Urban Blues (Phoenix Books) [Paperback]

Charles Keil (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0226429601 | ISBN-13: 978-0226429601 | Publication Date: March 15, 1992

Charles Keil examines the expressive role of blues bands and performers and stresses the intense interaction between performer and audience. Profiling bluesmen Bobby Bland and B. B. Kind, Keil argues that they are symbols for the black community, embodying important attitudes and roles—success, strong egos, and close ties to the community. While writing Urban Blues in the mid-1960s, Keil optimistically saw this cultural expression as contributing to the rising tide of raised political consciousness in Afro-America. His new Afterword examines black music in the context of capitalism and black culture in the context of worldwide trends toward diversification.

"Enlightening. . . . [Keil] has given a provocative indication of the role of the blues singer as a focal point of ghetto community expression."—John S. Wilson, New York Times Book Review

"A terribly valuable book and a powerful one. . . . Keil is an original thinker and . . . has offered us a major breakthrough."—Studs Terkel, Chicago Tribune

"[Urban Blues] expresses authentic concern for people who are coming to realize that their past was . . . the source of meaningful cultural values."—Atlantic

"An achievement of the first magnitude. . . . He opens our eyes and introduces a world of amazingly complex musical happening."—Robert Farris Thompson, Ethnomusicology 

"[Keil's] vigorous, aggressive scholarship, lucid style and sparkling analysis stimulate the challenge. Valuable insights come from treating urban blues as artistic communication."—James A. Bonar, Boston Herald

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Charles Keil is professor of American studies at the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Product Details

• Paperback: 244 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press (March 15, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226429601
• ISBN-13: 978-0226429601
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #867,779 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Book You Start With To Understand Rock 'n Roll, August 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Urban Blues (Phoenix Books) (Paperback)

Unfortunately, most people who actually know something about RnR and RnB are too old to look like they do to younger readers who think Buddy Guy is first generation. Most thirtysomethings (or fortysomethings) think rock is rock 'n roll and rock 'n roll is rhythm and blues and rhythm and blues is blues.

Today, the actual people who created modern urban blues forms are unknown to young rock revisionists. But they weren't unknown to Charles Keil. He traces and authoritatively compares the various styles of blues, showing that the electric forms that led to rock were as important and significant as the blues music put out in the twenties and thirties.

Duh, you say. Well when this book was written, there were no books on the subject of modern (1950s-1960s) blues around. Especially none written for a black or knowledgable white audience. This is the book that started the black-oriented musical criticism necessary to understand the main tap root to rock 'n roll.

Although the first of its kind, it still remains fresh with very little material the would need updating today. When I got my copy in the mid sixties, I stopped everything and read it cover to cover underlining all the important parts. As I say, Urban Blues was the first and still one of the few to get it right. Bedrock.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars superb study of urban blues, May 7, 2001

By 

William Benzon (Jersey City, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Urban Blues (Phoenix Books) (Paperback)

This is the second most important book that's been written on American popular music. Keil sees blues culture as medicine for the ills of Western Civilization. After introductory chapters on African-American music (in which he makes some remarks on Baraka's Blues People), and blues styles, Keil begins discussing the urban blues, blues played with electric instruments and played in clubs in cities. He has studies of B. B. King and Bobby Blue Bland, plus remarks on many other bluesman. How do they structure a performance? How do they interact with the audience? What are the values upheld in the blues world?

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Urban Blues Affairs, October 16, 2007

By 

grasshopper4 (Arkansas) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Urban Blues (Phoenix Books) (Paperback)

After recently rereading this book, I'm impressed with how well Keil's book holds up today. Not only does he provide a good historical outline of ways that urban blues traditions have developed, but he also provides good descriptions of blues scenes from the 1950s and 60s. The interviews are irreplaceable resources and terrific reading. I especially appreciated Keil's description of blues concerts within overseas' tours, as Keil satirically nails the exoticism, primitivism, and other less-than-flattering ideologies that continue to emerge among blues fans even today. Keil's wit complements his good scholarship. His outline of various blues styles is an excellent resource for those who wish to compare styles and gain a sense of artistic distinctiveness. Although some of the analysis, and Keil's tone of writing, doesn't fully hold up with what we've learned about blues in the last 40 years, this book remains a good entry point for those who want an overview of what's come to be called "Chicago Blues." One major issue since Keil first wrote the book is the need to recognize that the "Chicago Style" really started in Memphis and various and sundry points South. Readers who want the bigger story need to check out what was going on outside of the windy city in more detail than what is provided in urban blues. There also are a number of good books on the history of record companies and numerous biographies and autobiographies of blues players that further complement, develop, and occasionally critique Keil's study.