The best blues artists of all time. The best blues performers of all time
Now we’ll 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. This is largely the invention of white British children. They were in love with blues records from Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and other artists that were imported into Britain.
The godfathers of the blues, Alexis Korner and John Mayall created the genre. It still resonates 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 bandleader, Alexis Korner was an integral part of the 1960s blues scene in England.
His own bands helped popularize the blues. And at the beginning of this decade, Korner performed 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. The same cannot be said about his peers and younger 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 over his fifty-year career.
He discovered and began to develop the instrumental talents of Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Mike Taylor.
Mayall has a lot of albums in her luggage. They feature blues, blues rock, jazz and African musical styles.
Peter Green and Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac is primarily known around the world for being a groundbreaking chart-topping pop rock act. Led by guitarist Peter Green, the group made a name for itself as a psychedelic blues act.
The group was formed in 1967. And she released her first one in 1968. A combination of original compositions and blues cover art, the album became a commercial success in the UK, spending a year in the charts.
In 1970, due to his illness, Peter Green left the group. But even after his departure, Fleetwood Mac continued to perform and work on new compositions.
Rory Gallagher and Taste
In the second half of the 1960s, at the height of the British blues rock fashion, under the influence of the crowd, Rory Gallagher showed performances of his band Taste.
Thanks to their dynamic showmanship, the group has 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 Gallagher, bassist Eric Keatherin and drummer Norman Damery.
After a concert in the UK, Rory Gallagher's band broke up.
After moving to London, the twenty-year-old guitarist formed a new version of his band Taste with bassist Richard McCracken and drummer John Wilson. After signing a contract with Polydor, recording and touring began throughout the United States and Canada.
For decades, The Rolling Stones were the coolest rock band on the planet. She had best-selling albums. Especially in the USA. That's why musicians are very successful. Their contribution to the development of rock music is enormous.
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 Relf, guitarist Chris Drach and Andrew Topham, bassist Paul Samwell-Smith and drummer Jimi McCarthy, the band quickly made a name for themselves with an electrifying, blend of classic Blues and R&B.
The Yardbirds' first 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 music.
Eric Clapton left the band in 1965 to play pure blues with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. New guitarist Jeff Beck brought a new dimension to the band's sound. In 1968, the team broke up.
The best 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:
Where played: Jefferson Airplaine, Jefferson Starship, Starship, The Great Society
Genres: classic rock, blues rock
What's cool: Grace Slick is the lead singer of the legendary psychedelic band Jefferson Airplane. Possessing not only a bewitching voice, but also an attractive appearance (the eyes alone are worth it!), 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 opened up new dimensions for female rock and brought her to 20th place on the list of "The 100 Greatest Women of Rock and Roll." Unfortunately, her penchant for shocking behavior and addiction to alcohol and drugs significantly 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 consists of portraits of her colleagues in the rock scene.
Quote: I sang then with such strength 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
Photo - Ricky Noot →
Where played:: Shocking Blue, solo career
Genres: rhythm and blues, classic rock
What's cool: Mariska Veres is the owner of one of the most powerful and beautiful voices in rock music, a stunning beauty and... an incredibly shy and vulnerable girl. Considering the morals of the late 60s and early 70s, one can imagine how difficult it was for her. However, be that as it may, Shocking Blue reached the pinnacle of musical fame and immortalized themselves and their work largely thanks to Mariska. And even 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'm more open to people.
Janis Joplin
Photo - David Gahr →
Where played: 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 Club 27. During 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 singer and one of the greatest vocalists in the history of rock. -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 outstanding achievement, and in 2013 a star was unveiled 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, if not strange - she came to classes at the university in Levi's jeans, walked barefoot and carried a zither with her everywhere in case she wanted to sing. A turning point in Joplin's career was her performance as part of Big Brother & The Holding Company at the Montreuil festival. Then the group even performed twice because director Pennebaker wanted to record them on film. We can talk a lot about Janice’s achievements: despite her short life, she accomplished a lot. Just take part in the cult Woodstock festival in 1969 on the same stage with The Who and Hendrix. Disputes about the cause of the singer’s death are still ongoing. Some say that drug addiction is to blame, others insist 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 getting married, and had not used heroin for a long time. But she still wasn’t happy.
