Skip to main content

Donny Hathaway - A Song for You

We don’t know what kind of music, exactly, was first called blues. Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith were singing slow, sad songs about their troubles in love and life by 1910 or thereabouts, but no one seems to have called them blues singers until the late teens, and by that time blues had already come and gone as a hot dance craze, played by brass bands and ragtime orchestras, and been supplanted by jazz. In 1915, the first newspaper article to mention jazz as a musical style was headlined Blues Is Jazz and Jazz Is Blues, which makes perfect sense if you look at how many early jazz bands relied on the basic 12 bar blues form. But there was also a lot of blues that was not jazz, and some jazz that was not blues.

A century later, it is even harder to sort out what blues means, or more to the point, what it doesn’t mean. We often hear that blues is the root of all American music, from country to rock to rap, and it doesn’t stop there, the haunting music of northern Mali is frequently described as African blues, rembetika, fado, and flamenco are described as Greek, Portuguese, and Spanish blues, respectively, and enka is described as Japanese blues. For many people, blues continues to denote emotion and is a catch all term for any music that feels soulful. That might serve as a good general definition, except that the most popular blues style in the United States is a rowdy, bar band sound featuring fast tempos and screaming electric guitar solos.
Source: The State Of The Blues Today by Elijah Wald


Donny Hathaway - A Song for You
  • Released on: April 2, 1971
  • Written by: Leon Russell
  • Genre: Soul

"Donny Hathaway was considered an eccentric by many. He cultivated many unusual interests, and was a devotee of mid-20th century French classical composers. Several anecdotes about Hathaway are contained in Jerry Wexler's book Rhythm And The Blues."

See previous Song of the Day

Labels:
Location: United States

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Jackson Browne - Kisses Sweeter than Wine

Europe has a rich history of embracing blues and jazz music. In the early 20th century, American jazz musicians began touring Europe, introducing the continent to a new sound that was unlike anything they had ever heard before. Jazz became an instant hit among European audiences, and many European musicians began incorporating jazz elements into their music. Today, jazz festivals are held all over Europe, attracting thousands of fans from all over the world. In addition, many European cities have thriving blues scenes, with local bands and musicians performing regularly. Blues and jazz have also made their way to Asia, where they have found a devoted fan base. Japan, in particular, has a thriving jazz scene, with many Japanese musicians achieving international recognition. In addition, China has also seen a rise in the popularity of jazz music in recent years. Jazz festivals are now held in major Asian cities such as Tokyo, Shanghai, and Hong Kong, attracting jazz lovers from all over ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ian Brown - Home Is Where The Heart Is

Talking to artists about how they had adjusted to the pandemic yielded information that normally doesn’t come up during artist interviews. While some musicians lost their main source of income, others were able to continue with their regular day jobs that, given the generally low pay for gigs, often allowed them to be active in the blues. Others were forced to turn to webcasting. In Clarksdale, Lucious Spiller was one of the first to do these shows and was likely the most active, for a year he played every Wednesday night, on Thursday afternoons, a time amenable to Europeans, and on most Saturdays, about as often as he normally performed. Aside from a fall off after the first weeks, support for the gigs, which was almost enough to pay the bills, remained steady until things began to open up in May of 2021. About five years ago, Clarksdale reached the milestone of live music seven days a week, 365 days a year, but that ended abruptly... The contemporary Southern soul market is largely s...
Post a Comment
Read more

Roy Haynes - Satan's Mysterious Feeling

Sun Studio, located at 706 Union Avenue, was started by one of the fathers of rock ‘n roll, Sam Phillips, in 1950. It was the commingling of the Memphis Recording Service and Sun Records that formed Sun Studio, and until 1969... The studio’s claim to fame is that it is where the first rock ‘n roll record was produced, Rocket 88, in April 1951. Stax Records was born in 1957. The original Stax was named Satellite Records until it changed its name to Stax in 1961. The company brought to the forefront American and Memphis soul, as well as gospel, funk and the Delta blues. Its most famous act was Otis Redding, and after his death in 1967, the studio struggled to stay in competition with Detroit’s Motown. The music of Memphis has evolved from its long, rich history. The legends of the past have created a legacy that newer artists can only hope to imitate but never really duplicate. A walk along Beale Street should invoke the memory of the great musicians who have come to and played in Memphi...
Post a Comment
Read more