippi and Yazoo rivers.
See Blues and Mississippi Delta
Mississippi Fred McDowell
Fred McDowell (January 12, 1904 – July 3, 1972), known by his stage name Mississippi Fred McDowell, was an American singer and guitarist of hill country blues music.
See Blues and Mississippi Fred McDowell
Mississippi John Hurt
John Smith Hurt (March 8, 1893 – November 2, 1966), known as Mississippi John Hurt, was an American country blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist.
See Blues and Mississippi John Hurt
Missouri
Missouri is a landlocked state in the Midwestern region of the United States.
Modal frame
A modal frame in music is "a number of types permeating and unifying African, European, and American song" and melody.
Moon Mullican
Aubrey Wilson Mullican (March 29, 1909 – January 1, 1967), known professionally as Moon Mullican and nicknamed "King of the Hillbilly Piano Players", was an American country and western singer, songwriter, and pianist.
Muddy Waters
McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913April 30, 1983), known professionally as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer and musician who was an important figure in the post-World War II blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of modern Chicago blues".
Music genre
A music genre is a conventional category that identifies some pieces of music as belonging to a shared tradition or set of conventions.
Music industry
The music industry refers to the individuals and organizations that earn money by writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling recorded music and sheet music, presenting concerts, as well as the organizations that aid, train, represent and supply music creators.
Music of Africa
Given the vastness of the African continent, its music is diverse, with regions and nations having many distinct musical traditions.
Musical form
In music, form refers to the structure of a musical composition or performance.
Nat King Cole
Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally by his stage name Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor.
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
New Orleans
New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or the Big Easy among other nicknames) is a consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of Louisiana.
New Orleans blues
New Orleans blues is a subgenre of blues that developed in and around the city of New Orleans, influenced by jazz and Caribbean music. Blues and New Orleans blues are African-American music.
See Blues and New Orleans blues
Newport Folk Festival
Newport Folk Festival is an annual American folk-oriented music festival in Newport, Rhode Island, which began in 1959 as a counterpart to the Newport Jazz Festival.
See Blues and Newport Folk Festival
Newsday
Newsday is a daily newspaper in the United States primarily serving Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area.
Newton County, Georgia
Newton County is a county located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia.
See Blues and Newton County, Georgia
Nick Gravenites
Nick Gravenites (born October 2, 1938) is an American blues, rock and folk singer, songwriter, and guitarist, best known for his work with Electric Flag (as their lead singer), Janis Joplin, Mike Bloomfield and several influential bands and individuals of the generation springing from the 1960s and 1970s.
Nightclub
A nightclub is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment.
Nighthawk Records
Nighthawk Records was an American independent record label, founded by Robert Schoenfeld who began operations in 1976 with the release of four vintage post-war blues reissue albums.
See Blues and Nighthawk Records
NorthernBlues Music
NorthernBlues Music is a Canadian independent record label, which specializes in blues music.
See Blues and NorthernBlues Music
Obviously 5 Believers
"Obviously 5 Believers" (also known as "Obviously Five Believers") is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, which was released as the last track of side three of his double album Blonde on Blonde (1966), and was the B-side to the single release of "Just Like a Woman" for releases in America and some other countries.
See Blues and Obviously 5 Believers
Okeh Records
OKeh Records is an American record label founded by the Otto Heinemann Phonograph Corporation, a phonograph supplier established in 1916, which branched out into phonograph records in 1918.
One O'Clock Jump
"One O'Clock Jump" is a jazz standard; a 12-bar blues instrumental, written by Count Basie in 1937.
See Blues and One O'Clock Jump
Origins of the blues
Little is known about the exact origin of the music now known as the blues.
See Blues and Origins of the blues
Orisha
Orishas (singular: orisha) are divine spirits that play a key role in the Yoruba religion of West Africa and several religions of the African diaspora that derive from it, such as Haitian Vaudou, Cuban, Dominican and Puerto Rican Santería and Brazilian Candomblé.
See Blues and Orisha
Ostinato
In music, an ostinato (derived from the Italian word for stubborn, compare English obstinate) is a motif or phrase that persistently repeats in the same musical voice, frequently in the same pitch.
