The Downchild Blues Band is a Canadian blues band, described by one reviewer as "the premier blues band in Canada". The Blues Brothers band was heavily influenced by the Downchild Blues Band.
131-484: The Blues Brothers are an American blues and soul revue band founded in 1978 by comedians Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi , who met and began collaborating as original cast members of Saturday Night Live . A common misconception is that the act also originated on SNL . The Blues Brothers, however, was an independent project of Belushi and Aykroyd, first appearing as the opening act for comedian Steve Martin . Martin later appeared on Saturday Night Live as host, and
262-456: A Jimmy Reed album over and that was it, for me. ...I’d put him on the record player, and when I went to sleep at night, it would still be playing when I’d get up in the morning. Then I’d play him all day, and it was unreal. Then, of course, I spread out to Sonny Boy Williamson , Little Walter , Muddy Waters , B.B. King , and Albert King . Then, I got a job in a record store. A blues record store that stocked 45s only. All alphabetical all around
393-503: A New Year's Eve concert with blues singer Rita Chiarelli . His last recordings were three tracks on 4 Blues , the 1998 debut album of Toronto's Big Daddy G Review. Tony Flaim, the initial replacement for Hock Walsh in Downchild and featured on six of the band's albums, also died of a heart attack, on March 10, 2000, less than three months after Hock Walsh. He was 52. Flaim's near nine-year association with Downchild covered most of
524-484: A banjo or guitar. Regional styles of country blues varied widely in the early 20th century. The (Mississippi) Delta blues was a rootsy sparse style with passionate vocals accompanied by slide guitar. The little-recorded Robert Johnson combined elements of urban and rural blues. In addition to Robert Johnson, influential performers of this style included his predecessors Charley Patton and Son House . Singers such as Blind Willie McTell and Blind Boy Fuller performed in
655-415: A break; the harmony of this two-bar break, the turnaround, can be extremely complex, sometimes consisting of single notes that defy analysis in terms of chords. Much of the time, some or all of these chords are played in the harmonic seventh (7th) form. The use of the harmonic seventh interval is characteristic of blues and is popularly called the "blues seven". Blues seven chords add to the harmonic chord
786-586: A center for electric blues from 1948 on, when Muddy Waters recorded his first success, "I Can't Be Satisfied". Chicago blues is influenced to a large extent by Delta blues , because many performers had migrated from the Mississippi region. Howlin' Wolf , Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon and Jimmy Reed were all born in Mississippi and moved to Chicago during the Great Migration. Their style
917-399: A component of R&B. After World War II, new styles of electric blues became popular in cities such as Chicago , Memphis , Detroit and St. Louis . Electric blues used electric guitars , double bass (gradually replaced by bass guitar ), drums , and harmonica (or "blues harp") played through a microphone and a PA system or an overdriven guitar amplifier . Chicago became
1048-694: A ground bass overlaid with complex treble patterns, while vocal supplies a third rhythmic layer. Similar techniques can be found in hundreds of blues records". The lyrics often relate troubles experienced within African American society. For instance Blind Lemon Jefferson 's "Rising High Water Blues" (1927) tells of the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 : Backwater rising, Southern peoples can't make no time I said, backwater rising, Southern peoples can't make no time And I can't get no hearing from that Memphis girl of mine Although
1179-635: A movement known as the Great Migration . The long boom following World War II induced another massive migration of the African-American population, the Second Great Migration , which was accompanied by a significant increase of the real income of the urban blacks. The new migrants constituted a new market for the music industry. The term race record , initially used by the music industry for African-American music,
1310-456: A note with a frequency in a 7:4 ratio to the fundamental note. At a 7:4 ratio, it is not close to any interval on the conventional Western diatonic scale . For convenience or by necessity it is often approximated by a minor seventh interval or a dominant seventh chord . In melody , blues is distinguished by the use of the flattened third , fifth and seventh of the associated major scale . Blues shuffles or walking bass reinforce
1441-456: A number of songs, such as "Poor Rosy", that were popular among the slaves. Although she admitted being unable to describe the manner of singing she heard, Forten wrote that the songs "can't be sung without a full heart and a troubled spirit", conditions that have inspired countless blues songs. Though the use of the phrase in African-American music may be older, it has been attested to in print since 1912, when Hart Wand 's " Dallas Blues " became
