We’ll by no means know who wrote the primary blues tune – even utilizing the time period is a misnomer. The blues developed by the advanced oral custom of African-based music, altering quickly over the last 40 years of the nineteenth century. The passing on of “folk music” – and the blues is folks music – is a posh course of; with out TV, radio, CDs, data, cassettes, or another course of for listening to recorded blues music, it was unfold actually by “word of mouth.”
The shortage of any recording equipment is one purpose for our lack of expertise, however this was additionally an age when individuals have been much less interested by such issues. Life within the early a part of the twentieth century was about survival and onerous work. The notion that individuals exterior your instant locality, and even nation, can be interested by your music was unimaginable.
The primary recorded blues tune
In 1912, WC Helpful revealed “Memphis Blues,” which, satirically, shouldn’t be a blues tune, however an instrumental cakewalk; Helpful’s tune was the third to make use of the phrase within the title. Hart Wand’s “Dallas Blues” was the primary, whereas the second was Arthur Seals’ “Baby Seals’ Blues”; of the three, Seals and Helpful have been each black, whereas Ward was white, although he was truly a blues tune.
Throughout the afternoon of Tuesday, August 10, 1920, clarinetists Johnny Dunn and Ernest Elliott, trombonist Dope Andrews, violinist, and pianist Perry Bradford – a bunch of musicians collectively often known as The Jazz Hounds – have been within the studio. Not for one second did they assume they have been about to make historical past. They have been merely there to play a tune written by Perry Bradford, and able to sing it with them was Mamie Smith. Referred to as “Crazy Blues,” it’s the first proof of recorded blues.
Not particularly a blues singer, Smith was extra a vaudeville and cabaret artist; then once more, presently there was no such factor as a “blues singer.” She was round 37 years outdated when she made historical past, having met Bradford in 1918 when she labored in his musical revue in New York.
“Crazy Blues” bought nicely. There are reviews of 75,000 copies having been bought within the first month, and 1,000,000 within the first yr, however these sound like exaggerated claims. Over the following three years, Mamie recorded some 60 sides for the OKeh label, although a lot of the fabric was nearer to vaudeville than blues.
4 months earlier than Mamie Smith recorded “Crazy Blues” a black man recorded a tune with the phrase “blues” within the title, nevertheless it was not a blues tune. Egbert (Bert) Williams, who starred within the Ziegfield Follies, was one of many greatest black artists of the early twentieth Century, and veteran recording star, when he recorded “Unlucky Blues,” in April 1920, for Columbia Information.
The primary male, black, nation blues musician to get the chance to document did in order a guitarist, not as a singer. Sylvester Weaver, from Louisville, Kentucky, went to OKeh’s New York studio someday in October 1923 to again Sara Martin on a few songs. The next month he recorded two of his personal tunes, “Guitar Blues” and “Guitar Rag,” and the latter proved inspirational each to black blues musicians and white nation musicians.
Many have prompt that Papa Charlie Jackson was the primary nation blues singer to make a document, however this isn’t truly the case. Papa Charlie had a really profitable profession, however the enigmatic Ed Andrews recorded three sides, together with “Sing ’Em Blues,” which had the identical tune as Child F Seals’ 1912 outing “Baby Seals Blues,” in October 1923.
The primary discipline recordings
Andrews is one other musician we all know subsequent to nothing about. OKeh recorded him on one of many first discipline recording journeys, in late March/early April 1924, in Atlanta, Georgia. He feels like a real nation blues participant, contemporary from a jook joint or one in every of Atlanta’s many barrelhouses. “Barrel House Blues” is one other of the perimeters he recorded. Nothing extra was ever heard from him, and, on the proof of the recording, it isn’t stunning.
OKeh Information has already popped up continuously within the early days of the recorded blues. Initially, the corporate made phonographs, and in 1918 they branched out into the recording enterprise. Following their early success with Mamie Smith, in 1922 they employed Clarence Williams as director of “race” recordings for his or her New York studio. OKeh then opened a studio in Chicago, recording a few of the earliest jazz and blues artists, together with King Oliver, Lucille Bogan, Sidney Bechet, Hattie McDaniel, Louis Armstrong, and Duke Ellington.