Otis Rush
Otis Rush Jr. (April 29, 1934 – September 29, 2018) was an American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter.
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford.
See Blues and Oxford University Press
Papa Charlie Jackson
William Henry "Papa Charlie" Jackson (November 10, 1887 – May 7, 1938) was an early American bluesman and songster who accompanied himself with a banjo guitar, a guitar, or a ukulele.
See Blues and Papa Charlie Jackson
Paramount Records
Paramount Records was an American record label known for its recordings of jazz and blues in the 1920s and early 1930s, including such artists as Ma Rainey, Tommy Johnson and Blind Lemon Jefferson.
See Blues and Paramount Records
Paul Butterfield
Paul Vaughn Butterfield (December 17, 1942May 4, 1987) was an American blues harmonica player, singer and bandleader.
See Blues and Paul Butterfield
Paul Oliver
Paul Hereford Oliver MBE (25 May 1927 – 15 August 2017) was an English architectural historian and writer on the blues and other forms of African-American music.
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Crystal City, Virginia.
See Blues and PBS
Peggy Scott-Adams
Peggy Scott-Adams (born Peggy Stoutmeyer; June 25, 1948 – March 27, 2023) was an American soul, blues and R&B singer.
See Blues and Peggy Scott-Adams
Perry Bradford
Perry Bradford (February 14, 1893, Montgomery, Alabama – April 20, 1970, New York City) was an American composer, songwriter, and vaudeville performer.
Pete Johnson (musician)
Kermit Holden "Pete" Johnson (March 25, 1904 – March 23, 1967) was an American boogie-woogie and jazz pianist.
See Blues and Pete Johnson (musician)
Phoebe Snow
Phoebe Snow (born Phoebe Ann Laub; July 17, 1950 – April 26, 2011) was an American roots music singer-songwriter and guitarist, known for her hit 1974 and 1975 songs "Poetry Man" and "Harpo's Blues", and her credited guest vocals backing Paul Simon on "Gone at Last".
Piedmont blues
Piedmont blues (also known as East Coast, or Southeastern blues) refers primarily to a guitar style, which is characterized by a fingerpicking approach in which a regular, alternating thumb bass string rhythmic pattern supports a syncopated melody using the treble strings generally picked with the fore-finger, occasionally others.
Pinetop Smith
Clarence "Pinetop" Smith (June 11, 1904 – March 15, 1929), was an American boogie-woogie style blues pianist.
Pitch (music)
Pitch is a perceptual property that allows sounds to be ordered on a frequency-related scale, or more commonly, pitch is the quality that makes it possible to judge sounds as "higher" and "lower" in the sense associated with musical melodies.
Popular music
Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry.
Post–World War II economic expansion
The post–World War II economic expansion, also known as the postwar economic boom or the Golden Age of Capitalism, was a broad period of worldwide economic expansion beginning with the aftermath of World War II and ending with the 1973–1975 recession.
See Blues and Post–World War II economic expansion
Powwow
A powwow (also pow wow or pow-wow) is a gathering with dances held by many Native American and First Nations communities.
See Blues and Powwow
Professor Longhair
Henry Roeland "Roy" Byrd (December 19, 1918 – January 30, 1980), better known as Professor Longhair or "Fess" for short, was an American singer and pianist who performed New Orleans blues.
See Blues and Professor Longhair
Psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock is a rock music genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs.
See Blues and Psychedelic rock
Public address system
A public address system (or PA system) is an electronic system comprising microphones, amplifiers, loudspeakers, and related equipment.
See Blues and Public address system
Punk blues
Punk blues (or blues punk) is a music genre that mixes elements of punk rock and blues.
R. L. Burnside
R.
Race record
Race records is a term for 78-rpm phonograph records marketed to African Americans between the 1920s and 1940s.
Racial discrimination
Racial discrimination is any discrimination against any individual on the basis of their race, ancestry, ethnicity, and/or skin color and hair texture.
See Blues and Racial discrimination
Racism
Racism is discrimination and prejudice against people based on their race or ethnicity.
