Hi all,

I have been reading this thread with interest, but I confess that I am more of an early jazz and swing music fan, more than a blues fan. I am also not well-read on the origins of jazz, swing and the blues.

However, I have been watching some documentaries which have aired on the Australian indigenous TV channel, NITV.

This one is a 2 part documentary and the first part aired last Monday 20 April 2015. The second part is going to air next Monday night. For a week or two the first part show can be viewed on this link and after the second part on Monday that will also be available to view for a week or so.

Black music : an American (r)evolution

Black music : an American (r)evolution - more info

One of the assertions in part 1, which I hadn't heard before, was that jazz music was doing well commercially for white audiences but most of the commercial interest was in happy & upbeat songs. On the other hand, the African-American musicians themselves played and sang the blues in their own social circles as an expression of their sadness and the difficulty of their lives while living in a society which was still prejudiced against them.



I also have the 10 DVD set of the documentary series Jazz, by Ken Burns. It gives a lot of detail about the social context of the music in relation to African-American society.

I admit that I have not read the books referred to in this thread, and I certainly don't know what the information in the documentaries was based on, and I also admit that just because someone made a film about it doesn't mean the information in the film is true. There is, however a lot of good original film footage of the music in both series, and both of the series raise a lot of issues surrounding the music.

On a personal note, it especially upsets me about the hypocritical attitudes of white people who "loved" the music, or made lots of money by selling the music, or misappropriated the music to claim it as their own, but still expressed prejudice towards the musicians.

As I said, I'm not an expert in the blues or in any music. I just love jazz and swing music with a passion and I'm interested in its evolution.

Helen