What does St. Louis blues mean?

Blues music

A genre of music created by African descendants in the United States, like jazz, has become one of the few new art forms in modern times. At the same time, it should be regarded as a kind of native folk music, which was formed around 1900. Jazz draws more elements from European music, while blues music is less conventional and easier to be mastered by musicians and singers without strict training. The performances of these people often form direct and subtle communication with the audience. The freed slaves hummed while working. The tune is handed down from generation to generation, and the lyrics are full of ridicule and simple fantasy. These lyrics express their yearning for life and love and their desire to get rid of bondage.

Standard blues music is generally 12 bar structure, which is divided into three lines with four bars in each line. The lyrics are two antithetical sentences, the first sentence is repeated, and each sentence is about 2-5 bars long. The other four bars are usually improvised by performers, and sometimes the performers insert a dialogue, but they are usually accompanied by guitars or pianos to add some musical languages. With the continuous exploration of artists, this format of blues has produced many variations, such as 13 blues music and W.C.Handy's St. Louis blues music, which was once considered as blues music, but now it seems that such a strict distinction is really unnecessary. Blues music is different from many traditional European music habits, so it is despised by well-educated blacks (the book also says that polyphony music originated in the Renaissance in Europe, but it has existed in Africa for centuries). Blues is not a major or minor, but a "blues style". Those "out-of-tune" blues notes can't be played on the piano, and they are thought to have borrowed more or less from African music.

Blues music was first published in 19 12 Dallas Blues and Handy's Memphis Blues, but Bill Bruen thinks he wrote some blues songs as early as 1890. 1 blues was recorded by Mamie Smith on 1920. Among her good singing films, Perry Bradford's Crazy Blues achieved unexpected success, and a brand-new record market was discovered. At that time, the famous female blues artists were mamie Smith, Clara Smith, Trixie Smith and Bessie Smith.

Male blues singers, born in a family under slavery, are influenced by institutional racial discrimination in adulthood, and often have to play and sing by themselves, and are recorded outdoors by staff or researchers sent by record companies to explore talents. Their life is very hard and they often die young. Charlie Barton, Johnson, Robert, sons House and Booker White came from the Mississippi River Delta, and Tommy Johnson and the blind Lemmon Fefferson were able to play 65438+ after the war. The blind boys Fuller, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGonagall and Gary Davis represent highland jazz traditions in the foothills of Piedmont in the southeastern United States. Blues music accompanied by piano was all the rage in the 1940s. They are called Buji Woogie, Memphis Slim, Roosevelt Sikes and others who accompany the piano, compose music and sing in person. John Lee Hook, Lightning Hopkins (Hopkins, Lightning). Other blues stars, such as Knox Eagleling, Mans Lipscomb and john hurt, Mississippi, were deeply influenced by ragtime's plain music and other styles. Leory Carr not only plays the piano well, his singing is full of mellow and mellow 1930s songs, but also is good at composing lyrics. His works are rich in urban style, which has a great influence on later black music. In the late 1930s, there appeared many jazz bands represented by "Conte Basse" in Kansas City. These bands were very popular in jazz at that time, and their strong rhythm style was re-injected into blues music. Therefore, despite the complexity of the performance, Bop jazz still retains many blues styles. In 1950s and 1960s, it was fashionable for small bands to play blues melody. Records produced by famous record companies would definitely have the shadow of blues: blues music is not jazz, but its melody can always be heard in the best jazz.

Rhythm and blues originated in the 1940s, and was also influenced by strong rhythm jazz and blues. Later, rock music inherited the mantle of black pop/dance music. MUDDY first appeared in Mississippi 194 1 and became popular in Chicago 1943. At the same time, musicians generally use microphones, electric guitars and other means to enhance the performance effect in noisy small hotels in cities, resulting in urban blues music. Waters, Willie Dixon, Walter Horton, Little Walter, James Cotton, James), Otis Rush, Howling Wolf, Otis Span, J·b· Herto, Magic Sam and Johnny Poons.

In the 1960s, a new generation of rock band singers drew nutrition from their post-war works; These bands and singers frequently visited Europe, and a large number of American music records poured into Western Europe, which laid THE foundation for the rise of The Rolling Stone in London. At the same time, urban blues will have a far-reaching impact on the music style in the next 20 years. Since the late 1950s, American white musicians, such as butterfield, butterfield, John korner, john hammond and Dave Van Loonk, have been trying to express the true blues style.

1965, at the Newport Folk Music Festival, the singers booed Bob, but they accepted the butterfield Electro-acoustic Band to play with him, because at that time, they had not heard of electronic instrument playing Bruce. Despite Alan Lomax's stupid attack, meyer bloom Field's guitar still won the attention of the audience. The band records released by Elektra Records were very popular, and the blues musicians finally achieved commercial success. For example, in the 1960s, the records of bands such as Little Wells, Buddy Guy and Jimmy Dawkins were very popular, which made Chicago's grand occasion last forever. B.B. King appeared on Memphis Radio in the late 1940s. He has been touring in black bands for many years and is the most famous blues musician today.

Although the popularity of rock music later ended the glory of blues music, ROBEAT's success after the 1980s still reminds people of the grand occasion of the past. There are two schools in the spread of blues music, one loves the elements of its traditional black music, and the other loves the music of white guitarists such as Roy Buchanan, johnny winter and Steve Ray. However, since the mid-1980s, these two trends have gradually merged.