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Author Topic: "washingwell" New Orleans  (Read 9881 times)

michael ellis

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Re: "washingwell" New Orleans
« Reply #40 on: December 06, 2016, 04:05:35 pm »

I think Terrence Blanchard is a New Orleans native and still lives in the city, I think he ranks at the top tier of contemporary jazz musician/composers. Not sure if he plays in the French Quarter though. Several jazz musicians from New Orleans moved to Portland, where I live, after hurricane Katrina and they are also moving the form forward.

Michael
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N80

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Re: "washingwell" New Orleans
« Reply #41 on: December 06, 2016, 04:27:38 pm »

Blues goes deeper than a simple, single musical style; it spread north from New Orleans up into Chicago; sideways right through Creole zydeco and the later swamp pop of Louisiana and on into Texas. It has swept into almost everything we can hear.

Just a quibble here, but the blues spread outward from the Mississippi delta, Clarksdale, Indianola, Sunflower, etc.

Alan Lomax (? the folk documentary guy) helped preserve and promote the blues up north. Elvis and Jerry Lee popularized it here at home. The British musicians of the 60's, Stones, Clapton, Led Zep picked up on it, stole it, modified and made it even more popular....as you say,most people do not know they are listening to it when they hear Cream, or The Animals or Van Morrison.

I'm from the south. Lived in Clarksdale. But the blues came to me via Led Zep and the like. They were influenced most by the hardcore delta blues like Robert Johnson, Bukka White, etc. Those are the blues I like. A guitar, maybe a harmonica, rarely a drum kit.
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George

"What is truth?" Pontius  Pilate

Osprey

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Re: "washingwell" New Orleans
« Reply #42 on: December 06, 2016, 10:51:31 pm »

New Orleans is a lot more dynamic and contemporary than places like Venice or those old art villages in the South of France, though.  It's not a museum, there's a definite modern discussion going on.  Even with the music, you could argue that stuff like the brass bands such as Rebirth or the Dirty Dozen are the more modern continuations of the jazz that is on display at Preservation Hall.

No. There is still an active jazz 'scene'. It is fairly confined....in other words, it isn't pop music. But there are still those who like it and it is still evolving. I'm not particularly a jazz fan. I am a fan of the blues however. And yes, in a sense maybe the blues have run their course, but they are infused in pretty much all popular music and in that sense they live on.

I am also perplexed why it is mostly white people in the US and Britain (and some other parts of Europe) who remain blues fans. 

But when you talk about the music being "largely antique for tourists" that is pretty much what New Orleans is. And Charleston, SC. And a good many of the places I've visited in Europe too.
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Rob C

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Re: "washingwell" New Orleans
« Reply #43 on: December 07, 2016, 04:50:35 am »

Just a quibble here, but the blues spread outward from the Mississippi delta, Clarksdale, Indianola, Sunflower, etc.

Alan Lomax (? the folk documentary guy) helped preserve and promote the blues up north. Elvis and Jerry Lee popularized it here at home. The British musicians of the 60's, Stones, Clapton, Led Zep picked up on it, stole it, modified and made it even more popular....as you say,most people do not know they are listening to it when they hear Cream, or The Animals or Van Morrison.

I'm from the south. Lived in Clarksdale. But the blues came to me via Led Zep and the like. They were influenced most by the hardcore delta blues like Robert Johnson, Bukka White, etc. Those are the blues I like. A guitar, maybe a harmonica, rarely a drum kit.


Yes, it's ironic that the Stones etc. introduced blues to the American teenagers! But rather than blame the Brits for exploitation (which I do not accuse anyone of doing), which on some levels it is (though it also had the effect of restarting some stalled black careers), but blended the while with pure adulation for the originals, one should blame the U.S. radio station systems which were also segregated back then. Strange, though, that when stations were but a turn of a knob apart, few found their way to white ears. Or so one is led to believe. Maybe there was just a huge company of informed, closet white blues fans awaiting release and acceptance (or even public forgiveness?) via the men from Tupelo and Ferriday?

Fom way across the ocean, thank goodness for the seamen who brought the music back with them to Britain on disc. Personally, I think I first heard the stuff via AFN radio out of Germany on the odd moments when it was accidentally hearable in Scotland. Which must indicate that at least AFN wasn't hung up on making black invisible. Which in the physical circumstances, would have been a neat trick to pull off.

Rob C

N80

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Re: "washingwell" New Orleans
« Reply #44 on: December 10, 2016, 08:41:20 pm »


Yes, it's ironic that the Stones etc. introduced blues to the American teenagers! But rather than blame the Brits for exploitation (which I do not accuse anyone of doing), which on some levels it is (though it also had the effect of restarting some stalled black careers),

I don't know. Led Zep ripped off many of the blues greats word for word. They settled some of these in court and some of them voluntarily (thank goodness). Willie Dixon especially got ripped off by Zeppelin. (And don't et me wrong, Zep is one of my favorite bands and Robert Plant is one of my musical heroes.) On the one hand, this music seemed so obscure to them at the time (early to mid sixties) that they probably didn't feel they were stealing anything. But they did and in a big way. If you listen to Zep and the blues enough (as I have) it is shocking how much they "borrowed". I'm glad they did. And I'm glad they made it right in the end. Sadly some of the old blues men they borrowed from were too far gone to benefit.

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Strange, though, that when stations were but a turn of a knob apart, few found their way to white ears. Or so one is led to believe.

Oh, its true. The problem is that the white audiences did not want to hear real "black" music. They used a different racial slur of course. They wanted to hear it from Pat Boone, Ricky Nelson and Elvis. Nice and white. Sad? Yes. Even sadder when you consider how awful the Pat Boone and Rickey Nelson songs were. At least Elvis and Jerry Lee left a little of the "black" in the music.

 
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George

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