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>Check out Francis Davis book THE HISTORY OF THE BLUES in paperback and >published by Hyperion books to get a very interesting, carefully argued, >respectful and challenging account of the lineage of "the blues." One >common assumption you repeat in your post is that "country blues" >spawned jazz. Davis argues and provides ample evidence that the two >evolved from the same root of anglo/African/American music, but after >that, all bets are off. One irrefutable fact, jazz recordings and >published music predates by as much as 30 years much of what we think of >as classic "country blues." King Oliver wasn't listening to "country >blues," and neither was Louis Armstrong! But they were both on record >well before Charlie Patton or Robert Johnson. > >In short, Davis does a good job of rearranging your musical and >historical sensibilities. i think that you and Davis both make a good point, that folk-style blues and jazz both evolved in a parallel fashion. it should be said, though, that the primary reasons that country blues recordings/sheet music weren't around is not that it didn't pre-date original jazz, but that, first, the performers were primarily poor slaves who weren't thought of as profitable outside of their value as plantation workers (a sad human rights reality in the old South), and second, that it was commonly believed that African/blues music was so foreign to traditional musical concepts that most music scholars didn't believe that it could be notated or written down. personally, i think that, contrary to what Davis says, it's very possible that the early jazzmen were influenced heavily by blues, but through live, in-person performances. any corrections to my historical understanding are of course welcomed ... i'm an English major, not a musicology student:) best, zach:) ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com