See Blues and Racism
Ragtime
Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that had its peak from the 1890s to 1910s. Blues and Ragtime are 19th-century music genres, African-American music and American styles of music.
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson Sr. (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist.
Reverend Gary Davis
Gary D. Davis (April 30, 1896 – May 5, 1972), known as Reverend Gary Davis and Blind Gary Davis, was a blues and gospel singer who was also proficient on the banjo, guitar and harmonica.
See Blues and Reverend Gary Davis
Rhapsody in Blue
Rhapsody in Blue is a 1924 musical composition for solo piano and jazz band, which combines elements of classical music with jazz-influenced effects.
See Blues and Rhapsody in Blue
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African-American communities in the 1940s. Blues and Rhythm and blues are African-American cultural history, African-American music, American styles of music and popular music.
See Blues and Rhythm and blues
Riff
A riff is a short, repeated motif or figure in the melody or accompaniment of a musical composition.
See Blues and Riff
Ring shout
A shout, ring shout, Hallelujah march or victory march is a Christian religious practice in which worshipers move in a circle while praying and clapping their hands, sometimes shuffling and stomping their feet as well. Blues and ring shout are African-American cultural history.
Robert Christgau
Robert Thomas Christgau (born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist.
See Blues and Robert Christgau
Robert Cray
Robert William Cray (born August 1, 1953) is an American blues guitarist and singer.
Robert Johnson
Robert Leroy Johnson (May 8, 1911August 16, 1938) was an American blues musician and songwriter.
Robert Wilkins
Robert Timothy Wilkins (January 16, 1896 – May 26, 1987) was an American country blues guitarist and vocalist, of African-American and Cherokee descent.
Robert Winslow Gordon
Robert Winslow Gordon (September 2, 1888 – March 26, 1961) was an American academic, known as a collector of folk songs.
See Blues and Robert Winslow Gordon
Rock and roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, rock 'n' roll, rock n' roll or Rock n' Roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. Blues and rock and roll are African-American music, American styles of music, popular music and radio formats.
Rock music
Rock is a broad genre of popular music that originated as "rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles from the mid-1960s, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom. Blues and Rock music are 20th-century music genres, African-American music, American styles of music and popular music.
Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. Blues and Rockabilly are American styles of music.
Roman numerals
Roman numerals are a numeral system that originated in ancient Rome and remained the usual way of writing numbers throughout Europe well into the Late Middle Ages.
Rory Gallagher
William Rory Gallagher (2 March 1948 – 14 June 1995) was an Irish musician and songwriter.
Ruf Records
Ruf Records is a German independent record label, which was founded in 1994 by Luther Allison’s manager, Thomas Ruf, to promote Allison's career.
Ry Cooder
Ryland Peter Cooder (born March 15, 1947) is an American musician, songwriter, film score composer, record producer, and writer.
Saint Louis Blues (song)
"The Saint Louis Blues" (or "St. Louis Blues") is a popular American song composed by W. C. Handy in the blues style and published in September 1914.
See Blues and Saint Louis Blues (song)
Sam Cooke
Samuel Cooke (January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964), known professionally as Sam Cooke, was an American singer and songwriter.
Sam Myers
Samuel Joseph Myers (February 19, 1936 – July 17, 2006) was an American blues musician and songwriter.
Sam Phillips
Samuel Cornelius Phillips (January 5, 1923 – July 30, 2003) was an American disc jockey, songwriter and record producer.
Samuel Charters
Samuel Barclay Charters IV (August 1, 1929 – March 18, 2015) was an American music historian, writer, record producer, musician, and poet.
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (15 August 18751 September 1912) was a British composer and conductor.
See Blues and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
Satan
Satan, also known as the Devil, is an entity in Abrahamic religions that seduces humans into sin or falsehood.
See Blues and Satan
Saxophone
The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass.
