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JAZZ PERSPECTIVES Jazz Forms - The Blues
One of the staples of the jazz improviser, almost from the beginning of jazz
itself, is the blues. Joachim Berendt quotes Leonard Feather in The Jazz Book
[p.162] as saying "...the blues is the essence of jazz, and merely having a
feeling for the blues means having a feeling for jazz." This is not to say
that the blues and jazz are always the same thing, for there are many styles of
blues which would not be characterized as jazz. The country or folk blues,
represented by artists like Robert Johnson and Blind Lemon Jefferson, predates
jazz and continues to this day to be a vital and independent form. Rock music
has its origins in the blues, and continues to produce artists like B. B. King
and Eric Clapton, the former being strictly a blues man, and the latter a
performer and composer of many styles including blues.
On August 10, 1920, Mamie Smith recorded Perry Bradford's Crazy Blues,
formerly called Harlem Blues. This was the first vocal recording of a 12 bar
blues form, which has become today's most popular blues structure. This form
contains twelve four-beat measures using or referencing certain simple harmonic
relationships, with a lyrical pattern of three four-measure sections, the first
two containing a statement and the last drawing a conclusion. The recording of
Crazy Blues achieved such popularity that other blues artists were soon sought
out and recorded. Among those was Bessie Smith, perhaps the most well known
singer in the early years of the jazz style called classic blues.
The blues soon spread to urban areas throughout the country, notably cities
like Chicago, Memphis and Kansas City. The result were styles like rhythm and
blues, sometimes called urban blues, and instrumental blues, which often
transcended boundaries because of the simplicity and flexibility of the form.
Many jazz artists started out in bands playing these styles, including John
Coltrane, Ornette Coleman and Count Basie, who developed the Kansas City swing
sound using blues as a basic tool.
Today's jazz musician is inevitably schooled in the blues, and included in
the standard repertoire are tunes like Charlie Parker's Blues
For Alice *, John Coltrane's Blue Trane, Thelonius Monk's Straight,
No Chaser **, and Miles Davis' Freddy the Freeloader. Oliver Nelson's album
Blues and the Abstract Truth is a classic jazz album, with artists like Eric
Dolphy, Bill Evans and Freddie Hubbard all showing their fluency and
individuality within the blues form. A familiarity with the blues is a must for
those seeking a deeper understanding of jazz, both musicians and listeners. All
of jazz is enriched by the blues, and jazz would not be what it is today without
it. [top]
- article by Frank Singer ©2002
* A recording
of Blues For Alice can be found on the CD Tito
In Wonderland
**A recording of Straight,
No Chaser can be found on the CD oFF
tHE tOP: standards 1
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TO
JAZZ PERSPECTIVES
CONTENTS
Jazz
Origins
I - Beginnings
II - Jazz and Technology
III - Radio and the Industrial Beat
The
Swing Era
I - Precursors
II - The Decade of Swing
III - The
BeBop Strain
A
First Look Back
New Orleans
Revival
Jazz
Forms
The Blues
The 32 bar Song Form
The Latin Influence
Cool
Hard Bop
Evolution 1 - A New Dialogue
Evolution 2 - Into The Seventies
Evolution Of The Jam Session
Post Modernism
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