Blind Blake – Mr. Diddy Wa Diddy (ENG)
The blues recording artist Blind Blake defies categorization. Although he is usually called a ragtime bluesman, that description does little to define the diversity of his music. The fact is, no other blues recording artist of his time sounded quite like him. His jazzy, highly syncopated guitar, his phrasing and speed on the fret board, the sly ironic songs he composed were not only a unique synthesis of styles, but technically beyond the reach of all his contemporaries, much as they remain to this day. Many have tried but few have succeeded in capturing Blake’s feel. He sets the bar for all finger pickers to aspire to. Blake is also unique in that he is the most mysterious of all blues artists. Where he came from, where and when he died, almost all the facts of his life are largely unknown or a source of great speculation. It is as…
An Introduction to Piano Blues
Rock n Roll changed everything. White kids playing rhythm and blues. How could this happen? This sound that had belonged only to the underprivileged black communities of America, suddenly broke through racial barriers and became a music revelation that not only took over the States, but the entire world. When Elvis sang Hound Dog and That’s All Right, two songs by Big Mama Thornton and Arthur Crudup, Afro American blues artists totally unknown to the greater world, he literally shook the foundations of the slave mentality and announced the emergence of a new world in which kids everywhere gave the finger to archaic prejudices. Rock’n Roll also made the guitar the most popular musical instrument in history. The guitar was, and remains, the coolest instrument ever made. The guitar allowed all of us to become musicians, singers and composers. You didn’t need to take lessons or learn to read music;…