Blues musicians. The best blues artists of all time

Blues performers almost never enjoyed the same popularity as the kings of pop music, and not only in our country, but also in the homeland of this style - in the USA. Complicated sound, minor melody and original vocals often repel the mass listener who is used to simpler rhythms.

Musicians who adapted this music of the black South and created more accessible derivatives of it (rhythm and blues, boogie-woogie and rock and roll) gained great fame. Many superstars (Little Richard, Ray Charles and others) started their careers as blues performers and returned to their roots many times.

Blues is not just a style and way of life. He is alien to any narcissism and thoughtless optimism - traits inherent in pop music. The name of the style is derived from the phrase blue devils, which literally means "blue devils". It is these bad inhabitants of the underworld that torment the soul of a person who has everything wrong in this life. But the energy of music demonstrates an unwillingness to submit to difficult circumstances and expresses full determination to fight them.

Folk music, stylistically formed during the 19th century, became known to the mass listener in the twenties of the next century. Huddy Ledbetter and Lemon Jefferson, the first mainstream blues artists, in a sense broke the monolithic cultural picture of the Jazz Age and diluted the dominance of the big bands with a new sound. Mami Smith recorded Crazy Blues, which suddenly became very popular among the white and colored population.

The thirties and forties of the XX century became the era of boogie-woogie. This new direction was characterized by an increase in the role of application and organs, an acceleration of the tempo and an increase in the expressiveness of the vocals. The overall harmony remains the same, but the sound is as close as possible to the tastes and preferences of the mass listener. blues of the mid and late forties - Joe Turner, Jimmy Rushing - created the basis for what in a few years would be called rock and roll, with all the characteristic features of this style (a powerful rich sound created, as a rule, by four musicians, dance rhythm and extremely exalted stage manner).

Blues performers of the early forties and sixties, such as BBC King, Sony Boy Williamson, Ruth Brown, Besi Smith and many others, created masterpieces that enriched the treasury of world music, as well as works that are practically unknown to the modern listener. Only a few amateurs who know, appreciate and collect records of their favorite artists enjoy this music.

The genre is popularized by many modern blues performers. Foreign musicians, such as Eric Clapton and Chris Rea, perform compositions and sometimes record joint albums with older classics who have made a huge contribution to the formation of the style.

Russian blues players ("Chizh and Co", "Road to the Mississippi", "League of Blues", etc.) went their own way. They create their own compositions, in which, in addition to the characteristic minor melody, ironic texts play an important role, expressing the same rebelliousness and dignity of a good person who feels bad ...

Where did you play: Jefferson Airplaine, Jefferson Starship, Starship, The Great Society

Genres: classic rock, blues rock

What's cool: Grace Slick is the vocalist of the legendary psychedelic band Jefferson Airplane. Possessing not only a bewitching voice, but also an attractive appearance (one eye is worth something!), She became a real sex symbol of the 1960s, and the songs White Rabbit and Somebody to Love composed by her became rock classics. Grace Slick's powerful voice broke new ground in female rock and brought her to 20th place in the list of "The 100 Greatest Women of Rock and Roll". Unfortunately, her propensity for outrageousness and addiction to alcohol and drugs pretty much blurred her career. However, after leaving the world of music in 1990, Grace found herself in the visual arts. A significant part of her artistic work is made up of portraits of colleagues in the rock scene.

Quote: I sang then with such force and anger that women of that time were afraid to show. I realized for myself that a woman can ignore stereotypes and do whatever she wants.

Mariska Veres

Where did you play:: Shocking Blue, solo career

Genres: rhythm and blues, classic rock

What is cool: Mariska Veresh is the owner of one of the most powerful and beautiful voices in rock music, a stunning beauty and ... an insanely shy and vulnerable girl. Given the mores of the late 60s - early 70s, you can imagine how difficult it was for her. However, be that as it may, Shocking Blue reached the pinnacle of musical fame and immortalized both themselves and their work, largely thanks to Mariska. And even the pets in every home know their ubiquitous Venus almost by heart.

Quote: Before, I was just a painted doll, no one could get close to me. Now I am more open to people.