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#17327721157621572-599: A part in early blues, citing Robert Johnson 's " Cross Road Blues " as a "thinly veiled reference to Eleggua , the orisha in charge of the crossroads". However, the Christian influence was far more obvious. The repertoires of many seminal blues artists, such as Charley Patton and Skip James , included religious songs or spirituals. Reverend Gary Davis and Blind Willie Johnson are examples of artists often categorized as blues musicians for their music, although their lyrics clearly belong to spirituals. The blues form
1703-569: A part of ragtime; Handy's signature work was the " Saint Louis Blues ". In the 1920s, the blues became a major element of African American and American popular music, also reaching white audiences via Handy's arrangements and the classic female blues performers. These female performers became perhaps the first African American "superstars", and their recording sales demonstrated "a huge appetite for records made by and for black people." The blues evolved from informal performances in bars to entertainment in theaters. Blues performances were organized by
1834-419: A recording career that began in 1926 and spanned forty years. These recordings were typically labeled " race records " to distinguish them from records sold to white audiences. Nonetheless, the recordings of some of the classic female blues singers were purchased by white buyers as well. These blueswomen's contributions to the genre included "increased improvisation on melodic lines, unusual phrasing which altered
1965-522: A second time in 1995, after first playing with the band during the 1979-1983 period. They were later joined by drummer Mike Fitzpatrick, who first recorded with the band on the Come On In album (2004). Later accolades include winning a Juno Award for "Blues Album of the Year" in 2014 for "Can You Hear The Music", Downchild's 17th album; a nomination for "Blues Album of The Year" in 2005, plus winning
2096-406: A separate genre arose during the black migration from the countryside to urban areas in the 1920s and the simultaneous development of the recording industry. Blues became a code word for a record designed to sell to black listeners. The origins of the blues are closely related to the religious music of Afro-American community, the spirituals . The origins of spirituals go back much further than
2227-581: A wide variety of styles and subgenres. Blues subgenres include country blues , Delta blues and Piedmont blues , as well as urban blues styles such as Chicago blues and West Coast blues . World War II marked the transition from acoustic to electric blues and the progressive opening of blues music to a wider audience, especially white listeners. In the 1960s and 1970s, a hybrid form called blues rock developed, which blended blues styles with rock music . The term 'Blues' may have originated from "blue devils", meaning melancholy and sadness. An early use of
2358-454: Is a cyclic musical form in which a repeating progression of chords mirrors the call and response scheme commonly found in African and African-American music. During the first decades of the 20th century blues music was not clearly defined in terms of a particular chord progression. With the popularity of early performers, such as Bessie Smith , use of the twelve-bar blues spread across
2489-560: Is a sly wordplay with the double meaning of being " tight " with someone, coupled with a more salacious physical familiarity. Blues songs with sexually explicit lyrics were known as dirty blues . The lyrical content became slightly simpler in postwar blues, which tended to focus on relationship woes or sexual worries. Lyrical themes that frequently appeared in prewar blues, such as economic depression, farming, devils, gambling, magic, floods and drought, were less common in postwar blues. The writer Ed Morales claimed that Yoruba mythology played
2620-453: Is characterized by its lyrics , bass lines , and instrumentation . Early traditional blues verses consisted of a single line repeated four times. It was only in the first decades of the 20th century that the most common current structure became standard: the AAB pattern , consisting of a line sung over the four first bars, its repetition over the next four, and then a longer concluding line over
2751-425: Is characterized by the call-and-response pattern, the blues scale , and specific chord progressions , of which the twelve-bar blues is the most common. Blue notes (or "worried notes"), usually thirds, fifths or sevenths flattened in pitch , are also an essential part of the sound. Blues shuffles or walking bass reinforce the trance-like rhythm and form a repetitive effect known as the groove . Blues music
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#17327721157622882-498: Is characterized by the use of electric guitar, sometimes slide guitar, harmonica, and a rhythm section of bass and drums. The saxophonist J. T. Brown played in bands led by Elmore James and by J. B. Lenoir , but the saxophone was used as a backing instrument for rhythmic support more than as a lead instrument. Downchild Blues Band The Downchild Blues Band was formed in Toronto in 1969 and continues to perform today. It
3013-418: Is little evidence of Sub-Sahelian influence in the blues as "elaborate polyrhythm, percussion on African drums (as opposed to European drums), [and] collective participation" which are characteristic of West-Central African music below the savannah, are conspicuously absent. According to the historian Paul Oliver , "the roots of the blues were not to be found in the coastal and forest regions of Africa. Rather...