Scrapper Blackwell
Francis Hillman "Scrapper" Blackwell (February 21, 1903 – October 7, 1962) was an American blues guitarist and singer, best known as half of the guitar-piano duo he formed with Leroy Carr in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
See Blues and Scrapper Blackwell
Second Great Migration (African American)
In the context of the 20th-century history of the United States, the Second Great Migration was the migration of more than 5 million African Americans from the South to the Northeast, Midwest and West.
See Blues and Second Great Migration (African American)
Sent for You Yesterday
Sent for You Yesterday is a novel by the American writer John Edgar Wideman, first published in 1983 (in New York by Avon Books, and subsequently in London by Allison and Busby, 1984), set in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, during the 1970s.
See Blues and Sent for You Yesterday
Sentimental ballad
A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner. Blues and sentimental ballad are popular music and radio formats.
See Blues and Sentimental ballad
Seventh chord
A seventh chord is a chord consisting of a triad plus a note forming an interval of a seventh above the chord's root.
Severn Records
Severn Records is an American independent record label that concentrates on blues music.
SFGate
SFGate is a news website based out of San Francisco, California, covering news, culture, travel, food, politics and sports in the San Francisco Bay Area, Hawaii and California.
See Blues and SFGate
Shake, Rattle and Roll
"Shake, Rattle and Roll" is a song written in 1954 by Jesse Stone (usually credited as "Charles Calhoun", his songwriting name) and first recorded that year by Big Joe Turner, whose version ranked No.
See Blues and Shake, Rattle and Roll
Shanachie Records
Shanachie Records is an American, New Jersey–based record label, founded in 1975 by Richard Nevins and Dan Collins.
See Blues and Shanachie Records
Shannon Curfman
Shannon Marie Curfman (born July 31, 1985, Fargo, North Dakota) is an American blues-rock guitarist and singer.
Sheet music
Sheet music is a handwritten or printed form of musical notation that uses musical symbols to indicate the pitches, rhythms, or chords of a song or instrumental musical piece.
Shirley Brown
Shirley Brown (born January 6, 1947, West Memphis, Arkansas) is an American R&B singer, best known for her million-selling single "Woman to Woman", which was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1975.
Sir Charles Jones
Sir Charles Jones (born April 25, 1973) is an American blues and Southern soul singer.
See Blues and Sir Charles Jones
Sitting on Top of the World
"Sitting on Top of the World" (also "Sittin' on Top of the World") is a country blues song written by Walter Vinson and Lonnie Chatmon.
See Blues and Sitting on Top of the World
Sixteen-bar blues
The sixteen-bar blues can be a variation on the standard twelve-bar blues or on the less common eight-bar blues.
See Blues and Sixteen-bar blues
Skiffle
Skiffle is a genre of folk music with influences from American folk music, blues, country, bluegrass, and jazz, generally performed with a mixture of manufactured and homemade or improvised instruments. Blues and Skiffle are African-American music.
Skip James
Nehemiah Curtis "Skip" James (June 9, 1902October 3, 1969) was an American Delta blues singer, guitarist, pianist and songwriter.
Sleepy John Estes
John Adam Estes (January 25, 1899 or 1900June 5, 1977), known as Sleepy John Estes, was an American blues guitarist, songwriter and vocalist.
See Blues and Sleepy John Estes
Slide guitar
Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music.
Slim Harpo
Slim Harpo (born James Isaac Moore; January 11, 1924 – January 31, 1970) was an American blues musician, a leading exponent of the swamp blues style, and "one of the most commercially successful blues artists of his day".
Smithsonian Folkways
Smithsonian Folkways is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution.
See Blues and Smithsonian Folkways
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution, or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge." Founded on August 10, 1846, it operates as a trust instrumentality and is not formally a part of any of the three branches of the federal government.
See Blues and Smithsonian Institution
Son House
Edward James "Son" House Jr. (March 21, 1902 – October 19, 1988) was an American Delta blues singer and guitarist, noted for his highly emotional style of singing and slide guitar playing.
Songcatcher
Songcatcher is a 2000 drama film directed by Maggie Greenwald.
Songster
A songster (plural songsters) is a musician, usually a singer; notably in the southern United States and the Salvation Army.