Janis Joplin

Where did you play: Big Brother & The Holding Company, Kozmic Blues Band, Full Tilt Boogie Band

Genres: blues rock

What's cool: One of the members of the notorious 27 Club. In her short life, Janis Joplin managed to release only four albums, one of which was released after her death, but this does not prevent critics around the world from considering her the best white blues performer and one of the greatest vocalists in rock history. -music. Joplin received several major awards, but, again, posthumously - in 1995 she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in 2005 she "received" a Grammy for excellence, and in 2013 a star was opened in her honor on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood. Her creative activity began in 1961, largely under the influence of the then popular beatniks, in whose company the young girl spent the summer of 1960. Joplin was considered unusual, not to say strange - she came to classes at the university in Levi's jeans, went barefoot and carried a zither everywhere with her in case she wanted to sing. The turning point in Joplin's career was a performance with Big Brother & The Holding Company at the Montreuil Festival. Then the group even performed twice, because the director Pennebaker wanted to record them on tape. You can talk a lot about Janice's achievements: despite her short life, she managed to do a lot. What is worth one participation in the cult festival Woodstock in 1969 on the same stage with The Who and Hendrix. Until now, disputes about the cause of the death of the singer have not subsided. Someone says that drug addiction is to blame, someone insists that it was suicide. One way or another, many agree that the spontaneous and premature death was a very cruel joke of fate, because at that moment Joplin's life began to improve - she was going to get married, had not used heroin for a long time. But she still wasn't happy.

Quote: At the stadium, I make love to twenty-five thousand people, and then I return home alone.

Annie Haslam

Where did you play: Renaissance, solo career

Genres: progressive rock, classic rock

What's cool: All polls like "Best Prog Vocalist" quickly lose their intrigue if Annie is on the list. And it is hardly surprising for you if you have heard at least one song sung to her. Pure, carried away to some transcendental heights, seemingly fragile, but at the same time quite powerful five-octave vocals of Haslam brought her and Renaissance crowds of fans in the 70s. Next - a successful solo career as a singer and artist, a fortunately victorious battle with cancer and periodic reunions of the group for live performances.

Quote: I always wondered: we were so unique and still are, so shouldn't we have done more than we did? At the very least, we should have recorded all of our shows on video. We had to record as much as possible. We did practically nothing.

Blues performers can be called freedom singers. In their songs and in their music they sing about life itself, without embellishment, but at the same time with the hope of brighter times. Here are the best blues artists of all time, according to the JazzPeople portal.

Top Blues Artists

They say the blues is when a good person feels bad. We have collected the most famous blues singers, whose work reflects the structure of this difficult world.

BB King

King called all his guitars "Lucille". One story from concert activity is connected with this name. Once, during a performance, two men started a fight and overturned a kerosene stove. This caused a fire, all the musicians hurriedly left the institution, but BB King, risking himself, returned for the guitar.

Later, after learning that a woman named Lucille was the cause of the fight, he named his guitar that way as a sign that no woman is worth such nonsense.

For more than 20 years, King battled diabetes, which caused his death at the age of 89 on May 14, 2015.

Robert Leroy Johnson

- a bright, but quickly flying star in the world of blues music - was born on May 8, 1911. In his youth, he met famous blues musicians Sun House and Willie Brown and decided to start playing the blues professionally.

A few months of training in the team only led to the fact that the guy remained a good amateur. Then Robert swore that he would play great and disappeared for several months. When he reappeared, the level of his game became significantly higher. Johnson himself said that he contacted the devil. The legend of the musician who sold his soul for the ability to play the blues has spread throughout the world.

Robert Leroy Johnson died at the age of 28 on August 16, 1938. He was allegedly poisoned by the husband of his mistress. His family had no money, so he was buried in the municipal cemetery. Johnson's legacy is hard to count - although he recorded very little himself, his songs were often performed by many world stars (Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, The Doors, Bob Dylan).

Muddy Waters

- the founder of the Chicago school - was born on April 4, 1913 in the small town of Rolling Fork. As a child, he learned to play the harmonica, and as a teenager he mastered the guitar.

A simple acoustic guitar didn't suit Muddy much. He really started playing only at the moment when he switched to electric guitar. A powerful roar and a jerky voice glorified the novice singer and performer. In fact, the work of Muddy Waters is on the verge between blues and rock and roll. The musician died on April 30, 1983.

Gary Moore

- a famous Irish guitarist, singer and songwriter - was born on April 4, 1952. In his career, he experimented a lot with different areas of music, but still gave preference to the blues.

In one of his interviews, Moore admitted that he likes the dialogue that occurs between vocals and guitar in the blues. This opens up a wide field for experimentation.

Interestingly, although Gary Moore was left-handed, from childhood he learned to play the guitar as a right-hander and performed like that all his life until his death on February 6, 2011.

