Re: Blues Plate Special (almost no Who)

[Howard Powers <howie@rexnet.net>]

I had written:

> > Btw, many rhythm and early rock-n-roll tunes were blues... Bill haley's
> Flip
> > Flop and Fly (a Blues Bros. cover)

Mark R. Leaman wrote:

> Uh, wasn't that done by Big Joe Turner? Haley may have covered it, but...
> And I'd call that one R&B, rather than Blues.

Yes, before Haley had a hit with the tune, I do believe Big Joe had done it.
And, as I had originally posted, I wasn't able to drudge the song from my
memory banks to sing it to verify if it was a blues.  I now am able to, and I
was correct... it is a blues.  It is done by Big Joe in an R&B style, by Bill
Haley in a Rock n Roll/R&B style, and by the Blues Bros. in an R&B style.  I'm
sure you know that R&B stands for "both kinds of music" (to quote that very
excellent movie), rhythm and blues.  I don't know much about early R&B, but I
suspect that not all R&B songs are blues, just as not all "blues" songs are
blues.

The style of music has nothing to do with whether or not a particular song is a
blues number.  As I posted, a blues tune is identified by it's chord
structure.  The whole point of my post was that many rock songs are blues, done
in a rock style.  And many blues artists play non-blues songs in a blues style.

Again, one can speak of "blues" as a specific kind of chord structure, or one
can speak of "the blues" as a style of playing any kind of tune.  As you
pointed out, Mose Allison was a jazz player, but he played a lot of blues.  I
would say his style was often very bluesy, as well.  Whereas when Miles Davis
played a blues, it was 100% in a jazz style (BTW, Miles's "All Blues" is not a
blues tune!).  There are thousands of examples of jazz tunes that are 12-bar
blues.  Are those tunes blues? Yes.  Are they "the blues?"  Usually, no.

Have I made myself clearer, or just stirred up the water so it's even muddier?
I guess another way to say it is that whether or not a song is a blues tune is
a matter of fact.  Whether or not a song is "the blues" or even "bluesy" could
be a matter of opinion.  I've heard a helluva lotta blues.

Again, I hope this helps.  I'm doing the best I can at relating the information
in my head, out my fingertips and across electronic time and space.

By the way, last night I heard an awesome blues guitarist named Larry Garner.
Very tasty, not flashy, and with a band that is air-fricking-tight!  His
bassist and drummer can get pretty flashy, though.  This is the best blues band
I've heard in probably a year.  I'm in Ft. Wayne (he played in a little joint
down the street), but he plays everywhere from here to Louisiana (he's from
Baton Rouge, I think he said)... If any of y'all like the blues, DON'T MISS
LARRY GARNER.

Long Live Rock!

Howard P.