Editing Chicago blues

{{short description|Form of blues music indigenous to Chicago, Illinois}}
{{Infobox music genre
| name              = Chicago blues
| stylistic_origins = {{hlist|[[Delta blues]]|[[electric blues]]}}
| cultural_origins  = 20th century, Chicago, U.S.
}}
'''Chicago blues''' is a form of [[blues]] music that developed in [[Chicago]], Illinois. It is based on earlier blues idioms, such as [[Delta blues]], but is performed in an [[Blues#Urban blues|urban style]].  It developed alongside the [[Great Migration (African American)|Great Migration of African Americans]] of the first half of the twentieth century.  Key features that distinguish Chicago blues from the earlier traditions, such as Delta blues, are the prominent use of electrified instruments (especially the [[electric guitar]]), and especially the use of electronic effects such as [[Distortion (music)|distortion]] and overdrive.

[[Muddy Waters]], a colleague of Delta blues musicians [[Son House]] and [[Robert Johnson]], migrated to Chicago in 1943, joining the established [[Big Bill Broonzy]], where they developed a distinctive style of blues music.  Joined by artists such as [[Willie Dixon]], [[Howlin' Wolf]], and [[John Lee Hooker]], Chicago blues reached an international audience by the late 1950s and early 1960s, directly influencing not only the development of early [[rock and roll]] musicians such as [[Chuck Berry]] and [[Bo Diddley]], but also reaching across the Atlantic to influence both [[British blues]] and early [[hard rock]] acts such as [[Eric Clapton]], the [[Rolling Stones]], and [[Led Zeppelin]].  Prominent record labels such as [[Vee-Jay Records]] and [[Chess Records]] helped promote and spread the style.  The [[Chicago Blues Festival]] has been held annually since 1984, on the anniversary of Muddy Waters' death, as a means of preserving and promoting Chicago blues.

== History ==
Urban blues evolved from classic blues following the [[Great Migration (African American)|Great Migration]], or the Great Northern Drive, which was both forced and voluntary at times, of African Americans from the southern U.S. to the industrial cities of the north, such as Chicago. [[Big Bill Broonzy]] and [[Muddy Waters]] directly joined that migration, like many others, escaping the harsher southern [[Jim Crow laws]]. [[Bruce Iglauer]], founder of [[Alligator Records]] stated that, "Chicago blues is the music of the industrial city, and has an industrial sense about it." Additionally, recognizing the shift in blues, Chicago blues singer and guitarist Kevin Moore expressed the blues transition stating, "You have to put some new life into it, new blood, new perspectives. You can't keep talking about mules, workin' on the levee."<ref name="brookings.edu">[http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/reports/2004/5/demographics%20frey/20040524_frey William H. Frey, "The New Great Migration: Black Americans' Return to the South, 1965–2000", The Brookings Institution, May  2004, pp. 1–3], accessed 19 March 2008.</ref>
Chicago blues was heavily influenced by Mississippi bluesmen who traveled to Chicago in the early 1940s. Chicago blues is based on the sound of the electric guitar and the harmonica, with the harmonica played through a [[PA system]] or guitar amplifier, both heavily amplified and often to the point of distortion, and a rhythm section of drums and bass (double bass at first, and later electric bass guitar) with piano depending on the song or performer.

Urban blues started in Chicago and [[St. Louis]], as music created by part-time musicians playing as [[street musicians]], at [[Rent party|rent parties]], and other events in the black community. For example, bottleneck guitarist [[Kokomo Arnold]] was a steelworker and had a [[moonshine]] business that was far more profitable than his music.<ref>{{cite book|last=Oakley|first=Giles|title=The Devil's Music: A History of the Blues|year=1976|publisher=Taplinger|location=New York|isbn=0800821890|page=177}}</ref>

[[File:Maxwell Street Camp Meeting.jpg|thumb|[[Maxwell Street]] blues performers and onlookers circa 1950]]
An early incubator for Chicago blues was the open-air market on [[Maxwell Street]], one of the largest open-air markets in the nation. Residents of the black community would frequent it to buy and sell just about anything. It was a natural location for blues musicians to perform, earn tips, and jam with other musicians. The standard path for blues musicians was to start out as street musicians and at house parties and eventually make their way to blues clubs. The first blues clubs in Chicago were mostly in predominantly black neighborhoods on the [[South Side, Chicago|South Side]], with a few in the smaller black neighborhoods on the [[West Side, Chicago|West Side]]. New trends in technology, chaotic streets and bars adding drums to an electric mix, gave birth to a new club culture. One of the most famous was Ruby Lee Gatewood's Tavern, known by patrons as "The Gates". During the 1930s virtually every big-name artist played there.<ref>{{cite book|last=Rowe|first=Mike|title=Chicago Blues: The City and the Music|year=1973|publisher=Da Capo Press|location=London|isbn=0-306-80145-0|pages=40–49}}</ref>

What drove the blues to international influence was the promotion of record companies such as [[Paramount Records]], [[RCA Records|RCA Victor]], and [[Columbia Records]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Oakley|first=Giles|title=The Devil's Music: A History of the Blues|year=1976|publisher=Taplinger|location=New York|isbn=0800821890|page=172}}</ref> Through such record companies Chicago blues became a commercial enterprise. The new style of music eventually reached Europe and the United Kingdom. In the 1960s, young British musicians were highly influenced by Chicago blues resulting in the [[British blues]] movement.