Quote: I make love to twenty-five thousand people in a stadium and then go home alone.
Annie Haslam
Photo - R.G. Daniel →
Where played: 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. Haslam’s pure, soaring to some transcendental heights, seemingly fragile, but at the same time quite powerful five-octave vocals brought her and Renaissance crowds of fans in the 70s. Next - a successful solo career as a singer and artist, a fortunately victorious fight against 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 least we should have videotaped all our shows. We had to write down as much as possible. We did practically nothing.
Blues is when a good person feels bad.
Rejection and loneliness, crying and melancholy, the bitterness of life, seasoned with burning passion, from which the heart is excited - this is the blues. This is not just music, this is real, true magic.
Overflowing with good sadness Bright Side collected two dozen legendary blues compositions that have stood the test of time. Naturally, we could not cover the entire vast layer of this divine music, so we traditionally suggest sharing in the comments those compositions that do not leave you indifferent.
Canned Heat - On The Road Again
Canned Heat blues enthusiasts and collectors have revived a huge number of forgotten blues classics from the 1920s and 30s. The group achieved its greatest fame in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Well, their most famous song was On The Road Again.
Muddy Waters - Hoochie Coochie Man
The mysterious expression “hoochie coochie man” is known to everyone who loves the blues even a little, because this is the name of a song considered a classic of the genre. The "Hoochie coochie" was the name of a sexy female dance that captivated audiences during the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. But the expression “hoochie coochie man” came into use only after 1954, when Muddy Waters recorded a Willie Dixon song that instantly became popular.
John Lee Hooker - Boom Boom
Boom Boom was released as a single in 1961. By that time, Lee Hooker had been playing at the Apex Bar in Detroit for quite some time and was constantly late for work. When he appeared, the bartender Willa would say, “Boom boom, you’re late again.” And so every evening. One day Lee Hooker thought that this “boom boom” might make a good song. And so it happened.
Nina Simone - I Put A Spell On You
Songwriter Screamin Jay Hawkins originally intended to record I Put A Spell On You in the style of a blues love ballad. However, according to Hawkins, “the producer got the whole band drunk and we recorded this fantastic version. I don't even remember the recording process. Before that I was just a regular blues singer, Jay Hawkins. Then I realized I could make more destructive songs and scream to death.”
In this collection we have included the most sensual version of this song performed by the magnificent Nina Simone.
Elmore James - Dust My Broom
Written by Robert Johnson, Dust My Broom became a blues standard after it was performed by Elmore James. Subsequently, it was covered more than once by other performers, but, in our opinion, the best version can be called the version by Elmore James.
Howlin Wolf - Smokestack Lightnin'
Another blues standard. Wolfe's howl can make you empathize with the author, even if you don't understand the language in which he sings. Incomparable.
Eric Clapton - Layla
Eric Clapton dedicated this song to Pattie Boyd, his wife George Harrison (The Beatles), with whom they secretly met. Layla is an incredibly romantic and touching song about a man hopelessly in love with a woman who also loves him, but remains unavailable.
B.B. King - Three O'Clock Blues
It was this song that made Riley B. King, a native of the cotton plantations, famous. This is a common story like: “I woke up early. Where did my woman go? A true classic performed by the King of the Blues.
Buddy Guy & Junior Wells - Messin' With The Kid
A blues standard performed by Junior Wells and virtuoso guitarist Buddy Guy. It's simply impossible to sit still with this 12-bar blues.
Janis Joplin - Kozmic Blues
As Eric Clapton said, “The blues is the song of a man who has no woman or whose woman has left him.” In the case of Janis Joplin, the blues turned into a real frantic emotional striptease of a hopelessly in love woman. Her blues is not just a song with repetitive vocal parts. These are constantly changing emotional experiences, when plaintive pleas move from quiet sobs to a hoarse desperate cry.