Soninke people
The Soninke people are a West African Mande-speaking ethnic group found in Mali, southern Mauritania, eastern Senegal, The Gambia, and Guinea (especially Fouta Djallon).
Sonny Boy Williamson II
Alex or Aleck Miller (originally Ford, possibly December 5, 1912 – May 24, 1965), known later in his career as Sonny Boy Williamson, was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter.
See Blues and Sonny Boy Williamson II
Sonny Terry
Saunders Terrell (October 24, 1911 – March 11, 1986), known as Sonny Terry, was an American Piedmont blues and folk musician, who was known for his energetic blues harmonica style, which frequently included vocal whoops and hollers and occasionally imitations of trains and fox hunts.
Soul blues
Soul blues is a style of blues music developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s that combines elements of soul music and urban contemporary music.
Soul music
Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in the African-American community throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Blues and Soul music are African-American cultural history, African-American music, American styles of music, musical improvisation, popular music and radio formats.
Sounder (film)
Sounder is a 1972 American drama film directed by Martin Ritt and adapted by Lonne Elder III from the 1969 novel of the same name by William H. Armstrong.
South Texas
South Texas is a region of the U.S. state of Texas that lies roughly south of—and includes—San Antonio.
Southern soul
Southern soul is a type of soul music that emerged from the Southern United States. Blues and Southern soul are 20th-century music genres.
Southern Spaces
Southern Spaces is a peer-reviewed open-access academic journal that publishes articles, photo essays and images, presentations, and short videos about real and imagined spaces and places of the Southern United States and their connections to the wider world.
Southern United States
The Southern United States, sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States.
See Blues and Southern United States
Spirituals
Spirituals (also known as Negro spirituals, African American spirituals, Black spirituals, or spiritual music) is a genre of Christian music that is associated with African Americans, which merged varied African cultural influences with the experiences of being held in bondage in slavery, at first during the transatlantic slave trade and for centuries afterwards, through the domestic slave trade. Blues and spirituals are African-American cultural history.
St. Louis
St.
St. Martin's Press
St.
See Blues and St. Martin's Press
Steve Winwood
Stephen Lawrence Winwood (born 12 May 1948) is an English musician and songwriter whose genres include blue-eyed soul, rhythm and blues, blues rock and pop rock.
Stevie Ray Vaughan
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.
See Blues and Stevie Ray Vaughan
String bending
String bending is a guitar technique where fretted strings are displaced by application of a force by the fretting fingers in a direction perpendicular to their vibrating length.
Strong Persuader
Strong Persuader is the fifth studio album by American blues singer and guitarist Robert Cray.
See Blues and Strong Persuader
Subdominant
In music, the subdominant is the fourth tonal degree of the diatonic scale.
Sue Foley
Sue Foley (born March 29, 1968) is a Canadian blues guitarist and singer.
Sun Records
Sun Records is an American independent record label founded by producer Sam Phillips in Memphis, Tennessee on February 1, 1952.
Susan Tedeschi
Susan Tedeschi (born November 9, 1970) is an American singer and guitarist.
Swamp blues
Swamp blues is a type of Louisiana blues that developed in the Black communities of Southwest Louisiana in the 1950s.
Swing music
Swing music is a style of jazz that developed in the United States during the late 1920s and early 1930s. Blues and Swing music are African-American cultural history, African-American music and American styles of music.
Sylvester Weaver (musician)
Sylvester Weaver (July 25, 1897 – April 4, 1960) was an American blues guitar player and a pioneer of country blues.
See Blues and Sylvester Weaver (musician)
T-Bone Walker
Aaron Thibeaux "T-Bone" Walker (May 28, 1910 – March 16, 1975) was an American blues musician, composer, songwriter and bandleader, who was a pioneer and innovator of the jump blues, West Coast blues, and electric blues sounds.
Taj Mahal (musician)
Henry St.
See Blues and Taj Mahal (musician)
Talking blues
Talking blues is a form of folk music and country music.
Tampa Red
Hudson Whittaker (born Hudson Woodbridge; January 8, 1903March 19, 1981), known as Tampa Red, was an American Chicago blues musician.