Eric Clapton

- one of the most influential figures of British rock - was born on March 30, 1945. He is the only musician to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame three times, twice with a band and once as a solo artist. Clapton played in various genres, but always gravitated towards the blues, which made his playing recognizable and distinctive.

Sonny Boy Williamson I & II

Sonny Boy Williamson is an American blues harmonica player and singer born December 5, 1912.

There are two famous Sonny Boy Williamsons in the world. The fact is that Sonny Boy Williamson II took on the pseudonym of the same name in honor of his idol - Sonny Boy Williamson I. The fame of the second Sony greatly overshadowed the legacy of the first, although it was he who was an innovator in his field.

Sonny Boy was one of the most famous and original harmonica players. He is distinguished by a special style of performance: simple, melodic, smooth. Lyrics of his songs: thin, lyrical.

Williamson II most of all valued not fame, but personal comfort, so sometimes he allowed himself to disappear for a couple of months to rest, and then reappear on stage. Sonny Boy Williamson II passed away on May 25, 1965.

Now let's take a look at the best blues rock bands from around the world. In addition, I will give you a list of good albums and Russian bands in this genre.

The best blues rock bands

The combination of blues and early rock to develop the blues rock genre did not take place in a vacuum. In many ways, this is an invention of white British children. They were in love with blues records from Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and other artists that were imported to the UK.

Blues godfathers Alexis Korner and John Mayall created the genre. He still finds a response in the hearts of many listeners today. Here are the earliest and best blues rock artists.

Alexis Korner (Alexis Korner)

Known as " father of british blues". A musician and leader of his bands, Alexis Korner was an integral part of the 1960s blues scene in England.

His own musical groups contributed to the popularization of the blues. And at the start of this decade, Korner was performing with a long list of British royal music.

In all his work, he never enjoyed huge commercial success. Thus, his influence on the development of blues rock is beyond doubt. What can not be said about his peers and junior assistants.

John Mayall (John Mayall)

British musician John Mayall has made a significant contribution to the development of such genres as jazz, blues and blues rock during his fifty-year career.

He discovered and developed the instrumental talents of Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Mike Taylor.

Mayall has a lot of albums in his luggage. They show blues, blues rock, jazz and African musical styles.

Peter Green (Peter Green) and the band Fleetwood Mac

Fleetwood Mac is primarily known worldwide for its revolutionary chart-topping pop rock act. Led by guitarist Peter Green, the band made a name for themselves as psychedelic blues.

The group was formed in 1967. She released her first in 1968. A combination of original compositions and blues cover art, the album became a commercial success in the UK, spending a year on the charts.

In 1970, due to his illness, Peter Green left the band. But even after his departure, Fleetwood Mac continued to perform and work on new compositions.

Rory Gallagher (Rory Gallagher) and the group Taste

In the second half of the 1960s, at the height of the British blues rock fashion, Rory Gallagher showed performances of his band Taste.

Due to their dynamic showmanship, the band toured with superstars Yes and Blind Faith. She even performed in 1970 on the Isle of Wight.

The band was formed in 1966 by Rory Gallakher, bassist Eric Ketherin and drummer Norman Damery.

After a concert in the UK, Rory Galakher's band disbanded.

After moving to London, this twenty-year-old guitarist assembled a new version of his Taste team with bassist Richard McCracken and drummer John Wilson. After signing a contract with Polydor, began recording and touring in the US and Canada.

For decades, The Rolling Stones have been the coolest rock band on the planet. She had the best selling albums. Especially in the USA. Therefore musicians are very successful. Their contribution to the development of rock music is very huge.

The Yardbirds and British blues rock

The Yardbirds were one of the most influential and innovative British blues rock bands of the early 1960s. Their influence is felt far beyond their fleeting commercial successes.

Formed in the early 1960s as the Blues Metropolis quartet, by 1963 the group was known as the Yardbirds.

Featuring vocalist Keith Ralph, guitarist Chris Drah and Andrew Topham, bassist Paul Samwell-Smith and drummer Jimi McCarthy, the band quickly made a name for themselves with an electrifying, fusion of classic Blues and R&B.

The first Yardbirds album was called "Five Live Yardbirds". It was recorded in 1964 at the Marquee Club. Performers began to add elements of pop, rock and jazz.

Eric Clapton left the band in 1965 to play pure blues with Bluesbreakers John Mayall. New guitarist Jeff Beck has brought a new dimension to the band's sound. In 1968, the team broke up.

