Customer Reviews

The New Blue Music: Changes in Rhythm & Blues, 1950-1999 (American Made Music)

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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.