Tedeschi Trucks Band
The Tedeschi Trucks Band is an American blues and blues rock group based in Jacksonville, Florida.
See Blues and Tedeschi Trucks Band
Teen idol
A teen idol is a celebrity with a large teenage fan base.
Tennessee
Tennessee, officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States.
Territory band
Territory bands were dance bands that crisscrossed specific regions of the United States from the 1920s through the 1960s. Blues and Territory band are jazz terminology.
Texas blues
Texas blues is blues music from Texas.
Texas Flood
Texas Flood is the debut studio album by the American blues rock band Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, released on June 13, 1983, by Epic Records.
That's All Right
"That's All Right" is a song written and originally performed by the American blues singer Arthur Crudup and recorded in 1946.
See Blues and That's All Right
The Allman Brothers Band
The Allman Brothers Band was an American rock band formed in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1969 by brothers Duane Allman (founder, slide guitar and lead guitar) and Gregg Allman (vocals, keyboards, songwriting), as well as Dickey Betts (lead guitar, vocals, songwriting), Berry Oakley (bass), Butch Trucks (drums), and Jai Johanny "Jaimoe" Johanson (drums).
See Blues and The Allman Brothers Band
The Animals
The Animals (also billed as Animals & Friends and Eric Burdon and the Animals) are an English rock band formed in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1963.
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960, comprising John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.
The Blues (film series)
The Blues is a 2003 documentary film series produced by Martin Scorsese, dedicated to the history of blues music.
See Blues and The Blues (film series)
The Blues Brothers
The Blues Brothers are an American blues and soul revue band founded in 1978 by comedians Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi, who met and began collaborating as original cast members of Saturday Night Live.
See Blues and The Blues Brothers
The Blues Brothers (film)
The Blues Brothers is a 1980 American musical action comedy film directed by John Landis.
See Blues and The Blues Brothers (film)
The Fabulous Thunderbirds
The Fabulous Thunderbirds is an American blues band formed in 1974.
See Blues and The Fabulous Thunderbirds
The Healer (album)
The Healer is a blues album by John Lee Hooker, released in 1989 by Chameleon.
See Blues and The Healer (album)
The J. Geils Band
The J. Geils Band was an American rock band formed in 1967, in Worcester, Massachusetts, under the leadership of guitarist John "J." Geils.
See Blues and The J. Geils Band
The Memphis Blues
"The Memphis Blues" is a song described by its composer, W. C. Handy, as a "southern rag".
See Blues and The Memphis Blues
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962.
See Blues and The Rolling Stones
The West Wing
The West Wing is an American political drama television series created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1999, to May 14, 2006.
The Yardbirds
The Yardbirds are an English rock band, formed in London in 1963.
Theatre Owners Booking Association
Theatre Owners Booking Association, or T.O.B.A., was the vaudeville circuit for African American performers in the 1920s.
See Blues and Theatre Owners Booking Association
Thomas A. Dorsey
Thomas Andrew Dorsey (July 1, 1899 – January 23, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and Christian evangelist influential in the development of early blues and 20th-century gospel music.
See Blues and Thomas A. Dorsey
Time signature
A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is a convention in Western music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type are contained in each measure (bar).
Tin Pan Alley
Tin Pan Alley was a collection of music publishers and songwriters in New York City that dominated the popular music of the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Blues and Tin Pan Alley are American styles of music and popular music.
Tonic (music)
In music, the tonic is the first scale degree of the diatonic scale (the first note of a scale) and the tonal center or final resolution tone that is commonly used in the final cadence in tonal (musical key-based) classical music, popular music, and traditional music.
Torch song
A torch song is a sentimental love song, typically one in which the singer laments an unrequited or lost love, either where one party is oblivious to the existence of the other, where one party has moved on, or where a romantic affair has affected the relationship.
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman (born March 30, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter, widely known for her hit singles "Fast Car" (1988) and "Give Me One Reason" (1995).
Traditional blues verses
In the folk tradition, there are many traditional blues verses that have been sung over and over by many artists.
See Blues and Traditional blues verses
Tritone
In music theory, the tritone is defined as a musical interval spanning three adjacent whole tones (six semitones).