According to ''[[Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies]]'' (1981), Chicago blues saw its best documentation during the 1970s thanks in part to Alligator Records and its owner Bruce Iglauer, described by [[Robert Christgau]] as a "folkie [[Leonard Chess]]".<ref name="CG">{{cite book|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|year=1981|title=[[Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies]]|publisher=[[Ticknor & Fields]]|isbn=0899190251|chapter=The Decade|chapter-url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/bk-cg70/decade.php|via=robertchristgau.com|access-date=April 6, 2019}}</ref>

==Influence==
Chicago blues was one of the most significant influences on early rock music. [[Chuck Berry]] originally signed with [[Chess Records]]—one of the most significant Chicago blues record labels. Berry met and was influenced by Muddy Waters in Chicago and Waters suggested he audition for Chess. [[Willie Dixon]] and other blues musicians played on some of Berry's early records.<ref>{{cite web|title=Chuck Berry|url=http://www.history-of-rock.com/berry.htm |work=history-of-rock.com|access-date=15 December 2013|quote=While attending a nightclub in Chicago in 1955, Berry met his idol Muddy Waters and asked Waters where he might be able to cut a record. Waters directed him to Leonard Chess of Chess Records}}</ref>  In the UK in the early 1960s, [[beat music|beat groups]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Schwartz |first1=Roberta |title=How Britain Got the Blues: The Transmission and Reception of American Blues Style in the United Kingdom |publisher=Routledge |location=London}}</ref> such as [[the Rolling Stones]],<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hart |first1=Ron |title=The Surprising Key Influence Behind The Rolling Stones' 'Blue & Lonesome' |url=http://observer.com/2016/12/the-surprising-key-influence-behind-the-rolling-stones-blue-lonesome/ |website=Observer.com |access-date=23 August 2018 |date=2 December 2016 |quote=When the Rolling Stones first got together in 1962, it was a shared love for Chicago blues that congealed them into a cohesive group.}}</ref> [[the Yardbirds]], and [[the Animals]] (dubbed the [[British invasion]] in the US), were heavily influenced by Chicago blues artists.<ref>Inaba, Mitsutoshi. Willie Dixon's Work on the Blues: From the Early Recordings through the Chess and Cobra Years, 1940--1971. Diss. University of Oregon, 2005. N.p.: UMI, 2005.</ref><ref>Foundation for Research in the Afro-American Creative Arts. "Muddy (né McKinley Morganfield) Waters." The Black Perspective in Music Vol. 11. No. 2 (1983): 230-31</ref><ref>"Howlin' Wolf." Encyclopedia of Popular Music. 4th ed. 2006</ref> The last two served as backing musicians for [[Sonny Boy Williamson II]] and made their first recordings with him when he toured England in 1963 and 1964.<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://www.allmusic.com/album/uk-blues-mw0000011269
| title = ''Sonny Boy Williamson: U.K. Blues''
| last = MacNeil
| first = Jason
| website = [[AllMusic]]
| access-date = February 14, 2020
}}</ref>  At the same time, American artists, such as the [[Paul Butterfield Blues Band]] (who included two members of [[Howlin' Wolf]]'s band),<ref>
{{cite web
| url = http://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-paul-butterfield-blues-band-mn0000016835/biography
| last = Leggett
| first = Steve
| title = The Paul Butterfield Blues Band: Biography
| website = [[AllMusic]]
| access-date = February 14, 2020
}}</ref> [[John P. Hammond]], and [[Charlie Musselwhite]] performed in the style of Chicago blues. Later, [[Cream (band)|Cream]], [[Rory Gallagher]],<ref>{{cite book|last=Connaughton|first=Marcus|title=Rory Gallagher His Life and Times|year=2012|publisher=The Collins Press|isbn=9781848891531}}</ref> and [[the Allman Brothers Band]] also pursued their own interpretations of Chicago blues songs and helped popularize [[blues rock]].

==See also==
*[[List of Chicago blues musicians]]
*[[Chicago record labels]]
*[[Music of Chicago]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book
| first= Charles
| last= Keil
| orig-year=1966| year=1991
| title= Urban Blues
| publisher= University of Chicago Press
| location=Chicago, IL
| pages= 255 + ix + 8pp of plates
| url = https://archive.org/details/urbanblues0000keil
| url-access= registration
| isbn= 0-226-42960-1}}
* {{cite book | first = Giles | last = Oakley | title = The Devil's Music: a History of the Blues | publisher = BBC | location = London | year = 1976 | page = 287 | isbn = 0-563-16012-8 | url = }}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160216172814/http://www.chicagoblues.com/ ChicagoBlues.com]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070117095104/http://12bar.de/hyelaw.php Chicago blues example and lesson]

{{Blues}}

[[Category:Chicago blues| ]]
[[Category:Music of Chicago]]
[[Category:Blues music genres]]
[[Category:Music scenes]]