Big Mama Thornton - Hound Dog
Thornton was considered one of the coolest performers of her time. Although Big Mama achieved fame with only one hit, Hound Dog, it remained at the top of Billboard magazine's rhythm and blues charts for seven weeks in 1953 and sold nearly two million copies in total.
Robert Johnson - Crossroad Blues
For a long time, Johnson tried to master the blues guitar in order to perform with his comrades. However, this art was extremely difficult for him. For some time he parted with his friends and disappeared, and when he appeared in 1931, the level of his skill increased many times over. On this occasion, Johnson told a story that there was a certain magical crossroads at which he made a deal with the devil in exchange for the ability to play the blues. Maybe the damn cool song Crossroad Blues is about this particular crossroads?
Gary Moore - Still Got The Blues
The most famous song in Russia by Gary Moore. According to the musician himself, it was recorded in the studio the first time from start to finish. And we can safely say that even those who do not understand the blues at all know it.
Tom Waits - Blue Valentine
Waits has a distinctive, husky voice, described by critic Daniel Dutchhols as: "It's like it's been soaked in a barrel of bourbon, like it's been left in a smokehouse for months and then ridden over when it's taken out." His lyrical songs are stories, often told in the first person, with grotesque images of seedy places and characters battered by life. An example of such a song is Blue Valentine.
Steve Ray Vaughan - Texas Flood
Another blues standard. The 12-bar blues performed by a virtuoso guitarist touches the soul and gives you goosebumps.
Ruth Brown - I Don't Know
Song from the wonderful film "Moonlight Tariff". It plays at the very moment when the main character, nervous before the meeting, lights candles and pours wine into glasses. Ruth Brown's soulful voice is simply captivating.
Harpo Slim - I'm A King Bee
A song with simple lyrics, written in the best blues traditions, helped Slim become famous in an instant. The song was covered many times by different musicians, but no one did it better than Slim. After the Rolling Stones covered the song, Mick Jagger himself said: “What's the point of hearing I'm A King Bee performed by us when Harpo Slim sings it best?”
Willie Dixon - Back Door Man
In the American South, the title "back door man" referred to a man who dated a married woman and left through the back door before the husband returned home. It is about such a guy that the magnificent Willie Dixon’s song “Back Door Man”, which became a classic of Chicago blues.
Little Walter - My Baby
With his revolutionary harmonica technique, Little Walter ranks among blues masters such as Charlie Parker and Jimi Hendrix. He is considered the performer who set the standard for blues harmonica playing. Written for Walter Willie Dixon, My Baby showcases his superb acting and style.
Blues performers have 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 peculiar vocals often repel the mass listener, accustomed to simpler rhythms.
Musicians who adapted this music of the black South and created more accessible derivatives (rhythm and blues, boogie-woogie and rock and roll) gained great fame. Many superstars (Little Richard, Ray Charles and others) began their careers as blues performers and returned to their roots many times.
Blues is not just a style and a way of life. Any narcissism and thoughtless optimism are alien to him - traits characteristic of pop music. The name of the style is derived from the phrase blue devils, literally meaning “blue devils”. It is these bad inhabitants of the underworld that torment the soul of a person for whom everything is wrong in this life. But the energy of the music demonstrates a reluctance to submit to difficult circumstances and expresses complete determination to fight them.
Folk music, stylistically formed throughout the 19th century, became known to mass listeners in the twenties of the next century. Huddie Ledbetter and Lemon Jefferson, the first popular blues artists, in a sense broke the monolithic cultural picture of the Jazz Age and diluted the dominance of big bands with a new sound. Mamie Smith recorded the album Crazy Blues, which suddenly became very popular among white and colored people.
The thirties and forties of the 20th century became the era of boogie-woogie. This new direction was characterized by an increased role in the use of organs, faster tempo and increased expressiveness of vocals. The overall harmony remained the same, but the sound was 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 a few years later 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, a dance rhythm and in an extremely exalted stage manner).
