W.C. Handy - Memphis Blues [old]

[percypage74]

People think they know everything about the blues and what its "supposed" to sound like. If you really delve into the very early history of it (pre 1920s), the original blues music was mostly freeform - the 12 bar blues standard was invented by urban songwriters a little later. Blues singers bridged different realms of black music, bringing together the styles and practices of the minstrel shows, the vaudeville theaters, ragtime and their native rural environments. (I copied the last sentence)

[Kelol100]

Would be awesome if someone played this on guitar... Someone like Chuck Berry, Eric Clapton or BB King maybe? That would be awesome.

[JimiChristopher]

Of course its blues! learn something about music before you type.

[schnepat]

blues? ragtime?

how about a hybrid version? One could hear both styles.

[DealTurtle]

This tune by W.C. Handy is historically considered as one of the very first recorded tunes to show up with the word "blues" in the title. The blues elements began showing up in ragtime, which was present in the same era. Handy was a ragtime pianist, but incorporated elements like "blue notes" as tommymacdonald pointed out. Sources: African American Music by Burnim and Maultsby, pg. 90, paragraph II.

[jinheneamerican]

No it's not ragtime- it's blues- check your history my friend.

[tommymacdonald]

Although this song was origionally published as a "southern rag" it contains many of the fundementals of modern blues such as blue notes.

[boru1982]

This is not blues, its rag

[CarlHalling]

@boru1982

Primarily it is, I agree, certainly at first, but a Bluesey element creeps in.

[digitalmusicdoctor]

Sounds more like Scott Joplin Ragtime.

[heyeyefloater]

Shame he's not in the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame

[pnoplyr14]

@heyeyefloater what! the "father of blues' is not in the rock n' roll hall of fame. that makes no sense to me.

[kloijhi]

@pnoplyr14

maybe he didn't pass rooles to become a member of Hall of Fame, cos, you must be 25 years active since first realised record and also you must sell a lot of copies duno how much but over million... so at that time population and industry wasn't so advanced to do that..

its sarcasm, but who knows the true.

[hofnerman1]

He was born in 1873. NOT 1973!!!!!!

[WinterHeartt]

@hofnerman1 lolol, damnn what a fail

[crazekananas]

he was born in 1973

[rasta4life2009]

Wow this guy is a great pianist

[KawhackitaRag]

Pete Wendling was a great pianist. If you added the words Pete Wendling to the tags, a lot more people would be able to find it. Thanks for posting this!

[wuloki]

Thanks for the advice. If I remember right Pete Wendling also made a roll of Crazy Blues in 1919, two years before Eubie Blake did. - And you are right: This is indeed a midi file. The computer sends it to a midi driven Vorsetzer/keytop player (which was *not* constructed by me). In technical terms it is similar to a Yamaha Disklavier, but not as impressive to watch, because you don't see the keys moving.

[xxmustardyummyxx]

Just the one that made one of the first released blues songs in history.

[JamesPriceJohnson]

wat kind of player piano is dat?

[KawhackitaRag]

I think it's a computer playing back a MIDI file made of a scanned piano roll :)