Subject recording journeys, as they grew to become identified, have been the best way through which so most of the established northern document firms got here to document the blues. Victor, taken over by RCA in 1929, had recorded The Memphis Jug Band, Luke Jordan, Blind Willie McTell, Canon’s Jug Stompers, Frank Stokes, Ishman Bracey, Furry Lewis, and Robert Wilkins throughout the earlier three years. Throughout an analogous timeframe, Columbia (who purchased OKeh in 1929) recorded Peg Leg Howell, Barbecue Bob, Blind Willie Johnson, and Pink Anderson (the inspiration for half of Pink Floyd’s title; Floyd Council, who impressed the opposite half, recorded in New York for ARC Information).
Brunswick, who took over Vocalion within the mid-20s however continued to launch data beneath the imprint, went south and recorded Leroy Carr, Bo Chatman, Charlie McCoy, Furry Lewis, and Speckled Crimson. ARC (American Report Company) was fashioned in 1929 and started their discipline recording journeys in 1934. The label favored Texas of their seek for expertise and recorded Texas Alexander, Black Boy Shine and, in 1936, captured Robert Johnson for the primary time, in San Antonio
“Race Records”: Recording the blues
Many document firms specializing in “Race Records”, as they have been referred to as, favored recording in their very own studios, and none extra so than Paramount Information, primarily based in Port Washington, Wisconsin. The corporate was a subsidiary of the Wisconsin Chair Firm, who additionally made phonographs earlier than branching out into making recordings to provide away data with their tools.
Paramount started releasing data by black artists in 1922, a yr after OKeh, and appointed Mayo Williams, a black school graduate, as its expertise scout. Williams signed Alberta Hunter, Ida Cox, and Ma Rainey, and, searching for a male artist, went to Chicago’s Maxwell Avenue, the place he got here throughout Papa Charlie Jackson and his six-string banjo. Jackson’s success led to Paramount searching for different male expertise, and it wasn’t lengthy earlier than Blind Lemon Jefferson and Blind Blake recorded for the label; different artists included Skip James, Massive Invoice Broonzy, and Bumble Bee Slim.
Paramount used “field scouts” to hunt out new expertise, although this can be a considerably grand title for males the likes of HC Speir, who ran shops within the south and easily saved a watch out for native musicians. By means of Speir they recorded Tommy Johnson and, most significantly, Charley Patton. It was Patton that took Son Home, Willie Brown, and Louise Johnson to Paramount’s new studios in Grafton in 1930.
Paramount lasted for 10 years and launched over 1,100 data, lots of that are a lot prized by collectors as we speak (actually because they initially bought in such small numbers). Its data have been low cost and their high quality was usually poor, with excessive floor noise, and the label withdrew from recording in 1932, a sufferer of the Nice Despair. Within the pre-World Warfare II period, different labels that performed their half in capturing the blues for posterity included Black Patti, Black Swan, QRS, and Decca, the US subsidiary of the British firm.
The recording ban
By the tip of 1941, World Warfare II had been raging in Europe for over two years, and now it concerned the American individuals. If the Despair was a punctuation mark within the historical past of recorded blues, then World Warfare II was the tip of a chapter. It additionally marked a sea change for the music trade, with the necessity for males, equipment, and uncooked supplies creating change all through the leisure trade. Music and leisure didn’t cease, data continued to be manufactured – and to promote – however issues have been on the horizon.
By 1939 there have been 225,000 jukeboxes in America, which prompted the president of the American Federation Of Musicians to declare that data have been “the number one scab.” He and his members felt document firms have been taking work away from musicians. In 1942, the AFM referred to as a strike of its members, which lasted till 1944, when first Decca, after which Victor and Columbia, capitulated late within the yr.
The impact of all this on the blues was to nearly curtail recording actions. There had been a fast fall-off within the variety of purely blues releases within the first half of 1942, largely all the way down to altering musical style; those who did document included Sonny Boy Williamson, Tampa Crimson, Lonnie Johnson, Rosetta Tharpe, Roosevelt Sykes, and Joe Turner – the massive names that have been already established artists and most definitely to promote.
West Coast blues
Out on America’s West Coast a brand new document label was flexing its muscle – although Capitol Information was not particularly a blues imprint. In 1942 they signed T-Bone Walker, and he grew to become the featured guitarist with Freddie Slack and his Orchestra. T-Bone minimize “I Got A Break, Baby” and “Mean Old World” with Freddie, which did a lot to determine the previous’s status and affect a younger BB King, who was an enormous fan. Each side have been seminal in creating what we now discuss with because the West Coast blues sound: mellow and polished riffs, the epitome of a laid-back groove, and the antecedent of BB’s sound.