3144-728: Is often associated with solo piano, boogie-woogie was also used to accompany singers and, as a solo part, in bands and small combos. Boogie-woogie style was characterized by a regular bass figure, an ostinato or riff and shifts of level in the left hand, elaborating each chord and trills and decorations in the right hand. Boogie-woogie was pioneered by the Chicago-based Jimmy Yancey and the Boogie-Woogie Trio ( Albert Ammons , Pete Johnson and Meade Lux Lewis ). Chicago boogie-woogie performers included Clarence "Pine Top" Smith and Earl Hines , who "linked
3275-497: Is often associated with the California blues style, performed a successful transition from the early urban blues à la Lonnie Johnson and Leroy Carr to the jump blues style and dominated the blues-jazz scene at Los Angeles during the 1940s. The transition from country blues to urban blues that began in the 1920s was driven by the successive waves of economic crisis and booms that led many rural blacks to move to urban areas, in
3406-724: Is once again prevailed upon to save some orphans, and with a 10-year-old boy named Buster Blues ( J. Evan Bonifant ) in tow, Elwood again sets about the task of reuniting his band. He recruits some new singers, Mighty Mack ( John Goodman ) and Cab ( Joe Morton ), a policeman who was Curtis' son. All the original band members are found, as well as some performers from the first film, including Aretha Franklin and James Brown . There are dozens of other guest performers, including Eric Clapton , Steve Winwood , Junior Wells , Lonnie Brooks , Eddie Floyd , Wilson Pickett , Isaac Hayes , Sam Moore , Taj Mahal and Jonny Lang , Blues Traveler , as well as an all-star supergroup led by B.B. King called
3537-437: Is that instead of being the same kind of music somebody else wrote years ago, it lives and evolves. Blues is serious stuff, it's a heavy kind of music in your soul. You show up with the blues I play, you lighten up. That's what it's all about. It's like medicine." In 1982, the band suffered a major setback with the untimely death of keyboard player Jane Vasey, who succumbed to leukemia at the age of thirty-two. Donnie Walsh, who
3668-482: The American South sometimes referred to as a jitterbug or a one-string in the early twentieth century) and the banjo are African-derived instruments that may have helped in the transfer of African performance techniques into the early blues instrumental vocabulary. The banjo seems to be directly imported from West African music. It is similar to the musical instrument that griots and other Africans such as
3799-630: The Catholic orphanage where they grew up, choose to take on a "mission from God " and re-form their old blues band in order to raise funds to save the orphanage. Along the way, the brothers are targeted by a "mystery woman" ( Carrie Fisher ) and chased by the Illinois State Police , a country and western band called the Good Ol' Boys, and " Illinois Nazis ". The film grossed $ 57 million domestically in its theatrical release, making it
3930-608: The Count Basie Orchestra were also concentrating on the blues, with 12-bar blues instrumentals such as Basie's " One O'Clock Jump " and " Jumpin' at the Woodside " and boisterous " blues shouting " by Jimmy Rushing on songs such as "Going to Chicago" and " Sent for You Yesterday ". A well-known big band blues tune is Glenn Miller 's " In the Mood ". In the 1940s, the jump blues style developed. Jump blues grew up from
4061-513: The Floyd Dixon song "Hey, Bartender" on a few occasions, and using Salgado's humorous alternate lyrics to "I Don't Know": I said Woman, you going to walk a mile for a Camel or are you going to make like Mr. Chesterfield and satisfy? She said, that all depends on what you're packing, regular or king-size. Then she pulled out my Jim Beam and to her surprise It was every bit as hard as my Canadian Club These lyrics were used in
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4192-490: The House of Blues franchise, a national chain of nightclubs. In Italy the franchise is now owned by Zucchero, who used the brand during the tour promoting his album Black Cat of 2016. Jim Belushi toured with the band for a short time as "Zee Blues", and recorded the album Blues Brothers and Friends: Live from Chicago's House of Blues with Dan Aykroyd. Jim would later reunite with Aykroyd to record yet another album, not as
4323-587: The Igbo played (called halam or akonting by African peoples such as the Wolof , Fula and Mandinka ). However, in the 1920s, when country blues began to be recorded, the use of the banjo in blues music was quite marginal and limited to individuals such as Papa Charlie Jackson and later Gus Cannon . Blues music also adopted elements from the "Ethiopian airs", minstrel shows and Negro spirituals , including instrumental and harmonic accompaniment. The style also
