The Beginning of the Blues II

First of all we all should ask ourselves: What is the blues? And perhaps everyone has another answer to this question.We all agree that there are at least two definitions of the blues: the feeling and the music. 

The blues been here since time began

Since the first lyin' woman met the first cheatin' man

W.C. Handy at the age of 19

This quote is 100% true, but in this case we're talking about the feeling Blues. The music is based on this feeling that existed years before the music emerged. In the beginning of the blues, around the late 19th century, few people heard of the blues as a music category even most of the musicians didn't know what  blues music was. It all started around the early teens of the 19th century. The first published blues was a song called "I Got the Blues" which appeared in New Orleans (not the Mississippi Delta!) in 1908. Its composer was, suprisingly,  an Italian American named Antonio Maggio. This song had a twelve-bar section using a melody that is a clear predecessor of W.C. Handy's "St. Louis Blues". I hear some of you asking W.C. Who? W.C. Handy is also know as "The Father of the Blues". Being the son and grandson of African Methodist Episcopal ministers, his first exposure to music was inside the Greater St. Paul A.M.E. church. From spirituals and work songs, the young Handy was inspired by the music he heard and gleaned as much as he could from local musicians, at the dismay and disappointment of his family. He once saved enough money from picking berries and nuts and making lye soap to buy a guitar. His father made him return it in exchange for a dictionary.

Not easily discouraged, Handy acquired a small cornet (small trumpet). He would play it at the local barber shop during the Florence Concert Band practice sessions. At a very young age, Handy could easily be described as a musical prodigy. He could read, write and arrange music, and most importantly, he could inspire. He performed at the Chicago World’s Fair and eventually joined Mahara’s Colored Minstrels playing cornet. Handy traveled extensively with the band for the next several years, becoming the troupe leader. He spent two years teaching music at A&M College in Huntsville, Alabama before the age of 19. He discovered teaching to be less than lucrative and left it for a factory job.

In 1903, Handy found himself in Clarksdale, Mississippi where he formed the band “Knights of Pythias,” a marching/dance band that appealed to both white and black audiences. It was the day of his famous tale that set him on the path to becoming one of America's defining pop composers. He had fallen asleep while waiting for a train in the Mississippi Delta hamlet of Tutwiler, he woke up to hear music:

A lean, loose-jointed Negro had commenced plunking a guitar beside me while I slept. His clothes were rags; his feet peeped out of his shoes. His face had on it some of the sadness of the ages. As he played , he pressed a knife on the strings of the guitar in a manner popularized by Hawaiian guitarists who used steel bars. The effect was unforgettable. 

His song, too, struck me instantly.

      

      Goin' where the Southern cross' the Dog.

The singer repeated the line three times, accompanying himself on the guitar with the weirdest music I had ever heard.

W.C. Handy was struck and began making Blues music which resulted in "Mr Crump" (1909).  This song was later changed and became “Memphis Blues.” He made a deal to get the song published in 1912, making it the first published commercial blues song. “Memphis Blues” became a big hit, but Handy didn’t get to reap the rewards of its success since he had sold the rights to it. To avoid this problem, he published his next successful song, “St. Louis Blues” (1914), using his own company which was later known Handy Brothers Music Company. Other Handy hit songs included Yellow Dog Blues (1914) and “Beale Street Blues” (1916).

We can say that this was some kind of turning point, from now on the term Blues was also associated with music. For a lot of people this is the 'official' start of the Blues. Through all the years, from the "beginning" until now, the word "Blues" was used to define and catagorize music. And musical categories are artificial constructs, useful for many purposes but meaningless and limiting for others. In all those years Ragtime, Hokum, Folk, Soul, Rock & Roll and so on was found in the Blues section of a record store. Is that wrong? No! It's just personal... I continue this discussion in part III of "The Beginning of the Blues"!

If you're interested in origins of the blues and an alternative view on the blues go out and buy 'Escaping the Delta' of Elijah Wald! (I borrowed some things of this well-written book!).