Chicago Blues, a must read for students of the blues
931420
This book is a great history of the start and importance of the blues movement in Chicago. I enjoyed this read.
3618603
Well worth the read to learn about Chicago history. Working in the city I see things in a new light. Anyone who lives or works in or near Chicago should read this book.
984088
This is a very enjoyable read.  While fundamentally a blues history book, the chapters are organized topically along lines that will make sense to any blues enthusiast, and there are lots of pictures that (for me, anyway) help to cement the content in memory.  Shots of musicians and albums pepper almost every last page.  Comments on individual albums and songs, short anecdotes, and quotes keep the text moving at a brisk pace.

Chapters cover the topics of roots, Texas and Deep South blues, women in the blues, gospel influences, urban blues, East Coast and Piedmont blues, a chapter on the various "field trips" taken by several people to record early blues, the roots of R&B, and blues today.  The individual chapters were written by different authors, variously ranging from academics to blues publication writers.  The material hangs together extraordinarily well, though - to the point where the differing authorship is hardly noticible, in the best intended sense.  Unusual for most blues titles is also in-depth coverage of white blues, including commentary of the cross-overs between country music, particularly early country music, and the blues.

The book includes a discography and bibliography.  I would have really liked to have had some commentary with both, however, as they are pretty simplistic listings.  For perspective on individual recordings, you'll have to go elsewhere.  I use the "All Music Guide to the Blues" -&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/All-Music-Guide-to-the-Blues-The-Definitive-Guide-to-the-Blues/dp/0879307366/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">All Music Guide to the Blues: The Definitive Guide to the Blues</a>.

As B.B. King says in his short introduction - this is a "loving presentation" of the blues.  This is not a deep dive into controversies or academic arguments over roots and development.  Rather, it focuses on sub-genres, artists themselves, labels, and recording and entertainment history.  I'd recommend it anyone looking for perspective across the entire genre.
3521099
You've find it...
If you're looking for some grassy, rocky, jazzy blues,  don't go somewhere else. Chicago is the TOWN of BLUES. And this album (with  the other of the serie) is really what you should consider BLUES. Yes  Robert JOHNSON, Muddy WATTERS, John Lee HOOKER, BB KING, Eric CLAPTON are  over the top, but listen to this album. And if you had travel to Chicago  and had a beer in one of those bars around, you'll be right back in town. I  miss Chicago and my nights out there, but with THIS CD...
3836262
this is a serious history of the blues treating the blues with the same respect & seriousness given jazz, classical and other forms. it is a wonderful book combining interviews with blues legends like muddy waters and howling wolf with in-depth musical and cultural analysis.

for serious blues lovers or the novice looking for a deeper understanding of the music's roots, the culture that spawned and the incredible musicians who created it.
4280671
OH BOY! This is history in the making. Some of the great blues pioneers are on this cd. Honeyboy Edwards is a joy to listen too. he is still got the magic after a lifetime of playing the blues. Robert Jr. Lockwood is another great performer on this cd. You will enjoy this cd if you are in anyway interested in the blues.

John Walsh
1297355
The power and intensity of the Blues.  What racial relations are capable of in terms of achieving a higher LEVEL -- the Brits are great but you cannot touch this.  Butter and Bloomers cut it on stage in Black Chicago with Muddy, Holwin Wolf, etc.  This is the Real dues paying Deal with members of Muddy's band joining Butter and getting paid better to deliver electric, soaring, heart breaking blues.
It don't get any better than this.
Buy this CD.
1225961
Loved this book. Great back stories and insight into the BLUES. I have been a Margolin fan for years but had no idea he could write so well. I would have paid twice the price for a print copy, I still don't like E-books.
3129260
This book follows a young graduate student from the University of Chicago as he naively wanders into a housing project on Chicago's South Side, and a chance meeting with an up-and-coming gang leader, J.T., gives him almost unlimited access to one of the largest crack cocaine dealing gangs in Chicago.

It is fascinating to watch Sudhir become entangled and embedded with the tenants and gangs, despite warnings and recommendations for his professors to not get emotionally attached. How could he not? I found myself unable to put this book down. My heart broke with the plans to demolish the Robert Taylor Homes. Even though they weren't very safe and certainly weren't acceptable living conditions, the tenants and gangs established a give-and-take, sometimes ruled by fear, but a way to survive.