4454-485: The Maple Blues Award as "Entertainers of The Year" in both 2005 and 2006. In addition, the band's connection to The Blues Brothers has continued. In 2005, when Dan Aykroyd and James Belushi toured as The Blues Brothers, Donnie Walsh joined them onstage at Ontario's Casino Rama . Donnie Walsh's song, "I've Got Everything I Need (Almost)" was selected in 2007 as one of 125 "essential" Canadian songs, and
4585-472: The Slim Harpo song " I'm a King Bee ", with Belushi singing and Aykroyd playing harmonica , dressed in the bee costumes they wore for " The Killer Bees " sketches. In 1978, guitarist Arlen Roth was performing on SNL with Art Garfunkel , who was that week's host of the show. Before the actual live show, Belushi and Aykroyd asked Roth and others to join them onstage in the outfits that would later become
4716-643: The Sun-Times quoted him as explaining: "Well, obviously, the duo thing and the dancing, but the hats came from John Lee Hooker . The suits came from the concept that when you were a jazz player in the '40s, '50s '60s, to look straight, you had to wear a suit." The band was modeled in part on Aykroyd's experience with the Downchild Blues Band , one of the first professional blues bands in Canada, with whom Aykroyd played on occasion. Aykroyd encountered
4847-777: The Theater Owners Booking Association in nightclubs such as the Cotton Club and juke joints such as the bars along Beale Street in Memphis. Several record companies, such as the American Record Corporation , Okeh Records , and Paramount Records , began to record African-American music. As the recording industry grew, country blues performers like Bo Carter , Jimmie Rodgers , Blind Lemon Jefferson , Lonnie Johnson , Tampa Red and Blind Blake became more popular in
4978-409: The degrees of the progression. For instance, for a blues in the key of C, C is the tonic chord (I) and F is the subdominant (IV). The last chord is the dominant (V) turnaround , marking the transition to the beginning of the next progression. The lyrics generally end on the last beat of the tenth bar or the first beat of the 11th bar, and the final two bars are given to the instrumentalist as
5109-549: The signature song of Hock Walsh. The band's musical style is described as being "a spirited, if fundamental, brand of jump-band and Chicago-style blues ". The band name came from the Sonny Boy Williamson II song, "Mr. Downchild". The initial band membership was Donnie "Mr. Downchild" Walsh, who remains the sole constant band member, with younger brother Rick "Hock" Walsh on vocals, accompanied by Dave Woodward, Cash Wall, John Tanti, and Jim Milne. They were
5240-451: The spirituals . The first appearance of the blues is often dated to after the ending of slavery , with the development of juke joints occurring later. It is associated with the newly acquired freedom of the former slaves. Chroniclers began to report about blues music at the dawn of the 20th century. The first publication of blues sheet music was in 1908. Blues has since evolved from unaccompanied vocal music and oral traditions of slaves into
5371-514: The 10th highest-grossing movie of 1980, and grossed an additional $ 58 million in foreign release. With Landis again directing, the sequel to The Blues Brothers was made in 1998. It fared considerably worse than its predecessor with fans and critics, though it is more ambitious in terms of musical performances by the band and has a more extensive roster of guest artists than the first film. The story picks up 18 years later with Elwood being released from prison, and learning that his brother has died. He
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5502-438: The 1920s, among them "the big three"— Gertrude "Ma" Rainey , Bessie Smith , and Lucille Bogan . Mamie Smith , more a vaudeville performer than a blues artist, was the first African American to record a blues song, in 1920; her second record, "Crazy Blues", sold 75,000 copies in its first month. Ma Rainey, the "Mother of Blues", and Bessie Smith each "[sang] around center tones, perhaps in order to project her voice more easily to
5633-428: The 1920s, when the record industry created the marketing categories " race music " and " hillbilly music " to sell music by blacks for blacks and by whites for whites, respectively. At the time, there was no clear musical division between "blues" and "country", except for the ethnicity of the performer, and even that was sometimes documented incorrectly by record companies. Though musicologists can now attempt to define
5764-458: The 1975 to 1982 period, including a period when Hock Walsh rejoined the band in 1977, plus 1986 to 1988. He was succeeded by a returning Hock Walsh, who was fired by his brother for a final time in 1990. During the 1982-1986 period, Flaim was replaced by John Witmer , former lead singer of the well-respected Toronto blues band Whiskey Howl , while Hock Walsh rejoined the band for a brief period in 1985. One of Tony Flaim's last public performances
