BACK in the 1900s, this blending in unison of cultural elements in a distinct beat called “syncresim” gave birth to a hybrid, the genre had produced the “Blues”. The Blues just came and presented itself, in a form that was soft and biting like jazz, its parent. The synchronising with the original music revealed different nuances; it was a drop beat within the rhythms of a specific stanza. This was something new subtracted from the original. Now, with most of the musicians beginning to perform in both the jazz and blues, it allows the Blues to define itself and not to change its personality.
Around this time, Blues performers were now moving from the street corners and taverns to the lucrative ventures, including Theatres, Tents, Barns and Assembly Halls. The Blues had become mass entertainment. Talent scouts were sent on field trips to find and record promising Black musicians. From Leadbelly (Huddie Leadbelly) in the 1920s to Robert Johnson, the best known of the Mississippi Delta Blues Singers wrote, “Terraplane Blues and Love in Vain” were two of his pieces that had good sales.
Women, on the other hand, took the Blues by storm. Ma Rainey came out of Columbus, Georgia. In the 1920s, she recorded extensively with Louis Armstrong and Coleman Hawkins. She was followed by a protege of hers, Bessie Smith, who stood out as the greatest of the classic Blues singers.
Smith was not only a singer; she was also instrumental in merging the Blues and the popular music of the day, the revolutionary process still in full swing today. She recorded with the best in the trade; Louis Armstrong, Coleman Hawkins, Jack Teagarden. Most of the musicians who spoke of her ability, described her as having that Jazz quality.
Bessie Smith recorded several of W. C Handy’s music. Handy was probably the last of the great writers that were put out by the group, Tin Pan Alley. He was in several minstrels shows, while writing several classical Blues music like “Memphis Blues 1914″ and “Beale Street Blues 1916.”
Immediately on the heels of the Blues came another part of the always extending genre. It was called “Ragtime”. Some commentators suggest that Ragtime rivalled the Blues in importance, and possibly surpassed it in influence. The fluidity was the line between Ragtime and Jazz, and this lasted well into the era of swing music and big bands.
Scott Joplin was the father of “ragtime”. He was born in Texarkana, Texas in 1868; his father was Giles Joplin, a former slave who played music and taught his son how to at a very tender age. Around 1880, Joplin moved to St Louis, where he worked as a soloist in salons and other night spots. After visiting the World Columbus Exposition in Chicago in 1893, he decided that he needed to return to school, where he studied harmony and composition at the George R Smith College for negroes. Around 1897, he wrote “Maple Rag”, which became the most famous ragtime composition of the day. So popular was “Maple Rag” that it became the very first piece of sheet music to sell over one million copies. Irvin Berlin, the great lyricist, said that “Maple Rag captured the speed and snap of modern American Life.”
Joplin’s writings revealed the wide range of compositional techniques that this African-American composer had mastered. In 1905 came Bethea, The Ragtime Dance 1906,The Pine Apple Rag 1908, Solace 1909, Stop Time Rag 1910. In 1903, a newspaper article said: “Joplin affirms that it is only a past-time to compose syncopated music, and he yearns for more arduous work. His attitude, according to some people, borders on hostility at times to rag pianist who emphasise speed and showmanship at the expense of melodic beauty.”
The climax of Joplin’s writings was “Treemonisha”, an operatic piece that tapped the pre-rag roots of Black American Music.
Until next week.