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Joe Henderson - Blues for a Four String Guitar

The string playing techniques used by blues guitarists are akin to those developed in the Sahel. The kora, a Mandinka 21 string harp, is played in a rhythmic melodic style that uses constantly changing rhythms, often providing a ground bass overlaid with complex treble patterns, while vocal supplies a third rhythmic layer... similar techniques can be found in hundreds of blues records. The same holds true for the vocals. The emblematic song coming from the Sahel is a solo, no call and response there, moaning kind of song, done by an individual with a raspy voice, in a declamatory vocal style. Blues expert, Alan Lomax, called it a high lonesome complaint.

The typical blues, a high lonesome complaint of its own, is also sung by one individual with a string, guitar, or wind, harmonica instrument in a throaty style. In addition, the long, blending and swooping notes of the blues... And so are producing a note slightly under pitch, breaking into a vibrato or letting the note trail off and finishing it above what is expected.

Even an untrained ear can recognize the similarities between the blues and Islamic influenced West African music, but parallelisms are also strong between the blues and the chanting of the Qur’an. Melisma, changing the note of a syllable while it is being sung, and wavy intonations are the basis of these Islamic styles and they became the traditional techniques of blues singers.


Joe Henderson - Blues for a Four String Guitar
Released in: January 1964
Written by: Elmer Bernstein, Mack David
Duration: 01:55

"Joe Henderson had a very distinctive sound and style which, although influenced a bit, also contained a lot of brand new phrases and ideas. Henderson had long been able to improvise in both inside and outside settings, from hard bop to freeform."

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