5895-455: The 9-bar progression in " Sitting on Top of the World ", by Walter Vinson . The basic 12-bar lyric framework of many blues compositions is reflected by a standard harmonic progression of 12 bars in a 4/4 time signature . The blues chords associated to a twelve-bar blues are typically a set of three different chords played over a 12-bar scheme. They are labeled by Roman numbers referring to
6026-546: The African American community. Kentucky-born Sylvester Weaver was in 1923 the first to record the slide guitar style, in which a guitar is fretted with a knife blade or the sawed-off neck of a bottle. The slide guitar became an important part of the Delta blues . The first blues recordings from the 1920s are categorized as a traditional, rural country blues and a more polished city or urban blues. Country blues performers often improvised, either without accompaniment or with only
6157-533: The African call-and-response tradition that transformed into an interplay of voice and guitar, the blues form itself bears no resemblance to the melodic styles of the West African griots . Additionally, there are theories that the four-beats-per-measure structure of the blues might have its origins in the Native American tradition of pow wow drumming. Some scholars identify strong influences on
6288-656: The Band collaborated with the Italian singer Zucchero Fornaciari , who had been invited to the event in memory of John Belushi's 46th birthday. After a concert together, they registered the videoclip of the Zucchero song "Per colpa di chi?" at the House of Blues. In 1997, an animated sitcom with Jake and Elwood was planned, but scrapped after only eight episodes were produced. Peter Aykroyd and Jim Belushi replaced their brothers as
6419-517: The Blues Brothers appeared as the musical guest. The Blues Brothers Musical Revue consisted of lead vocalist " Joliet " Jake Blues (Belushi) and his brother, Elwood (Aykroyd), who played a harmonica that he carried onstage in a briefcase handcuffed to his wrist. The duo were dressed in matching black suits, black pencil ties, black trilby hats and black sunglasses. The band itself was carefully constructed, and made up of experienced musicians of
6550-778: The Blues Brothers but as themselves: Belushi/Aykroyd – Have Love Will Travel (Big Men-Big Music). In 2004, the showband revue The Blues Brothers Revival premiered in Chicago. The story was about Elwood trying to rescue Jake from an eternity in limbo / purgatory . The revue was written and composed with approval and permission from both the John Belushi estate (including his widow, Judith Belushi-Pisano) and Dan Aykroyd. The Blues Brothers featuring Elwood and Zee regularly perform at House of Blues venues and various casinos across North America. They are usually backed by Jim Belushi's Sacred Hearts Band. The Original Blues Brothers Band tours
6681-582: The Blues Brothers have performed on SNL and for charitable and political causes. Aykroyd has been accompanied by Jim Belushi and John Goodman in character as "Zee" Blues and "Mighty Mack" McTeer. The copyright owners have also authorized some copycat acts to perform under the Blues Brothers name; one such act performs regularly at the Universal Studios Florida theme park in Orlando, Florida and Universal Studios Hollywood . In 1995,
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#17327721157626812-443: The Blues Brothers' look. Roth taught Belushi the lyrics to "Rocket 88" so they could perform it that night. This was also discussed on Aykroyd's "Elwood's Bluesmobile" radio show, when Roth was interviewed about his Slide Guitar Summit album, and the song "Rocket 88". Following tapings of SNL , it was popular among cast members and the weekly hosts to attend Aykroyd's Holland Tunnel Blues bar, which he had rented not long after joining
6943-433: The Blues Brothers, Hock Walsh would leave, rejoin and be replaced as lead singer in the band on several occasions. He was first fired from the band in 1974, shortly before work began on the band's third album, Dancing . At that time, he was replaced by Tony Flaim . Hock rejoined the band in 1977 and 1985. He was fired by his brother Donnie for a final time in 1990 and replaced by Chuck Jackson. Chuck Jackson has remained
7074-705: The Commander in Chief. Five years previously, SETI Project Scientists detected a faint signal from Gamma Proteous 5 in the Carina Nebula. Now, in a highly classified CIA led operation, First Contact and the arrival of alien visitors on Planet Earth is scheduled for 7-23pm on Tuesday 24th August at Area 56 in the Dark Mountains of Global Region Echo. However, the President has intelligence that suggests
7205-759: The Later 20th Century , David Dicaire wrote: "(Donnie) Walsh has been called the 'father of Canadian blues' and with good reason. He is a blues pioneer on the Canadian scene. It was Walsh who paid the highest dues so that later Canadian blues acts, such as the Jeff Healey Band, the Colin James Band, the Powder Blues , Sue Foley , The Sidemen and The Highliners could also enjoy their success. The Canadian blues scene, which has blossomed nicely in
