Buddy Bolden and the Blues

Black Southerner’s World in the US Before Civil Rights
Part 1 A Conversation with Amari Baraka
A I agree that blues is a non-diatonic music and does slur and slide the notes, which is the style that came from West Africa—but I also think that the blues is more than just that. There are a lot of things happening in blues and a lot of different styles that are incorporated into it, such as the style of gospel music, the harmonies of the southern church choirs and spirituals were incorporated into blues music. The black southerners turned these gospel songs into spirituals along with the instruments of the time such as fiddles and guitars, which they would use for its strings as well as a type of drum on which they would tap out the rhythm of their songs. Or there was Buddy Bolden with his brass instruments, infusing the blues with new sounds this way. So I feel the music was a lot more eclectic.
B I believe that rhythm is very important to the blues but again I do not think it is the only characteristic or main element of the music that can be isolated. Blues has harmony, it has melody, it has a gospel quality to it, and it is also based on personal experience in a lot of cases or at least is a personalized style of music in which a narrative is constructed and conveyed. African music have survived in its rhythms which can be found in the blues, but blues has a lot of styles of music in it because it comes from an eclectic place in the south where many different people and cultures were mixing. For example, the blues songs by Gertrude Rainey and Bessie Smith from the early 20th century show a lot of personality and individualistic qualities, which really display an American experience for southern blacks, though of course the rhythms of Africa may be said to be present: I just do not think that’s all that is happening here.
C I definitely agree with the statement that the Negro’s way in this part of the Western world was adaptation and reinterpretation. Buddy Bolden, for example, was definitely adapting and reinterpreting the gospels and sounds that were all around in New Orleans in the 19th century during Reconstruction. He was expressing in his music a personalized account of what it was like to be free and black in the south yet still having to face the Jim Crow laws of the police. In many ways Bolden’s music was like a protest against the oppression that still lived, but it was also grounded in the musical traditions of the south—the brass bands, the gospel, and African roots.
D I agree that blues is formed out of the same social and music fabric that the spiritual issued from, though there is also more to the blues than just the spiritual or gospel strain. The blues is also cut from the personal experiences of its writers and performers. For example, the female performers Gertrude Rainey and Bessie Smith wrote songs about their relationships, having to live in the south, and all kinds of experiences that really have nothing to do with anything spiritual or gospel related.
E This is one statement that I can definitely get behind: “Blues is an extremely personal music”—I agree. Blues comes from a personal experience that black southerners communicated to their audiences. It comes from places ranging from pain to joy and there is a lot of heart, experience, and wisdom in the blues that seems to have been pressed from time and thoughtfulness. However, it was also a communal type of music: the musician was sharing a sentiment and bonding with the listener, so it wasn’t all about the personal experience but rather about sharing an experience.
Part 2 Social Portrait
Buddy Bolden lived during the Reconstruction era in the Delta. He was born in 1877 and died in 1931. While blacks were free now, they were not exactly treated equally, and Buddy reflected this in his music. Indeed, many of his songs were viewed as bad by the police and if they heard a black singing them they would lock him up (Barker, 1998). There is the one example of when Buddy starts playing one of his songs with his band in the street and the police start bopping people on the head as the blacks sing along. There was a joyful mischievousness about it all that gave Buddy a special place in the Delta.
The fact that Buddy was born after Reconstruction officially ended is telling, I feel, because it meant that life in New Orleans was not going to get any better and young people like Buddy who grew up in this time knew it. The south was poor and Buddy’s family was too. Buddy’s father died when he was just six and Buddy died in poverty after drinking too much for much of his life (Barker, 1998). His music gave him a sense of community while he was still able to play it, but by his 30s, he had poor mental health. Still, prior to his decline, the blues was special to him and his listeners. It allowed them to be themselves in an environment that was changing and still being hostile to their race. Buddy and his bandmates played their music happily. After all, they had nothing to lose. That to me is what blues and jazz means too—it is music that personifies this attitude of “what do I have to lose?” and that is seen in the way Buddy would strut his music around in the face of the law and the people would sing along. The police wouldn’t like it, but they did not care.
Still, Buddy’s story is sad because he ended up going insane—and his story reflects the larger story of New Orleans, a city that essentially has fallen apart. The whole soul of the city seems to be carrying this weight of sadness and I think Buddy was part of that for a period and helped to express it in a way that was light. That is how I see this coming of jazz in that place at that time: jazz represented the soul of the city—alive but also defiant.

References
Barker, D. (1998). Buddy Bolden and the Last Days of Storyville. NY: Continuum.

Part 3 Song Lyrics Analysis
Gertrude Rainey’s “Slave to the Blues” reflects cultural influences in the lyrics by singing about being a slave—but not about being a slave to white men but rather to the “blues” which she gets from the fact that her man: “I’m a slave to the blues: even ‘bout that man of mine.” She sings about how she is a good woman and why she knows she still has to die a slave: she may be liberated by law but that doesn’t mean she’s still not wearing chains. The blues are her chains and she is not upset about it, as she sings in her song. She just wants so sympathy: “You see me raving: you hear me crying. Oh Lord: this wounded heart of mine. Folks I’m a grieving: from my head to my shoes. I’m a good-hearted woman: But I’m still chained to the blues.” There is a lot of Nina Simone in this song, I feel. I can read Rainey’s lyrics and hear Nina Simone singing them in her inimical voice while playing some classical piano chords and melodies to really lift up the lyrics and make them glow.
E.C. My Own Work Song
I got the blues from workin’ too hard
I got the blues but I ain’t no Bard
I got the blues, baby, yeah, I got the blues
I got ‘em in twos—and threes and fours and fives
You see I’m alive
But that don’t mean I want no jive
You see I ain’t dead
But that don’t mean I can’t be fed
You see I’m here
I’m standin’ here
I’m alive and I’m blue and I’m ready to give
You my blues
Give ‘em all to you, baby
You say I don’t give you nothin’ never,
Well, here take my blues.
I been workin’
You know I been workin’
So here’s the blues that I got paid with
I give it to you