Delta Blues by Ted Gioia

[EMCEMITCH]

I would love to see movie bios on jelly roll morton---who could be played by snoop dog, memphis minnie, and howling wolf

[Odin029]

I have to disagree with a couple of things. First, Black people mostly don't care about our own musical history, except maybe for old gospel tunes. If you asked 10 young people who Muddy Waters was, it would be the long haired emo guitar playing white kid who would know, most young black people would have no idea. I wish that wasn't the case, but it is. 2nd, there are white people who can play authentic blues. I'd mention more, but Dr. John is as real as my grandmother's gumbo.

[burrussw]

You are right he was hired to collect the stuff, he also used Leadbelly to communicate "the kind of music" he was looking for. Leadbelly would do the talking and lomax the recording but Leadbelly was under Lomax' direction. There are a few books that explore this topic. Sadly they have been dismissed as nonsense. From my reading there is an element of truth in the perspective that what we get as "traditional country blues" is really what was selected by a choosen few.

[burrussw]

I made the mistake of buying this book, very wordy, not a lot of new information, lots of speculation but written as if factual. Read it but check it out from the library. If they don’t have it, don’t bother.

[TheBluesHalfQuartet]

And what about Clapton and many others, mr Hooda?

This is an excellent book, I'm reading it. Just Great. White pages and black letters, but the sense have no color

[imaccuish]

Why wouldn't a black man be able to write a book on yodeling? Is HoodaThunket saying he is sure there are no persons of African descent in Switzerland with a good knowledge of yodeling who could write a book? What nonsense. A person of European descent CAN in fact write a book on the blues. Race is social construct, not a biological one. We are all the same under a thin veil of differences.

[nannagl]

What a load of crap hoodathunket!

[HoodaThunket]

white men in my opinion have no reason to be involved with a cultural music such as the blues. i am not, nor will i ever be a racist. i believe the essence of the music can only be found at the root of where the music comes from. if you are not born into and raised with the music it really is not a part of your soul. anyone can appreciate the music. but let the people who created the music tell the stories. just as i would not expect a black man to write a book about yodeling.

[zezt]

@HoodaThunket you didn't listen. he say the Blues is a FEELIN, not the Blues is racist.

cause we ALL feel, right?

[JuanDeSoCal]

@HoodaThunket

Well then, I guess blacks shouldn't be allowed to play in an orchestra or sing opera because that would be culturally inauthentic too, right? They also shouldn't play pianos or electric guitars because they didn't invent them. Oh, and don't get me wrong, I'm not a racist or anything!

[Odin029]

@HoodaThunket Please! I could give you a list of white people who saved these forms of music. It was a white man who traveled the back roads of America recording this music from the sources. It was the white people who brought the blues to the world. There are so many people who first heard the name Robert Johnson come out of the mouth of Eric Clapton or Keith Richards. If it wasn't for white people, the blues might have withered on the vine.

[jbpink]

@Odin029 The main guy who did most of the recording & documenting, name unknown to me, worked for the Library of Congress & he was assigned to travel throughout the south recording as many "negro" artists as he could find. We can only imagine (& get chills accordingly) what he felt as he found each of these great artists, watched them play & sing, & then recorded them for posterity. Simply amazing. Also simply amazing is knowing that our government actually did this back in the 1930s.!!!

[burrussw]

@Odin029 You are right it was mostly “whites” that collected, recorded and catalogued this music. It only follows that the music selected was filtered through what the “whites” thought was authentic rural, country or Negro blues. So in reality what we have is what some educated elite whites thought black music should sound like.

[Odin029]

@burrussw I don't really understand what you mean. The Library of Congress wanted musical styles cataloged. Not just the blues, but all the different folk arts from around the country, so Alan Lomax even went to prisons and recorded murderers. He wasn't a music producer trying to find a song to sell. He was more like an archeologist trying to preserve these art forms for future generations.

[revnasteewaters57]

@Odin029 To black people in America the blues has alway's been around. It was nothing new to us. The first blues was song on the slave ship's. This kind of music facinated white people so they took it from us. We didn't understand what the hype was all about because we lived the blues. But it is the greatest music that has ever been created. Even if white folks hand't discoverd our music it wouldn't have died. White folk music would be less entertaining without it.

[revnasteewaters57]

@HoodaThunket That was a good message you wrote about the blues. I agree with you 100 percent. Even when I hear white people trying to play and sing the blues it seem like something is missing. Only black people can do the blues the right way. I hope I don't sound racist saying this. But it's a truth.