Top Blues Rock Albums

Below I want to present the best blues rock albums. I recommend listening to them at your leisure. Here is the list:

The world of blues is full of brilliant musicians who gave their best on every album, and some of them became legends without ever releasing a single record! JazzPeople chose the 5 best blues albums recorded by great musicians, which influenced not only their own lives and work, but also influenced the entire development of the music of this genre.

B.V. King - Why I Sing the Blues

"King of the Blues" has released more than 40 albums during his long creative career and has forever remained in the hearts of millions of fans around the world. In 1983, his 17th disc was released called Why I Sing the Blues, which literally answered the question of why King sings the blues.

The tracklist included such well-known compositions of the musician as Ain't Nobody Home, Ghetto Woman, Why I Sing the Blues, To Know You is To Love You, and of course, the first of them was the famous The Thrill is Gone, which received huge popularity and many awards. The music of the blues maestro has always evoked deep emotions and reciprocal feelings in the listeners, and on this disc, the most "tart" songs of King were collected, in fact, allowing us to "enter into a conversation" with the bluesman and listen to his exciting story, in this case, more than one.

Robert Johnson

The great Robert Johnson, who, according to legend, sold his soul to the devil in exchange for learning how to play the blues, did not record a single album in his short life (Johnson died at 27), but nevertheless, his music is not just alive to this day , it haunts both famous musicians and blues fans. The whole life of the guitarist was shrouded in a halo of mysticism and strange coincidences, which was directly reflected in his work.

In addition to numerous remakes and reissues of his compositions, the 1998 album definitely deserves attention (the official re-release of the 1961 album) King of the Delta Blues Singers. The album cover itself already sets you up for a solitary listening and complete immersion in the difficult world of Robert Johnson, who seems to be still alive. If you want to try to understand the blues, start with Johnson, with his soulful Cross Road Blues, Walking Blues, Me and the Devil Blues, Hellhound on My Trail, Traveling Riverside Blues.

Stevie Ray Vaughan

The tragically deceased (he crashed in a helicopter in 1990 at the age of 35) still managed to leave a grand mark in the history of blues music. The work of the singer and guitarist stood out for its originality and powerful manner of performance. The musician collaborated and gave concerts with many famous blues figures, such as Buddy Guy, Albert King and others.

In any improvisation, Vaughn conveyed his feelings and emotions with brilliance and genuine openness, thanks to which the world blues was replenished with new hits.

His colorful album Texas Flood, recorded with the Double Trouble team and released in 1983, included the most famous and later brought the greatest popularity to the musician compositions, including Pride and Joy, Texas Flood, Mary Had a Little Lamb, Lenny, and of course, the languid, unhurried Tin Pan Alley. The bluesman shares with his listeners not just his music, but a part of the soul in every melody he performs, and all of them, of course, deserve close attention.

Buddy Guy - Damn Right, I've Got the Blues

It is not surprising that a bluesman with such musical talent was quickly noticed and taken under his protection. The unique, virtuoso playing and charisma of Buddy Guy quickly brought him fame and respect from colleagues and listeners around the world, and an album with a screaming title Damn Right, I've Got the Blues received a Grammy Award in 1991.

The record abounds with excellent lyrics, unique performance and emotional transmission in the compositions, and in terms of styles - electro-blues, Chicago, sometimes even archaic blues. The dynamics and character of the record is set immediately by the first song - Damn Right, I've Got the Blues, continues in Five Long Years, There Is Something on Your Mind, takes us to the night world of the musician in Black Night, after which it awakens the dynamic Let Me Love You Baby, and in the finale of the disc, the musician pays tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughn, who died in 1990, in the track Rememberin' Stevie.

T-Bone Walker

You can feel the spirit of real Texas blues by listening to the temperamental T-Bone Walker's album Good Feelin', recorded in 1969 and received a Grammy a year later. The disc contains the artist's great tracks - Good Feelin', Every Day I Have the Blues, Sail On, Little Girl, Sail On, See You Next Time, Vacation Blues.

The bluesman had a significant influence on the work of many talented musicians, including Otis Rush, Jimi Hendrix, BB King, Freddie King and many others. The album reveals the true character of Walker, demonstrating all the greatness of his playing, virtuosity and vocal technique. The peculiarity of the disc was that it begins and ends with Walker's unofficial narration, in which he accompanies himself on the piano. The musician greets the audience and invites them to focus on what comes next.