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Bennie Green - Cool Struttin

Today, young African Americans find strength in hip hop music, which I consider a modern evolution of the blues. Hip hop was born out of the same conditions that gave birth to the blues. Poor and disenfranchised black and brown youths were seeking ways to express their humanity amid poverty and abandonment. If the blues was our healing, today, hip hop is a more potent medicine meant to help cope with today’s societal struggles. The line that connects blues and hip hop is strong and clear.

It was not uncommon for me to perform Blues festivals as the only African American act on the bill. Many times I’d see major Blues events featuring acts that are not even blues, much less featuring African American acts. That’s not to say non African Americans shouldn’t participate in the celebration of blues culture, but imagine having a Celtic music festival without featuring a traditional Scottish, Irish or Welsh act or a mariachi music festival without a Mexican mariachi band. Ideally, blues festivals should be settings meant to celebrate and showcase the music and its rich culture. Admittedly, I made the mistake of thinking African Americans had abandoned the blues genre.


Bennie Green - Cool Struttin
  • Recording in: New York, NY
  • Genre: Jazz
  • Release on: September 27, 1960

"Bennie Green was featured on recordings made at the Newport in New York festival in the early '70s. He recorded as a leader for Jubilee, Prestige, Blue Note, Enrica, Time, and Vee Jay."

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