7336-612: The Louisiana Gator Boys. On the run from the police, Russian mafia and a racist militia , the band eventually ends up in Louisiana , where they enter a Battle of the Bands overseen by a voodoo practitioner named Queen Moussette ( Erykah Badu ). During a song by the Blues Brothers (a Caribbean number called "Funky Nassau"), a character played by Paul Shaffer asks to cut in on keyboards, which Murph allows. This marks
7467-455: The Making of The Blues Brothers , a 1998 documentary included on some DVD editions of the first Blues Brothers film, Cropper noted that some of his peers thought that he and the other musicians backing the Blues Brothers were selling out to Hollywood or using a gimmick to make some quick money. Cropper responded by stating that he thought Belushi was as good as (or even better than) many of
7598-478: The album by hand. It was welcomed by major Toronto music retailer Sam Sniderman , of Sam The Record Man renown, who was very much disposed to promoting Canadian music. The record was soon acquired by RCA Records Canada for more general distribution. According to Donnie Walsh, more than 120 musicians have been associated with Downchild since its 1969 founding. The band has never lost its focus on blues music. While certain band members have left to pursue what
7729-420: The back of a room". Smith would "sing a song in an unusual key, and her artistry in bending and stretching notes with her beautiful, powerful contralto to accommodate her own interpretation was unsurpassed". In 1920, the vaudeville singer Lucille Hegamin became the second black woman to record blues when she recorded "The Jazz Me Blues", and Victoria Spivey , sometimes called Queen Victoria or Za Zu Girl, had
7860-520: The band in the early 1970s, around the time of his attendance at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario , Canada, and where his interest in the blues developed through attending and occasionally performing at Ottawa's Le Hibou Coffee House . As Aykroyd described it: So I grew up (in Ottawa), in this capital city. My parents used to work for the government, and I went to elementary school, high school, and
7991-484: The band's debut performance on SNL . With the help of pianist-arranger Paul Shaffer , Belushi and Aykroyd started assembling a collection of studio talents to form their own band. These included SNL band members saxophonist "Blue" Lou Marini and trombonist-saxophonist Tom Malone , who had previously played in Blood, Sweat & Tears . At Shaffer's suggestion, guitarist Steve Cropper and bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn ,
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#17327721157628122-526: The band's most successful single, in 1974. Belushi's budding interest in the blues solidified in October 1977 when he was in Eugene, Oregon , filming National Lampoon's Animal House . He went to a local hotel to hear 25-year-old blues singer/harmonica player Curtis Salgado . After the show, Belushi and Salgado talked about the blues for hours. Belushi found Salgado's enthusiasm infectious. In an interview at
8253-554: The beginning of the 20th century. They are now lost. Other recordings that are still available were made in 1924 by Lawrence Gellert . Later, several recordings were made by Robert W. Gordon , who became head of the Archive of American Folk Songs of the Library of Congress . Gordon's successor at the library was John Lomax . In the 1930s, Lomax and his son Alan made a large number of non-commercial blues recordings that testify to
8384-662: The blues from the melodic structures of certain West African musical styles of the savanna and sahel. Lucy Durran finds similarities with the melodies of the Bambara people , and to a lesser degree, the Soninke people and Wolof people , but not as much of the Mandinka people . Gerard Kubik finds similarities to the melodic styles of both the west African savanna and central Africa, both of which were sources of enslaved people. No specific African musical form can be identified as
8515-443: The blues gained an association with misery and oppression, the lyrics could also be humorous and raunchy: Rebecca, Rebecca, get your big legs off of me, Rebecca, Rebecca, get your big legs off of me, It may be sending you baby, but it's worrying the hell out of me. Hokum blues celebrated both comedic lyrical content and a boisterous, farcical performance style. Tampa Red and Georgia Tom 's " It's Tight Like That " (1928)
8646-578: The blues in the same year in Missouri ; and W.C. Handy , who first heard the blues in Tutwiler, Mississippi , in 1903. The first extensive research in the field was performed by Howard W. Odum , who published an anthology of folk songs from Lafayette County, Mississippi , and Newton County, Georgia , between 1905 and 1908. The first non-commercial recordings of blues music, termed proto-blues by Paul Oliver , were made by Odum for research purposes at