Bluebird, the Columbia subsidiary that had appreciable success within the 30s with their lower-priced data, noticed a definite decelerate in recording exercise by 1942. Nevertheless, in December 1944, the label rediscovered the blues, recording Roosevelt Sykes, Tampa Crimson, Lonnie Johnson, and Sonny Boy Williamson; Sonny Boy even minimize “Win The War Blues” in a uncommon present of wartime patriotism from a blues singer. One of many sides that Roosevelt Sykes minimize was “I Wonder,” which grew to become the second No. 1 document on the brand new black music chart, the Juke Field Race Information, which launched in 1945.
With the battle over, issues started to get again to regular, however “normal” for the blues was not simple to outline. The evolution from nation blues to city blues, which had began again within the 30s, was about to turn into a revolution.
The shift within the viewers for recorded blues, from the south to north – and to the west – introduced appreciable musical change. Migration created new markets and this, in flip, altered the best way through which data have been made and bought. Unbiased document firms have been quickly bobbing up throughout America.
Kings of the jukebox
In February 1941 Billboard journal launched its first chart completely for black music, calling it The Harlem Hit Parade. Later it was renamed the Juke Field Race Information Chart which, by 1949, had given solution to the Rhythm & Blues Chart. The very best-selling data within the first 5 years of the “black music” chart have been largely releases by the most important labels – particularly Decca, and largely by Louis Jordan, who was hailed as “The King Of The Jukeboxes” and have become one of the vital influential black artists in recorded music historical past.
Of the 57 data that topped the charts from October 1942 till the tip of 1947, 31 (54%) have been Decca releases; of the remainder, 9 have been Capitol, and 9 have been from Victor/Bluebird, whereas simply six independents topped the chart throughout this era. Nevertheless, all that rapidly modified in 1948 and ’49. Of the 31 data that topped the chart in these years, Decca, Victor, and Capitol may solely muster 5 between them. The impartial labels had arrived.
With city markets growing in measurement as immigration enlarged the cities, the economics of the document trade modified and particular person cities grew to become sufficiently big to assist their very own native labels. An organization may become profitable with out having a nationwide hit, and artists created their very own native and regional hype; city-based labels had their collective ears nearer to the musical pulse of their metropolis.
Rise of the independents
The primary profitable impartial of the 40s was Savoy, having had a No. 1 on the Harlem Hit Parade with Bonnie Davis’ “Don’t Stop Now” in March 1943. Based in 1942 by Herman Lubinsky, in Newark, New Jersey, Savoy began as a jazz label however quickly signed R&B artists together with Massive Jay McNeeley’s Blue Jays, Paul Williams And His Hucklebuckers, and the Hal Singer Sextette. Later they signed Little Esther Phillips, Johnny Otis, Nappy Brown, and The Robins.
Out on the West Coast, the Rene brothers, Leon and Otis, began the Excelsior label across the similar time as Savoy. After altering the title to Unique they’d an enormous hit with “The Honeydripper” by Joe Liggins. Two years later, Artwork Rupe, a local of Pittsburgh and UCLA graduate, based Jukebox Information. Jukebox’s first launch was “Boogie No. 1” by The Sepia Tones; it bought 70,000 copies and secured the label’s short-term future. By 1946, Jukebox had turn into Speciality, and a good brighter future was assured when Roy Milton And His Stable Senders had an enormous hit with “RM Blues” – the primary of over 19 R&B hits that the band and label mustered over the following seven years. Later, Speciality signed Percy Mayfield and, within the 50s, their roster would come with Lloyd Worth, Guitar Slim, Sam Cooke, and Little Richard.
With a inhabitants swelled by former service personnel and immigrants, Los Angeles grew to become house to a bunch of independents, together with Bronze, 4 Star, Tremendous Disc, Imperial, Gilt Edge, Fashionable, and Aladdin (initially referred to as Philco and fashioned in 1944, earlier than altering their title to Aladdin two years later). Aladdin founders Eddie and Leo Mesner set about signing a few of the greatest bounce blues artists in southern California, together with Amos Milburn and Charles Brown.
