The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #72998 Message #1262756
Posted By: pdq
02-Sep-04 - 02:05 PM
Thread Name: Gospel & the Blues
Subject: RE: Gospel & the Blues
I am not a musicologist, just a fan, but it seems that the chronology of the Blues is:
Minstrel > Ragtime > Trad. Jazz > Blues
The St. Louis Blues has a very "ragtimey" feel and is based around 4 chords, not
just 3 found in later stripped-down blues. Blues became very stylized when the
12 bar variation became the norm. 8 bar variants are probably the norm in Folk-
Blues and 16 bar variants are well known in Country-Blues. Blues date from
approx.1915. Ragtime was first published in the 1890's although there are
elements of both in the Minstrel tradition.
Gospel has roots in European church music and was probably isolated from black
secular music for a long time. Now there endless bluesy affectations in black
gospel which would not have been there 100 (or more) years ago.
Bluegrass? Just hope that someone in the group can sing a bass part and "go for it".