8777-468: The blues is usually dated after the Emancipation Act of 1863 , between 1860s and 1890s, a period that coincides with post- emancipation and later, the establishment of juke joints as places where African-Americans went to listen to music, dance, or gamble after a hard day's work. This period corresponds to the transition from slavery to sharecropping, small-scale agricultural production, and
8908-530: The blues narrowly in terms of certain chord structures and lyric forms thought to have originated in West Africa, audiences originally heard the music in a far more general way: it was simply the music of the rural south, notably the Mississippi Delta . Black and white musicians shared the same repertoire and thought of themselves as " songsters " rather than blues musicians. The notion of blues as
9039-459: The blues was rooted in ... the savanna hinterland, from Senegambia through Mali, Burkina Faso, Northern Ghana, Niger, and northern Nigeria". Additionally, ethnomusicologist John Storm Roberts has argued that "The parallels between African savanna-belt string-playing and the techniques of many blues guitarists are remarkable. The big kora of Senegal and Guinea are played in a rhythmic-melodic style that uses constantly changing rhythms, often providing
9170-411: The blues, usually dating back to the middle of the 18th century, when the slaves were Christianized and began to sing and play Christian hymns , in particular those of Isaac Watts , which were very popular. Before the blues gained its formal definition in terms of chord progressions, it was defined as the secular counterpart of spirituals. It was the low-down music played by rural blacks. Depending on
9301-485: The boogie-woogie wave and was strongly influenced by big band music. It uses saxophone or other brass instruments and the guitar in the rhythm section to create a jazzy, up-tempo sound with declamatory vocals. Jump blues tunes by Louis Jordan and Big Joe Turner , based in Kansas City, Missouri , influenced the development of later styles such as rock and roll and rhythm and blues. Dallas-born T-Bone Walker , who
9432-510: The cast. Aykroyd and Belushi filled a jukebox with songs from Sam & Dave , punk band The Viletones and others. Belushi bought an amplifier and they kept some musical instruments there for anyone who wanted to jam. It was at the bar that Aykroyd and Ron Gwynne wrote and developed the story which Aykroyd turned into the draft screenplay for the Blues Brothers movie, better known as the "tome", because it contained so many pages. It
9563-480: The comedy film The Blues Brothers in 1980. They remain the most successful blues revue act of all time. Belushi died in 1982, but the Blues Brothers continued to perform with a rotation of guest singers and other band members. The band re-formed in 1988 for a world tour and again in 1998 for the sequel film Blues Brothers 2000 . The genesis of the Blues Brothers was a January 17, 1976, Saturday Night Live sketch. In it, " Howard Shore and his All-Bee Band" play
9694-479: The emphasis and impact of the lyrics, and vocal dramatics using shouts, groans, moans, and wails. The blues women thus effected changes in other types of popular singing that had spin-offs in jazz, Broadway musicals , torch songs of the 1930s and 1940s, gospel , rhythm and blues , and eventually rock and roll ." Urban male performers included popular black musicians of the era, such as Tampa Red , Big Bill Broonzy and Leroy Carr . An important label of this era
9825-429: The expansion of railroads in the southern United States. Several scholars characterize the development of blues music in the early 1900s as a move from group performance to individualized performance. They argue that the development of the blues is associated with the newly acquired freedom of the enslaved people. According to Lawrence Levine, "there was a direct relationship between the national ideological emphasis upon
9956-646: The fictional backstory of Jake and Elwood, having them growing up in a Roman Catholic orphanage in Rock Island, Illinois and learning the blues from a janitor named Curtis. Their blood brotherhood was sealed by cutting their middle fingers with a string said to come from the guitar of Elmore James . The band, along with the New Riders of the Purple Sage , opened for the Grateful Dead for
10087-594: The final show at Winterland , New Year's Eve 1978. With the film came the soundtrack album , which was the band's first studio album. " Gimme Some Lovin' " was a Top 40 hit and the band toured to promote the film. The tour began on June 27, 1980 at Poplar Creek Music Theater . The tour also led to a third album (and second live album), Made in America , recorded at the Universal Amphitheatre in 1980. The track "Who's Making Love" peaked at No 39. It