Fashionable was launched a couple of months later by the Bihari Brothers, Jules, Joe, and Saul, who had a penchant for guitar blues. Amongst Fashionable’s early signings have been Pee Wee Crayton and Johnny “Guitar” Watson. Additionally they distributed data from even smaller labels, and in doing so have been pivotal within the early success of BB King and Elmore James, on subsidiary labels RPM and Aptitude.
Miracle Information was one of many first independents to floor in Chicago. Although much less targeted on Delta blues, and largely recording jazz or ballad singers, they did signal Memphis Slim, who gave the label a No. 1 with “Messin’ Around” in 1948.
Vee-Jay was one other big of the Chicago music scene. They started buying and selling in 1952 and have been uncommon in that they have been black-owned label throughout a time when nearly all of the others have been Jewish-owned. Vee-Jay would go on to be probably the most profitable black-owned label till Motown got here alongside. Based by Vivian Carter (the “V”) and her husband, Jimmy Bracken (the “Jay”), they signed Jimmy Reed, John Lee Hooker, and Billy Boy Arnold.
Down in Memphis, Tennessee, Samuel Cornelius Phillips, a radio engineer from Florence, Alabama, had a imaginative and prescient and established his Memphis Recording Studios at 706 Union Avenue, in January 1950, to document “anything, anytime, anywhere.” He started with native artists and bought the recordings to established labels similar to 4 Star Information, Fashionable Information, and their subsidiary RPM. Among the many blues artists he recorded have been Misplaced John Hunter and Joe Hill Louis, and, in early 1951, Phillips minimize BB King’s first sides for RPM and Walter Horton’s audition acetates for Fashionable.
Sam’s masterstroke was to not over-produce. As an alternative, he allowed his performers to chop by on document, a triumph of spontaneity over technical experience. Sam’s first hit was Jackie Brenston’s “Rocket 88,” which he bought to Chess Information in Chicago; among the many different artists he recorded for Chess was a Howlin’ Wolf, together with the menacing “Highway Man”
Chess Information and the electrical blues
Chess Information grew to become the most important document firm in Chicago in the course of the 50s and 60s nevertheless it had began from humbler beginnings. Within the early 40s, two Polish-born brothers, Leonard and Philip Chess (actual title Chez), owned a number of Chicago nightclubs, together with the Macomba Lounge on the town’s South Aspect. In 1947, they purchased into the Aristocrat label, which targeting jazz and bounce blues. With the Chess brothers’ involvement, Aristocrat’s first main success was Muddy Waters’ “I Can’t Be Satisfied.” By 1949, Leonard and Phil purchased out their unique associate and renamed their label Chess Information.
With the brand new title got here a rash of recent signings, together with Jimmy Rogers (a key participant in Muddy’s band), Eddie Boyd And His Chess Males, Willie Mabon, Memphis Slim, and Howlin’ Wolf. They even minimize data with John Lee Hooker as early as 1950, although it might be unfair to say they signed Hooker, given his penchant for recording for any label that paid him money up entrance.
In 1952, the brothers fashioned Checker and signed Elmore James, Little Walter, Memphis Minnie, and Sonny Boy Williamson. Two years later, Lowell Fulson had an enormous hit with “Reconsider Baby.” By 1955, Chess had expanded nonetheless additional, in addition to crossing over into the white rock’n’roll market with Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley. On the again of their success, a brand new model of bluesman got here into the fold, amongst them, Otis Rush and Buddy Man.
The 60s weren’t as productive for the label: its sound was being upstaged by the youthful white rock bands who used a lot of the Chess template for his or her musical careers. In 1969, Leonard Chess died and the label was bought. Ultimately, by varied label purchases, it grew to become part of Common Music Group. A lot of the “blues labels” went by the identical: mergers, takeovers, label gross sales, and the like meant that the heyday of the blues-only label was over. The Civil Rights motion helped desegregate document labels in the identical means that it desegregated radio stations.
That’s to not say there haven’t been document labels that specialised within the blues since. Blue Horizon, within the UK, briefly carried the torch, and, later, labels similar to Alligator Information, Delmark, Arhoolie, and Yazoo have executed an incredible job in recording modern-day blues artists. However the world has modified and blues labels have modified with it.
In search of extra? Uncover The Most Influential Blues Songs Of All Time.
