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Jazz is not Blues and Blues is not Jazz.......

I have been a music fan all my life and listen to classic Jazz and female vocals mostly.  I did not see this throughout most of my life, but now some internet sites and more seem to lump Jazz and Blues into the same thought. 
B.B. King is great, but he is not Jazz.  Paul Desmond is great, but he is not Blues.   

Perhaps next Buck Owens will be considered Blues, or Lawrence Welk or let's have Buddy Holly as a Jazz artist? 

Trite, trivial and ill informed, it is all the rage in politics, why not music?




whatjd

Showing 4 responses by three_easy_payments

three_easy_payments's avatar
three_easy_payments
2,097 posts
 
Don't get me wrong, the blues and jazz are completely different genres...but, there is an incredible library of jazz music covering the blues and based on the standard 12 bar blues structure...and immense amount in fact.  
three_easy_payments's avatar
three_easy_payments
2,097 posts
 
They are definitely different genres but jazz musicians have played the blues since the 40's. Most of what they played was "bop and blues" for decades.  Countless album titles like "Coltrane Plays the Blues" have been made over the years.

Interestingly blues musicians seem much less interested in playing jazz however.
three_easy_payments's avatar
three_easy_payments
2,097 posts
 
Speaking as a guitar player myself I will say it's much easier to learn to play the blues with no formal music theory training.  Jazz is difficult to play well w/o having some fundamental understanding of music theory.  This is all the mechanical part of music.  Now how to play the blues and convey soul stirring feeling?  You're simply born with that ability.
three_easy_payments's avatar
three_easy_payments
2,097 posts
 
@whatjd 

As much as I like B.B. King, I do not consider him Jazz

I think the lines can be more blurred that you're giving credit to.  You do realize there's an immense body of work of BB King recording with the Jazz Crusaders, right???
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