Trouble in Mind (song)
"Trouble in Mind" is a vaudeville blues-style song written by jazz pianist Richard M. Jones.
See Blues and Trouble in Mind (song)
Turnaround (music)
In jazz, a turnaround is a passage at the end of a section which leads to the next section. Blues and turnaround (music) are jazz terminology.
See Blues and Turnaround (music)
Tutti Frutti (song)
"Tutti Frutti" (Italian for "all fruits") is a song written by Little Richard and Dorothy LaBostrie, recorded in 1955, which was his first major hit.
See Blues and Tutti Frutti (song)
Tutwiler, Mississippi
Tutwiler is a town in Tallahatchie County, Mississippi, United States.
See Blues and Tutwiler, Mississippi
Twelve-bar blues
The twelve-bar blues (or blues changes) is one of the most prominent chord progressions in popular music. Blues and twelve-bar blues are American styles of music and jazz terminology.
See Blues and Twelve-bar blues
Universal Studios, Inc.
Universal Studios, Inc. (formerly as MCA Inc., also known simply as Universal) is an American media and entertainment conglomerate and is owned by NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast.
See Blues and Universal Studios, Inc.
University of Arkansas Press
The University of Arkansas Press is a university press that is part of the University of Arkansas and has been a member of the Association of University Presses since 1984.
See Blues and University of Arkansas Press
University of Illinois Press
The University of Illinois Press (UIP) is an American university press and is part of the University of Illinois system.
See Blues and University of Illinois Press
University of Massachusetts
The University of Massachusetts is the five-campus public university system in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
See Blues and University of Massachusetts
University of North Carolina Press
The University of North Carolina Press (or UNC Press), founded in 1922, is a not-for-profit university press associated with the University of North Carolina.
See Blues and University of North Carolina Press
Unplugged (Eric Clapton album)
Unplugged is a 1992 live album by Eric Clapton, recorded at Bray Studios, England in front of an audience for the MTV Unplugged television series.
See Blues and Unplugged (Eric Clapton album)
Vanguard Records
Vanguard Recording Society is an American record label set up in 1950 by brothers Maynard and Seymour Solomon in New York City.
See Blues and Vanguard Records
Vaudeville
Vaudeville is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France at the end of the 19th century.
Vee-Jay Records
Vee-Jay Records is an American record label founded in the 1950s, located in Chicago and specializing in blues, jazz, rhythm and blues and rock and roll.
Vibrato
Vibrato (Italian, from past participle of "vibrare", to vibrate) is a musical effect consisting of a regular, pulsating change of pitch.
Victoria Spivey
Victoria Regina Spivey (October 15, 1906 – October 3, 1976), sometimes known as Queen Victoria, was an American blues singer, songwriter, and record company founder.
Video clip
Video clips refer to mostly short videos, which are usually silly jokes and funny clips, often from movies or entertainment videos such as those on YouTube.
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975.
Virtuoso
A virtuoso (from Italian virtuoso, or; Late Latin virtuosus; Latin virtus; 'virtue', 'excellence' or 'skill') is an individual who possesses outstanding talent and technical ability in a particular art or field such as fine arts, music, singing, playing a musical instrument, or composition.
W. C. Handy
William Christopher Handy (November 16, 1873 – March 28, 1958) was an American composer and musician who referred to himself as the Father of the Blues.
W. W. Norton & Company
W.
See Blues and W. W. Norton & Company
Walden
Walden (first published in 1854 as Walden; or, Life in the Woods) is a book by American transcendentalist writer Henry David Thoreau.
See Blues and Walden
Walter Vinson
Walter Vinson (February 2, 1901 – April 22, 1975) was an American Memphis blues guitarist, singer and songwriter.
Wang Dang Doodle
"Wang Dang Doodle" is a blues song written by Willie Dixon.
See Blues and Wang Dang Doodle
Washboard (musical instrument)
The washboard and frottoir (from Cajun French "frotter", to rub) are used as a percussion instrument, employing the ribbed metal surface of the cleaning device as a rhythm instrument.
