Blues Society of Western PA - Newsletter

The "All about the Blues Tour" steamed into Pittsburgh on a sunny morning in late February. After many, many calls, many emails, many mailings…finally, Fruteland Jackson, (blues musician, blues educator, and blues historian), brought his Blues 101 program to four schools in the Pittsburgh area. Approximately five hundred students were given the opportunity to witness the acoustic blues presentation that provided the basics of blues music and blues history. Why Blues in the Schools? It is a chance to blend cultures, increase a student’s creativity, build self-esteem and give a sense of accomplishment to students during their formative years.
The big question was “What are the blues?” Fruteland explained that it was not about always being sad. The engaging performer/instructor said, “When you hear the blues, it lets you know that you are not alone and someone has been where you are.” Fruteland emphasized that the blues “was real facts of life and living.” He added that Blues is a medium to express or transmit emotions.
The students learned that blues is over one hundred years old and that it is the root of all the music in the United States. After being given a demonstration of the three types of blues songs: field holler songs, work songs and religious songs, the students also were shown how the basic beats of blues have been formulated into rap, country, hip hop and electric blues. “All musical styles stand on the shoulders of the blues.” The five-note scale evolved into many forms of music. The presentation included the background of the W.C Handy, father of the blues. It took the children through the many threads of musical history and made it known that Handy had once led an orchestra, fell in love to the beat of the blues, and then composed and published the first blues song, Memphis Blues, in 1912. Many other musicians were discussed and musical excerpts were included.
Those threads of history were sewn together with a lesson in economics to illustrate how the plantation workers started migrating to large cities during the industrialization of the United States. The images of the primitive folk songs of the South made way for the Piedmont Blues with their bass and rhythm to the urbanization of the Blues in Chicago and other cities. When the musicians in the city “plugged” in, the Bluesman was born and got their “groove” started. They went from being an acoustic act or a one-man band to being a part of a band that had lead guitars and base guitars with amplifiers that could play to larger audiences. Blues got “cranked up” into fast “Boogie Woogie” in the 1950’s. Fruteland said that it was a little like rap…scratch the record and making mouth sounds. New sounds were starting to blend with the Blues. There was a fusion of the various blends of music: jazz, county and the blues. Fruteland explained that Jimmy Rodgers, the father of country music, once said, “Everybody is weird.” He added that some people sleep on the floor and some sleep in a bed; some people have hair and some are bald. He talked about how some people in the 1950’s said that the blues was the devil’s music. Fruteland was emphatic when he said, “different does not mean bad.” The students applauded in agreement.
Fruteland ended his presentation with, “If you can’t explain your music then rethink your music.”
The BSWPA would like to thank: Jimmy Adler for his assistance at CAPA, Chris Howard for assistance at the Wilkinsburg Middle School, Ron Essor for the use of Moondog’s, Jeff Kearns for filming, Bubs McKeg for sitting in at the concert, Donna Bennet for her assistance at the show, Gateway to the Arts for their assistance in attaining the schools and to everyone who worked hard to make this happen. It was a great day for the blues in Western Pennsylvania.