The Cabaret blues of the whorehouses in New Orleans were a different style of blues, many written where the composers were known and played piano behind famous Divas of the blues such as Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey and the subsequent "white" popularizers such as Sophe Tucker.

Then you have New Orleans jazz blues by Louis Armstrong and Jelly Roll Morton and others which is played with horns and vocals.

Finally be-bop blues which was
augmented by Charlie Parker coming from another source, the Kansas City horn blues bands such as Jay McShann.

The blues is basically a style of performance not limited to the so-called twelve bar structure. It's apex is through African-American singers depicting
the misery that they were subjected to from slavery on.

There are different styles of blues. The early shout or field holler was a carryover from
Africa via slavery.

The twelve bar blues with singer/guitar player (which often turned out to be a twelve and 1/2 or 11 or 13 bar blues) was popular in the Twenties. It was a rural expression that moved to the city and became "electrified". It was often associated with dancing in night clubs such as on the Southside of Chicago or Harlem.

There were "party" blues as well as sad blues. There was regional country blues such as
the Mississippi Delta or Piedmont style blues. There was bottleneck guitar styles or "teasin" with a knife.

There were big band blues shouters such as Jimmy Rushing and Joe Williams with Basie.

It has taken on different musical forms from basic harmonies to sophisticated complex ones. The rock and roll blues came out of the recording company designation of Rhythm and Blues intended for dancing. Clapton is an outgrowth of that.

There was the "white" adaptation of blues, much of what finds its way into bluegrass and early white country music. There's the talking blues and the blue yodels of Jimmie Rodgers.

If we have a narrow view of what blues is, this is because there are partisan interests in one specific form.


The blues style has been assimilated into American folk and popular music.

Any attempt to pin it down to just one style is futile.

Frank Hamilton