Early african american music encapsulates the enduring spirit of the people who were transported to the united states. The blues are the essence of the african american laborer, whose spirit is wed to these songs, reflecting his inner soul to all who will listen. Jon michael spencer is professor of music, divinity, popular culture, and afro american studies at the university of north carolina, chapel hill. That same year, leroi jones a twentysomething, newark, n.
The racial segregation of american cities was anything but accidental a housing policy expert explains how federal government policies created the. For our purposes, the blues is an african american musical form, whether its sung from a. Francis davis is a contributing editor of the atlantic monthly and writes regularly for the new york times and the new yorker. A hymnological history of the african american church. Knopf that william christopher handy insisted on anointing himself the father of the blues has been seen since his death in 1958 at age 84 as canny selfpromotion, a foxy hubris. The racial segregation of american cities was anything but. African influences are apparent in the blues tonality, the callandresponse pattern of the repeated refrain structure of the blues stanza, the falsetto break in the vocal style, and the imitation of vocal idioms by instruments, especially the guitar and harmonica. Feeling blue is expressed in songs whose verses lament injustice or express longing for a better life and lost loves, jobs, and money. A history of africanamerican jazz and blues by joan. At the time, rhythm and blues was basically a code phrase for music recorded and bought by black people. It is book about african american culture and history with music involved. Leading up to the 1920s, african american music came to the attention of the white music industry and white music audiences. But blues is also a raucous dance music that celebrates pleasure and success.
African americans music history oakland public library. Handy also known as the father of the blues helped raise the public profile of the blues when he became one of the first people to transcribe and publish sheet music for a blues songmemphis blues. List of books and articles about african american music online. Blues is an africanamerican music that traverses a wide range of emotions and musical styles. The increasing commercialization of the blues is well documented in the book through approximately two hundred blackandwhite reproductions of sheet music covers, photographs, and advertisements from african american newspapers, particularly from the chicago defender and the indianapolis freeman. Aalbc is the oldest, largest, and most popular online bookstore dedicated to african american literature and black literature from around the world. Another popular category of blues book is the history or survey. The emergence of the blues in african american vaudeville. Listening, timbre, and vocality in african american music refiguring. He is the author of several books on black music, including protest and praise. Even though the blues is a key component of american popular music. Buy a history of africanamerican jazz and blues by joan cartwright, m.
Africanamerican essayist and novelist albert murray used the term bluesidiom dance and bluesidiom dance movement in his book stomping the blues. Technically, as a musical style the blues are characterized by expressive pitch inflections blue notes, a threeline textual stanza, and a 12measure form. His inspiration for the style came from an african american musical practice of singing away ones sorrows to move on and up away from them. Handy became the father of the blues with his composition, memphis blues. Vassa, the african, which was published in london in the late 1780s. The art of the blues celebrates the visual swagger of the blues simply for the sheer joy of those visuals. The first edition appeared in 1956, on the eve of the civil rights revolution. This book should be read by music students and enthusiasts, alike. African american history blues and jazz dance book club. The first noteworthy slave narrative was the interesting narrative of the life of o. The history of africanamericans begins with slavery, as white european settlers first brought africans to the continent to serve as slaves. Aalbc the largest site dedicated to books by or about. The blues form, ubiquitous in jazz, rhythm and blues and rock and roll, is characterized by the callandresponse pattern, the blues scale and specific chord progre. For ray charles, the blues was born out of a special africanamerican group experience, as paraphrased by hollie i.
African american music has a rich history rooted in the brutal treatment of. African american history in the united states of americaan anthologyfrom africa to president barack obama, volume one was written, compiled and edited by tony rose, publisherceo, amber communications group, inc. He is the author of the acclaimed books outcats and history of the blues and a biography of john coltrane knopf. In paris blues, andy fry provides an alternative history of african american music and musicians in france, one that looks beyond familiar personalities and wellrehearsed stories. Three essays and interviews with photographs by author and musician joan cartwright about the creation of blues in america by africans captured for servitude on euroamerican plantations over a span of 400 years. In this emotional maelstrom, a new form of music was born. Many african american blues songs are deeply rooted in american history, particularly in the south, which as a result, slavery in the south is reflected into blues music. The blues are born from the african american culture. The blues influence on jazz brought it into the mainstream and made possible the records of blues singers like bessie smith and later, in the thirties, billie holiday. This is a nonfiction book about the life and times of harmonica player phil wiggins and the african american blues scene of washington, d. Read more read less antoni in the kitchen by antoni porowski. It was his theories on how negroes thought and felt to make them create the music. Sweet bitter blues by phil wiggins and frank matheis.
