Cross the Water Blues: African American Music in Europe PDF
Preview Cross the Water Blues: African American Music in Europe
Cross the Water Blues This page intentionally left blank CROSS the WATER BLUES AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSIC IN EUROPE NEIL A. WYNN Edited by UNIVERSITY PRESS OF MISSISSIPPI / JACKSON AMERICAN MADE MUSIC SERIES ADVISORY BOARD David Evans, General Editor Barry Jean Ancelet Edward A. Berlin Joyce J. Bolden Rob Bowman Susan C. Cook Curtis Ellison William Ferris Michael Harris John Edward Hasse Kip Lornell Frank McArthur Bill Malone Eddie S. Meadows Manuel H. Peña David Sanjek Wayne D. Shirley Robert Walser www.upress.state.ms.us The University Press of Mississippi is a member of the Association of American University Presses. Copyright © 2007 by University Press of Mississippi All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America First Edition 2007 (cid:1) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Cross the water blues : African American music in Europe / edited by Neil A. Wynn. —1st ed. p. cm. — (American made music series) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-1-57806-960-6 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 1-57806-960-2 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. African Americans—Europe— Music—History and criticism. 2. African Americans—Music—Infl uence. 3. Popular music—Europe—History and criticism. I. Wynn, Neil A. ML3488.C76 2007 780.89(cid:2)9607304—dc22 2007004256 British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data available Contents IX PREFACE 3 1. “Why I Sing the Blues” AFRICAN AMERICAN CULTURE IN THE TRANSATLANTIC WORLD —NEIL A. WYNN 23 2. Taking the Measure of the Blues —PAUL OLIVER 39 3. Even Philosophers Get the Blues FEELING BAD FOR NO REASON —DAVID WEBSTER 51 4. Spirituals to (Nearly) Swing, 1873–1938 —JEFFREY GREEN 66 5. Black Music Prior to the First World War AMERICAN ORIGINS AND GERMAN PERSPECTIVES —RAINER E. LOTZ vi CONTENTS 89 6. Fascination and Fear RESPONSES TO EARLY JAZZ IN BRITAIN —CATHERINE PARSONAGE 106 7. “Un Saxophone en Mouvement”? JOSEPHINE BAKER AND THE PRIMITIVIST RECEPTION OF JAZZ IN PARIS IN THE 1920S —IRIS SCHMEISSER 125 8. Paul Robeson’s British Journey —SEAN CREIGHTON 145 9. Preaching the Gospel of the Blues BLUES EVANGELISTS IN BRITAIN —ROBERTA FREUND SCHWARTZ 167 10. Whose “Rock Island Line”? ORIGINALITY IN THE COMPOSITION OF BLUES AND BRITISH SKIFFLE —BOB GROOM 183 11. The Blues Blueprint THE BLUES IN THE MUSIC OF THE BEATLES, THE ROLLING STONES, AND LED ZEPPELIN —RUPERT TILL 202 12. “The Blues Is the Truth” THE BLUES, MODERNITY, AND THE BRITISH BLUES BOOM —LEIGHTON GRIST 218 13. Lowland Blues THE RECEPTION OF AFRICAN AMERICAN BLUES AND GOSPEL MUSIC IN THE NETHERLANDS —GUIDO VAN RIJN CONTENTS vii 235 14. The Blues in France —ROBERT SPRINGER 250 15. Cultural Displacement, Cultural Creation AFRICAN AMERICAN JAZZ MUSICIANS IN EUROPE FROM BECHET TO BRAXTON —CHRISTOPHER G. BAKRIGES 266 CONTRIBUTORS 271 INDEX This page intentionally left blank Preface The centenary celebrations of W. C. Handy’s “discovery” of the blues in 20031 included considerable recognition of the influence of the classic African American music beyond America’s shores. Much attention was given par- ticularly to the inspirational effects of the blues on British popular music, both in the official Year of the Blues website2 and in film documentaries such as Red, White and Blues, directed by Mike Figgis as one of the seven-part series Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues, broadcast on national television in the United States and in the United Kingdom.3 While the links between the blues and popular music in Europe are probably well-known in the United States, there is often little appreciation of the wider impact of black music. It is clear that African American musical influences were not just limited to those of the blues on popular music of the 1960s, nor just to Britain. From the time of slavery onwards, black music in one form or another, from minstrelsy, through to gospel song and jazz, was performed and heard across many parts of Europe—and beyond. In turn people of African and/or Afro-Caribbean origin often took music back across the Atlantic to the United States. It was in recognition of this significant transatlantic cultural exchange that a conference entitled “‘Overseas Blues’: European Perspectives on African American Music” was held at the University of Gloucestershire, supported by the European Blues Association, in July 2004.4 ix
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