Popular song - Blues (OCR)

Question 1

in the 1920s and 1930s who were the most popular blues performers? (list 5)

Answer 1

most popular were women:
- Ma Rainey
- Bessie Smith
- Marion Harris
- Mamie Smith
- Ida Cox
( and more)

Question 2

what was Mamie Smith’s first blues recording?

Answer 2

‘Crazy Blues’

Question 3

who was ‘Crazy Blues’ aimed towards?

Answer 3

African- American public

Question 4

what are the issues with the ‘Crazy Blues’ recording? (2 things)

Answer 4

the restricted quality causes:
- trombone too prominent
- voice too far back, competing with the band to be heard

Question 5

how popular was ‘Crazy Blues’

Answer 5

• sold 75,000 copies in the first month of its release and quickly reached a million sales

Question 6

what was significant about the General Phonograph Corporation?

Answer 6

• released Mamie Smith’s music, on the Okeh Label, which had developed a line in records tailored for American immigrant communities

Question 7

what are “race records”?

Answer 7

due to the success of crazy blues, record companies were signing up black artists to record blues and jazz (known as race records), by the 1940s, blues and jazz became popular enough that it just became “records”

Question 8

where did the fashion for rougher vocal sound come from?

Answer 8

• Gertrude ‘Ma’ Rainey’s (most significant of the blues queens) recordings set this fashion
• was in a touring company and had considerable stage presence as a singer
• influenced Bessie Smith (another member of the company)

Question 9

what happened to Rainey?

Answer 9

• ‘Hear me Talking To You’ (1928) the Paramount recording was poor for the 1920s, but her performance had presence and character
• terminated her contract the same year, deciding the style was out of fashion
• she made no further recordings

Question 10

what instrument did country blues singers favour?

Answer 10

the acoustic guitar

Question 11

what were variations of country blues/ folk blues? (list 2)

Answer 11

• Delta Blues
• Piedmont Blues

Question 12

what were the characteristics of Delta Blues? (5 things)

Answer 12

• from Mississippi Delta
• simple lyrics
• personal
• intense
• rhythmic

Question 13

what is an example of Delta Blues?

Answer 13

‘Come On In My Kitchen’ (1936) - Robert Johnson, 8 bar blues, intimate, soulful lament which has a powerful effect

Question 14

where was Piedmont Blues from?

Answer 14

based in the Piedmont Plateau from Virginia to Georgia and Florida

Question 15

what were characteristics of Piedmont Blues?

Answer 15

• quicker
• syncopated in the ragtime manner
• finger-picked guitar playing both melody and bass

Question 16

what is an example of Piedmont Blues?

Answer 16

• ’ Step It Up And Go’ (New York 1940) - Fulton Allen (‘Blind Boy’ Fuller) who made 130 recordings before his death
• taken up by other musicians, black and white

Question 17

when was amplification available?

Answer 17

1940s, available for guitars, with blues musicians taking up the semi- acoustic guitar for ease of projection

Question 18

how was music taken outside its places of origin?

Answer 18

rural black populations looked for work in the great cities

Question 19

what characterised Texas Blues?

Answer 19

used improvised guitar melodies, closer to jazz in its swung rhythms and the interplay between voice and the guitar

Question 20

what musicians are included in Texas Blues? ( 3 musicians)

Answer 20

• Blind Lemon Jefferson and later T-Bone Walker and Lightnin’ Hopkins

Question 21

what were characteristics of ‘Memphis Blues’?

Answer 21

cheerful, syncopated style, suitable for dancing and often used in local vaudeville

Question 22

who was a famous Memphis Musician?

Answer 22

• Memphis Minnie, ran away from home at age 13, and joined the circus as a band musician, discovered Columbia Records (1929) and made a successful career as a blues musician
• took up amplified semi-acoustic guitar when she moved to Chicago

Question 23

what was an example of a Hopkin’s song?

Answer 23

‘Coffee Blues’

Question 24

what is an example of Memphis Minnie’s songs

Answer 24

‘Me And My Chaffeur Blues’ (1941)

Question 25

later on what happened to the Memphis Blues style?

Answer 25

heavier use of electric guitars, ‘Every Day I Have The Blues’ (1955) shows an influence of jazz and blues guitarists on his (B.B King) playing style and of gospel in the warmth and directness of his singing

Question 26

what is an example of a later Memphis Blues Musician?

Answer 26

B.B King

Question 27

what do units of 2, 3 and 4 represent?

Answer 27

units of 2 is like a march, units of 3 is like a waltz, units of 4 is like many rock and blues styles