[77AdHominem]

Fuck cRap fuck shithop, long live blues !

[JSLLH]

excellent book ! buy it !

[dirtycoffee22]

whats the song at the beginning?

[Stronghands]

@dirtycoffee22

Write Me A Few Lines - "Mississippi" Fred McDowell

[joeygarage77]

i love the blues

listening to them is like taking a vacation away from the commercial crap on the radio and ads on t.v.

just turn on that player and watch the sun rise and fall with the blues

[KTRONKTRON]

shut up and let the music sound ! for god shake !!! (sake) haha

[bugsbunny8989]

fake and gay

[MetalSupra1982]

troll

[JTerrible63]

Mr. Ted: Can I buy or otherwise get a copy of this film, Bluesmaker, and any other footage of McDowell: I have Grossman's videos, but there's a lot more of Fred in UK, etc

JL

[platch]

Great book! I would put this book up with Deep Blues by Robert Palmer which is considered the bible of blues histories. This is the new testament I guess. It's smart entertaining and very well written. I recommend it for any blues fan.

[AlexGronstad]

I got the book. Ted is a beast. A long book, heavy reading packed with nothing but interesting thoughts. You have many interesting things to sort out in your head after just reading a few pages. I'm gonna buy The History of Jazz soon.

[fuxgood]

Ted...What footage of Fred McDowell is that and if you don't mind I would like to know where you got it. Fred footage is rare and I thought I had them all but have never seen this one before. Thanks.

[donottawaguitar]

very cool

[unclejunglebass]

i just started gioia's history of jazz and it kicks ass. i want this book too!!

[bakedsushi]

well stated and a good book....ty for your contrabution to our music. i enjoyed it and loved your commentary......ty

[edcerc]

that first fred mcdowell clip is that on youtube? i mean uninterupted obviously

[allinwith2s]

check out blind willie mckenzie

[jackie4goodsoup]

marvelous clips also  thank you

[FeelThePunkBlast]

1:03 I have found the answer. Techno.

[yakomuto]

How about Lady Gaga, .... but that's not really fair as she doesnt really make music...

[nyalarhotep]

She has much blues influence in her music. But she probably dont know that.

[TheGurizes]

I have the SAME question, Dry.

Is it something about the culture of north american slaves?

Becouse, in south america, the culture is much different.

Here, we get samba, capoeira, bossa nova, etc.

In North America, you got the blues, the jazz, soul, funk.

And all of them(slaves) derive from africa.

Is it about weather?

Sorry about the du_mb question, but im curious.

Just love the blues.

[1archer1]

i don't think it's a dumb question. one obvious and probably significant difference that may provide an explanation is in the european cultures the africans found themselves in-- english for the most part in u.s. and spanish in south america.

another factor may be differences in regions of origin of the africans.

[TheVigilanteMan]

That's a good point. I think a lot of the old blues had some origings in some of the old folk songs from both Europe and some that may have even been influenced by the American Indians?

[KeniLeeBurgess]

Bob Brozman brings up this point. There are those that colonialize and those that are colonialized. The former marches to a beat. The later reacts to the beat. One emphasizes the down beat, the other, the upbeat. 1... 2...3...4. That's the way we march to war. Interesting. Marching music compared to Dance music.

[shire2005]

Simple answer; they don't derive from Africa.

Jazz and the blues are art forms derived from America. Very few people in Africa know much about or liten to these musical art forms.

[planetdarwin]

too many "about the blues" vids on youtube.... not enough actual music

[bootlegpreacher]

look harder

[sagov1]

Yay for the blooooooz..Nice presentation that whets my appetite to read the book ..

[poppalarge68]

I would have to certainly check that book out...Sounds very interesting.

[sonocrat]

Thanks for telling this story. Good job.

[voxsteven]

NIcely done- thank you,Ted.

[drybonesband]

I'm reading this now and it is a must read if you like Charlie Paton, Son House, Robert Johnson and other great Delta players.  The colleges will learn, at some point, that Delta Blues was a high point in American arts.

One question I still have -- maybe Mr Gioia will get to it -- is how these guys learned to play.

[epistrophy68]

Ted Gioia is a marvelous writer, one of the best jazz has today. This book is highly recommended for even casual blues fans.

[GenericGene]

Very interesting -