Hello Medievalliassie

I followed the link about Handy's 'enlightenment' and that page does not claim that Handy first heard the blues in Cleveland, as you appear to assert.

The 'enlightenment' seems - if what Handy wrote in his draft and final autobiography is correct - to have been in terms of realising what audiences liked and would throw money at.

Moreover, this was dance music, which had the audience 'stomping' as well as throwing money at the performers, and how far this meets with a definition of 'blues' I am not sure, because I give up on definitions of 'blues'.