Blues performers of the early forties and sixties, such as B.B. King, Sony Boy Williamson, Ruth Brown, Besie Smith and many others, created masterpieces that enriched the treasury of world music, as well as works virtually unknown to modern listeners. This music is enjoyed only by a few fans who know, appreciate and collect recordings by their favorite artists.
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 made a huge contribution to the formation of the style.
Russian blues musicians ("Chizh and Co", "Road to Mississippi", "Blues League", etc.) went their own way. They create their own compositions, in which, in addition to the characteristic minor melody, ironic lyrics play an important role, expressing the same rebellion and dignity of a good person who feels bad...
Blues singers 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 hope for brighter times. Here are the best blues performers of all time, according to the JazzPeople portal.
Top Blues Artists
They say that 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.
B.B. King
King called all his guitars "Lucille". One story from concert activities is connected with this name. One day, during a performance, two men started a fight and knocked over a kerosene stove. This caused a fire, all the musicians hastily left the establishment, but B.B. King, risking himself, returned for the guitar.
Monument to B.B. King in Montreux, Switzerland Later, having learned that the cause of the fight was a woman named Lucille, he named his guitar that way as a sign that no woman was worth such nonsense.
For more than 20 years, King struggled with diabetes, which caused his death at the age of 89 on May 14, 2015.
Robert Leroy Johnson
- a bright but quickly passing 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 blues professionally.
Robert Leroy Johnson Several months of training with the team only resulted in the guy remaining a good amateur. Then Robert swore that he would play great and disappeared for several months. When he reappeared, his level of play became noticeably higher. Johnson himself said that he contacted the devil. The legend of a musician who sold his soul for the ability to play the blues has spread throughout the world.
Robert Leroy Johnson died at age 28 on August 16, 1938. He was allegedly poisoned by his mistress's husband. His family had no money, so he was buried in the municipal cemetery. Johnson's legacy is difficult to count - although he recorded very little himself, his songs were often performed by many world-famous stars (Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, The Doors, Bob Dylan).
Muddy Waters
- founder of the Chicago school - born on April 4, 1913 in the small town of Rolling Fork. As a child, he learned to play the harmonica, and in his teens he mastered the guitar.
Muddy Waters A simple acoustic guitar didn't suit Muddy very well. He really started playing only at the moment when he switched to an electric guitar. The powerful rumble and abrupt voice glorified the aspiring singer and performer. In essence, Muddy Waters' work straddles the line between blues and rock and roll. The musician died on April 30, 1983.
Gary Moore
- famous Irish guitarist, singer and songwriter - born April 4, 1952. In his career, he experimented a lot with different types of music, but still gave preference to the blues.
Gary Moore In one of his interviews, Moore admitted that he likes the dialogue that arises between vocals and guitar in blues. This opens up a wide field for experimentation.
Interestingly, although Gary Moore was left-handed, he learned to play the guitar as a right-hander from childhood and performed this way throughout his life until his death on February 6, 2011.
Eric Clapton
- one of the most influential figures in British rock - born March 30, 1945. The only musician to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame three times - twice as part of bands and once as a solo artist. Clapton played in various genres, but always gravitated towards the blues, which made his playing recognizable and characteristic.
Eric Clapton Sonny Boy Williamson I and II
Sonny Boy Williamson, American blues harmonica player and singer, was born on December 5, 1912.
There are two famous Sonny Boy Williamsons in the world. The fact is that Sonny Boy Williamson II took the pseudonym of the same name in honor of his idol - Sonny Boy Williamson I. The fame of the second Sonya greatly overshadowed the legacy of the first, although it was he who was an innovator in his field.
Sonny Boy Williamson I Sonny Boy was one of the most famous and original harmonica players. He is distinguished by a special style of performance: simple, melodic, smooth. The lyrics of his songs are subtle and lyrical.
Sonny Boy Williamson II Williamson II valued personal comfort rather than fame, so he sometimes 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.
