Overview
Praised as ""suave, soulful, ebullient"" (Tom Waits) and ""a meticulous researcher, a graceful writer, and a committed contrarian"" (New York Times Book Review), Elijah Wald is one of the leading popular music critics of his generation. In The Blues, Wald surveys a genre at the heart of American culture. It is not an easy thing to pin down. As Howlin' Wolf once described it, ""When you ain't got no money and can't pay your house rent and can't buy you no food, you've damn sure got the blues."" It has been defined by lyrical structure, or as a progression of chords, or as a set of practices reflecting West African ""tonal and rhythmic approaches,"" using a five-note ""blues scale."" Wald sees blues less as a style than as a broad musical tradition within a constantly evolving pop culture. He traces its roots in work and praise songs, and shows how it was transformed by such professional performers as W. C. Handy, who first popularized the blues a century ago. He follows its evolution from Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith through Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix; identifies the impact of rural field recordings of Blind Lemon Jefferson, Charley Patton and others; explores the role of blues in the development of both country music and jazz; and looks at the popular rhythm and blues trends of the 1940s and 1950s, from the uptown West Coast style of T-Bone Walker to the ""down home"" Chicago sound of Muddy Waters. Wald brings the story up to the present, touching on the effects of blues on American poetry, and its connection to modern styles such as rap. As with all of Oxford's Very Short Introductions, The Blues tells you--with insight, clarity, and wit--everything you need to know to understand this quintessentially American musical genre.
Full Product Details
Author: Elijah Wald (teaches blues history, teaches blues history, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA)
Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc
Imprint: Oxford University Press Inc
Dimensions:
Width: 11.20cm
, Height: 1.00cm
, Length: 17.10cm
Weight: 0.127kg
ISBN: 9780195398939
ISBN 10: 0195398939
Pages: 152
Publication Date: 24 June 2010
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: To order
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.
Reviews
The most illuminating short treatment of the blues ever published. --Terry Teachout, Wall Street Journal Both thorough and illuminating. . . . It would be impossible to pack more critical wisdom-or common sense-into a smaller, shapelier package. --Wall Street Journal
A history needn't be long to be both thorough and illuminating. Mr. Wald's no-nonsense 152-page study of the blues deromanticizes a musical genre about which vast amounts of fuzzy-minded nonsense have been written. It would be impossible to pack more critical wisdom-or common sense-into a smaller, shapelier package. * Terry Teachout, Wall Street Journal *
"""The most illuminating short treatment of the blues ever published.""--Terry Teachout, Wall Street Journal ""Both thorough and illuminating. . . . It would be impossible to pack more critical wisdom-or common sense-into a smaller, shapelier package.""--Wall Street Journal"
A history needn't be long to be both thorough and illuminating. Mr. Wald's no-nonsense 152-page study of the blues deromanticizes a musical genre about which vast amounts of fuzzy-minded nonsense have been written. It would be impossible to pack more critical wisdom-or common sense-into a smaller, shapelier package. Terry Teachout, Wall Street Journal
<br> The most illuminating short treatment of the blues ever published. --Terry Teachout, Wall Street Journal<p><br>
Author Information
Elijah Wald is a musician who teaches blues history at UCLA. His books include How the Beatles Destroyed Rock 'n' Roll, Global Minstrels, and Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues.
