blues

blues Form of African-American music, originating in the late 19th-century folk traditions of the American South. It evolved from gospel and work songs. The standard verse pattern is the 12-bar blues: three sets of four bars, the second set being a repetition of the first. The first published blues piece was “The Memphis Blues” by W. C. Handy (1912). ‘Jelly Roll’ Morton incorporated a jazzier style in “Jelly Roll Blues”. Great vocalists such as Bessie Smith (‘Empress of the Blues’), Robert Johnson, Huddie Ledbetter and ‘Ma’ Rainey, helped popularize the blues. The northerly migration of African-Americans in the 1930s saw the emergence of a brasher, urban blues tradition based around Chicago. After World War II, instruments were amplified, and the electric guitar became the dominant voice, with artists such as Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker. In the 1950s, new forms such as rhythm and blues, and rock and roll drew on the blues. During the 1960s, rock and pop bands, such as the Rolling Stones, were also directly influenced by the tradition.