blues in the 21st century

[montg]

What are the blues? People talk about Charlie Parker and Ornette being great blues players, for instance, and I can't really hear what they're talking about. To me, the blues is the familiar 12 bar structure with the blue notes and chord progressions--WC Handy and that type of thing.

Are there many contemporary jazz players who can authentically play the blues?

Edited June 19, 2006 by montg

[JSngry]

Blues form is to blues feeling what a meat market is to a herd of cattle.

[montg]

Blues form is to blues feeling what a meat market is to a herd of cattle.

So, somebody could be playing the blues, structurally, without the feeling (which, not to be negative, but this is how I sometimes here the Lincoln Center stuff--form without feeling).

I guess you have to have the feeling of the blues in order to be playing them. (that is, not feeling blue, but expressing an attitude toward life or life's problems).

[DukeCity]

I don't know if he posts here, but I'm pretty sure Stanley Crouch is the only person qualified to comment on this topic with any credibility...

[paul secor]

I don't know if he posts here, but I'm pretty sure Stanley Crouch is the only person qualified to comment on this topic with any credibility...

Actually, I believe that Stanley has a copyright on that topic.

[Dan Gould]

Blues form is to blues feeling what a meat market is to a herd of cattle.

So, somebody could be playing the blues, structurally, without the feeling (which, not to be negative, but this is how I sometimes here the Lincoln Center stuff--form without feeling).

I guess you have to have the feeling of the blues in order to be playing them. (that is, not feeling blue, but expressing an attitude toward life or life's problems).

I think what Jim is saying is that you can play the blues without playing the structure.

[jazzbo]

That's what I think he is saying too.

I think Albert Murray is suing Stanley Crouch over that copywrite on the blues!

Ellington. . . Ellington. . . Ellington. . . that's one guy who painted blue and indigo so masterfully whether on the structural frame or on the wall, floor, or ceiling.

[JSngry]

Well, yeah, that's part of what I'm saying...

Guess what I'm really saying is that "blues" as it exists in life is a maturally occrring phenomenon (like a herd of cattle), and that "blues" as a musical form is a packaging of that force for commercial consumption (like meat in a meat market). And like a herd of cattle, this phenomenon can be found in many different forms in many different places throughout the world.

And please note that I'm an omnivore, so the notion of "meat markets" is in no way a negative one for me. But then again, a Big Mac & a fine filet mignon, though both meat, aren't identical, so...