African american music jazz and blues smithsonian music. He pinpoints key issues of race and nation in frances complicated jazz history from the 1920s through the 1950s. Dating back to the early 17th century africanamerican history began with the arrival of the first africans in america and the west indies mostly from west africa and madagascar. The blues and jazz dance book club would like to thank jeremy carberry and signifyin blues for giving us an exclusive look into a day in the life of barbara morrison. The books author, olaudah equiano, had been born in presentday nigeria in the 1740s. Many blues songs also express happiness, overcoming bad luck, and saying what you feel. The term rhythm and blues was first introduced into the american lexicon in the late 1940s.
Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads. Blues vision captures the rich history of african americans living in minnesota, with each writer sharing an honest perspective on what it means to be black here. Introducing the book sweet bitter blues washington dcs homemade blues by phil wiggins and frank matheis. An invaluable musical history documenting the advent of the blues in black vaudeville the original blues is an astonishing achievement, reviving the reputations of forgotten stars, exploring the intricacies of the black theater world, and making insightful connections over key decades of american music. African american music has a rich history rooted in the brutal treatment of slaves who were shipped from west africa from the 1600s onwards. Celebrate black music month with these excellent books about black. African american history, united states history, books. Combining african modalities, european structures, slave song aesthetics, and general african american racial discriminatory experiences, it speaks to the crack in americas liberty bell regarding the presence of slavery in a putative democracy.
This stunning book charts the rich history of the blues, through the dazzling array of posters, album covers, and advertisements that have shaped its identity over the past hundred years. Blues is a music genre and musical form which was originated in the deep south of the united states around the 1870s by africanamericans from roots in african musical traditions, africanamerican work songs, and spirituals. Mura dehn used the term the blues in the spirit moves, part 1, as the subsection title of chapter ii, referencing different dance styles. Recognizing that competing with major record companies was a losing battle. Assign students to research african american history in both the 1920s and 1950s, and come up with a list of reasons why the blues might have held a larger appeal to blacks in the 1920s than in. The book is the fourth installment of bmgs rpm series, which focuses on pioneering record labels. The first blues recording by an african american singer was mamie smiths 1920 rendition of perry bradfords crazy blues.
Blues, history and the dramaturgy of august wilson. List of books and articles about africanamerican history. Also like the blues, it touched a chord and quickly spread everywhere. We celebrate black culture, through books, for all readers to enjoy.
The stories may seem to rhyme, but their diversity defines whats best about our great state. List of books and articles about african american music. Another element of the blues that solidified during the early years in the mississippi delta is the 12 bar form that would define this genre of music. Percy mayfield poet of the blues from the book rip it. The tradition that would become the blues would go on to influence several other subgenres of the blues as well as jazz and rock n roll. By combining traditional archival materials with blues and literary interpretations of the events, mizelle offers a highly original account of african americans and the 1927 flood disaster in the mississippi delta. He was taken into slavery when he was about 11 years old. Most africanamericans originate from african natives who were enslaved in the united states between 1619 to 1865. As a large number of african americans left the south between 1910 and the 1960s, the blues spread with them and took root in different regions. Within this book, the author aimed to restore, rehabilitate, and mend african american women and the community. This is probably a result of the laws that outlawed slavery in the south. The book includes blues artist and former oakland resident the late charles brown.
History of the blues african influences on the blues. The entire world has acknowledged issues african americans face as a culture, however, no one has advanced towards assimilating relationships within the culture. Political commentary in black popular music from rhythm and blues to. The blues is one of americas great folk, commercial, and roots source music. African blues is a genre of popular music, primarily from west africa. The blues have been one of the most ubiquitous but diverse elements of american popular music at large, and the visual art associated with this unique sound has been just as varied and dynamic. In west african traditions, land belongs to the person who works it. Popular black history books showing 150 of 4,209 the autobiography of malcolm x paperback by. It was a lament against urban poverty, like the blues had been a lament against rural poverty. This exhaustive book, resplendent in a handsome crimson cover thats littered with a collage of artwork from the world of blues, is a rich tapestry of how art was used to push the blues as an undisputed king of music in its 20th century heyday. The fate of slaves in the united states would divide the nation during the civil war. Backwater blues is a meaningful contribution to american and african american cultural and environmental history. Blues african american studies oxford bibliographies.