See Blues and Washboard (musical instrument)
Watermelon Man (composition)
"Watermelon Man" is a jazz standard written by Herbie Hancock for his debut album, Takin' Off (1962).
See Blues and Watermelon Man (composition)
Waylon Jennings
Waylon Arnold Jennings (June 15, 1937 – February 13, 2002) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor.
West Coast blues
West Coast blues is a type of blues music influenced by jazz and jump blues, with strong piano-dominated sounds and jazzy guitar solos, which originated from Texas blues players who relocated to California in the 1940s.
See Blues and West Coast blues
West Side, Chicago
The West Side is one of the three major sections of the city of Chicago, Illinois, United States.
See Blues and West Side, Chicago
What'd I Say
"What'd I Say" (or "What I Say") is an American rhythm and blues song by Ray Charles, released in 1959.
Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On
"Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" (sometimes rendered "Whole Lot of Shakin' Going On") is a song written by Dave "Curlee" Williams and sometimes also credited to James Faye "Roy" Hall.
See Blues and Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On
Willie Dixon
William James Dixon (July 1, 1915January 29, 1992) was an American blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer.
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country singer, guitarist and songwriter.
Wim Wenders
Ernst Wilhelm "Wim" Wenders (born 14 August 1945) is a German filmmaker and playwright, who is a major figure in New German Cinema.
Wolof people
The Wolof people are a West African ethnic group found in northwestern Senegal, the Gambia, and southwestern coastal Mauritania.
Work song
A work song is a piece of music closely connected to a form of work, either one sung while conducting a task (usually to coordinate timing) or one linked to a task that may be a connected narrative, description, or protest song.
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a global conflict between two alliances: the Allies and the Axis powers.
Xalam
Xalam (in Serer, khalam in Wolof, and Mɔɣlo in Dagbanli) is a traditional lute from West Africa with 1-5 strings.
See Blues and Xalam
Yazoo Records
Yazoo Records is an American record label founded in the mid-1960s by Nick Perls.
Yoruba religion
The Yoruba religion (Yoruba: Ìṣẹ̀ṣe), West African Orisa (Òrìṣà), or Isese (Ìṣẹ̀ṣe), comprises the traditional religious and spiritual concepts and practice of the Yoruba people.
Z. Z. Hill
Arzell J. "Z.
Zydeco
Zydeco (Zarico) is a music genre that was created in rural Southwest Louisiana by Afro-Americans of Creole heritage. Blues and Zydeco are African-American music.
See Blues and Zydeco
ZZ Top
ZZ Top is an American rock band formed in Houston, Texas, in 1969.
See Blues and ZZ Top
See also
Musical improvisation
- Bardia Sadrenoori
- Blues
- Catherine Delaunay
- Charlie Parker Omnibook
- Descarga
- Electroacoustic improvisation
- Faking (jazz)
- Free improvisation
- GRIM
- Gabriela Montero
- Great Fantasia and Fugue in G minor, BWV 542
- Hip hop music
- Impro-Visor
- Impromptu
- Improvisation in music therapy
- Improvised Music from Japan
- Inner Passion
- Intuitive music
- IxiQuarks
- Jam band
- Jam bands
- Jam session
- Jazz
- Jazz improvisation
- Musical improvisation
- Ninjam
- Partimento
- Passing chord
- Realization (figured bass)
- Richard Grayson (composer)
- Soul music
- Spontaneous composition
- Taqsim
- The Lick
- Time Structured Mapping
References
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blues
Also known as 1960s blues, 1970s blues, Blue music, Blues (music), Blues Legends, Blues Music, Blues chords, Blues fusion, Blues man, Blues pianist, Blues piano, Bluesman, Bluesy, Bluezy, Contemporary blues, Detroit blues, East Coast Blues, History of blues, History of the blues, Juke Joint blues, Kansas City blues (music), Latin blues, List of Detroit blues musicians, List of blues genres, List of genres of blues, List of genres of the blues, Modern blues, Music of the devil, New Blues, New York blues, Piano Blues, Saint Louis Blues (music), St. Louis Blues (music), The Blues, Urban blues.
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L. 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