The writing style is clear, and gives the reader a chronological summary of what it was like to practically live in the Robert Taylor projects for the better part of a decade. Time moves quickly, and Sudhir gains access to more and more people throughout the course of the book. I was both amazed and saddened at the way of life, the way to make it day to day in the housing projects. This book sheds light on the extortion and corruption of everyone who lives there, each one justifying what they do to make it another day. An excellent and quick read.
21225
Excellent survey of the blues played by contemporaries in the mid sixties.  So much wish that it would come out as a CD format.  You will not be disappointed.  Has Ian Buchanan, who taught Jorma Kaukonen of Hot Tuna, Windin' Boy Blues!
4463279
I couldn't disagree more with the disappointed reviewer from New York; where he found this book too academic and removed I found it wonderfully illuminating. Where Paul Williams' writes well about Dylan's performances  of the songs, Gray writes brilliantly about the routes to the songs, and  the roots of the songs. Far from alienating the listener, Gray is likely to  allow you hear more in the songs. His chapters on "Street Legal",  "Shot of Love" and the biblical and blues influence in Dylan's  mid- and later-period work are not only well researched, but are immensely  readable. Gray really does shine a new light on areas or aspects of Dylan's  work that have perhaps been overlooked, or glossed over. Dylan himself,  over the years, has offered glimpses of his vast and seemingly bottomless  knowledge, understanding and love of American music (witness the exchanges  with David Gates in the Newsweek interview from a couple of years back).  Gray offers the reader a chance to peek into this deep well of song, and in  doing so enhances the power of Dylan's writing and singing. Where I found  the book weak was in the early chapters, which date from the first edition.  Though Gray rigorously footnotes errors or changes of opinion these early  chapters feel dated and lacking in depth. Lumpen and leaden they may be,  but stick with it; the book takes off when Gray gets the blues. (A quick  note on the footnotes: they are copious, packed with information, and offer  a map to a treasure trove of long forgotten blues, gospel and folk songs  and singers. They are also very often very, very funny.) Gray doesn't  attempt to "explain" the songs but he does illuminate them,  allowing the reader (and listener) to explore the territory of the songs.  "Angelina", "Jokerman" and the three versions of  "Caribbean Wind" receive a lot of attention from him, and what he  writes (and boy does he write) is fascinating and intelligent, and it made  me revisit the songs again and again. This is a great big lump of a book  that would be a worthwhile addition to any Dylan fan's library. While there  is lots here that will provoke outrage (Gray's merciless, and wickedly  funny,  skewering of "Empire Burlesque" and "Unplugged"  immediately spring to my mind) there is lots here that will delight too.  Getting agreement among Dylan fans about which bits are outrageous and  which delightful will be hard to do. Which, to me, is high praise for this  wonderful book.
992594
If you know the works of Memphis Minnie or not, Maria Muldaur and others put together a collection of blues that is too good to pass up. I highly recommend this to anyone interested or already a lover of blues.
2670835
This is not your typical overview of R&B through the decades. Such overviews typically contain lots of biographical tidbits about various R&B stars, discuss the show biz aspect (the rise of fall of various record labels), and discuss the sociological aspect of R&B as black music crossing over into pop. And so on. And there's nothing wrong with that. I've read many books of that ilk, and learned much from them.

But The New Blue Music is different. It is primarily an analysis of the MUSIC itself.  The author not only has a PhD in music and is a professional music teacher and arrange, he also spent many years as a performer.  So he combines the dedication of a music fan with the savvy of a musician and the expertise of an academic musicologist.

In that regard, I found chapter 2 particularly enlightening. That chapter contains perhaps the most thorough and readable analysis of the components of 20th century African-American music I have ever read.  The subsequent chapters analysis each decade from the 1950s onward and show how popular African-American of each decade (be it blues, R&B, soul, funk, or whatever) incorporates these components to varying degrees.

While clearly written, this is not light reading. This is a serious work of scholarship, and an invaluable contribution to the field.
1937190
Great discussion of their influences and how they shaped their iconic sound as they were putting the band together.  If you already know generally stuff about their influence from blues etc., but would like to read more insider detail, this is the book for you!
3112225
I never expected to hear Dr. House playing the blues, but after seeing him on tv once, I just had to give it a listen. From the first few chords of "St James Infirmary," I was hooked. From the soulful piano to the mournful voice, Mr. Laurie has the blues down pat! I really enjoyed it, and if you love blues music, you will too!
1760132
Jack Vaughan does not need a license to write about the blues. Like many an urban anthropologist he will not live the life on his petri dish - but he gets it. No flinging of gaseous theories and sonorous pronouncements here. Jack eyeballs the truth of the blues as art form as psychic disclaimer. "What did the blues do for you today? Woo-o-o-t, there it is!" This Slim volume carries the heart and soul of a human masterpiece. That's what Sunnyland Slim was...poetry, cause that's a sane way to measure the world (and the chicks dig it), faith, since you don't want to get caught being wrong about such a thing, reasonable, cause that's what a man does to get a drink around here. Do you like art? So did Slim, rest his soul. See, you've already got that in common. The man was a pleasure to be around, if only for the anecdotes he inspired. Jack Vaughan tells us stories in this book. Lots of them. Most of them are true. Some Slim probably invented. Mostly, he didn't have to though. You ought to take a chance and read this book because lives like Slim's don't come around too often and when they do writers like Jack aren't always there to catch them.
1726309
Sammon provides amazing insight attained from decades of touring with Blues legends like Otis Rush, Buddy Guy, etc.!  Chuck Leavell, keyboardist for the Rolling Stones, says it all in his foreward.  This is a must have for any aspiring Blues keyboard player. Well written and easily understandable.