10218-430: The first copyrighted blues composition. In lyrics, the phrase is often used to describe a depressed mood. Early traditional blues verses often consisted of a single line repeated four times. However, the most common structure of blues lyrics today was established in the first few decades of the 20th century, known as the "AAB" pattern. This structure consists of a line sung over the first four bars, its repetition over
10349-526: The first of several compilations and hits collections issued over the years. A 1998 British CD compilation, The Complete Blues Brothers , exclusively featured The Lamont Cranston Band 's "Excuse Moi Mon Cheri", from the L.A. Briefcase recordings, originally available only as the b-side to the "Soul Man" 45 rpm single. On March 5, 1982, Belushi died in Hollywood of an accidental overdose of heroin and cocaine . After Belushi's death, updated versions of
10480-563: The first time in a film that the Blues Brothers play with their original keyboardist. The Blues Brothers Musical In 2020, the first Blues Brothers full stage musical premiered in Tauranga, New Zealand. Written and directed by New Zealand writers Gordy Lockhart and Liam Hagan and produced by Tauranga Musical Theatre, Lockhart and Hagan spent years in discussions with Judy Belushi prior to signing an agreement with Belushi and Aykroyd to use Blues Brothers intellectual property. The main task of
10611-540: The form of a loose narrative. African-American singers voiced their "personal woes in a world of harsh reality: a lost love, the cruelty of police officers, oppression at the hands of white folk, [and] hard times". This melancholy has led to the suggestion of an Igbo origin for blues, because of the reputation the Igbo had throughout plantations in the Americas for their melancholic music and outlook on life when they were enslaved. Other historians have argued that there
10742-417: The genre took its shape from the idiosyncrasies of individual performers. However, there are some characteristics that were present long before the creation of the modern blues. Call-and-response shouts were an early form of blues-like music; they were a "functional expression ... style without accompaniment or harmony and unbounded by the formality of any particular musical structure". A form of this pre-blues
10873-545: The house band at the fabled Grossman's Tavern from 1968 to 1970, managed briefly by former folk musician, Ron Gerston. Classically trained pianist Jane Vasey joined the band in 1973. The initial blues musical influence on Donnie Walsh was Jimmy Reed . He was later greatly influenced by James Cotton , both in terms of musical style and band format. Walsh and Cotton later became personal friends. Donnie Walsh described these early influences as follows: "Jimmy Reed. I heard him on my girlfriend’s birthday party. Some guys brought
11004-454: The huge variety of proto-blues styles, such as field hollers and ring shouts . A record of blues music as it existed before 1920 can also be found in the recordings of artists such as Lead Belly and Henry Thomas . All these sources show the existence of many different structures distinct from twelve- , eight- , or sixteen-bar . The social and economic reasons for the appearance of the blues are not fully known. The first appearance of
11135-434: The individual, the popularity of Booker T. Washington's teachings, and the rise of the blues." Levine stated that "psychologically, socially, and economically, African-Americans were being acculturated in a way that would have been impossible during slavery, and it is hardly surprising that their secular music reflected this as much as their religious music did." There are few characteristics common to all blues music, because
11266-408: The last bars. Early blues frequently took the form of a loose narrative, often relating the racial discrimination and other challenges experienced by African-Americans. Many elements, such as the call-and-response format and the use of blue notes, can be traced back to the music of Africa . The origins of the blues are also closely related to the religious music of the African-American community,
11397-727: The late '50s, well I guess more late '60s sort of, in around the Newport jazz rediscovery. I was going to Le Hibou and hearing James Cotton , Otis Spann , Pinetop Perkins and Muddy Waters . I actually jammed behind Muddy Waters. S. P. Leary left the drum kit one night, and Muddy said 'anybody out there play drums? I don't have a drummer.' And I walked on stage and we started, I don't know, “ Little Red Rooster ”, something. He said 'keep that beat going, you make Muddy feel good.' And I heard Howlin' Wolf (Chester Burnett). Many, many times I saw Howlin' Wolf. And of course Buddy Guy , Buddy Guy and Junior Wells , Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee . So I
11528-485: The lead singer of Downchild since that time. Notwithstanding their strained relationship, Donnie Walsh assessed his brother's ability as follows: "He was a fabulous singer; he could sing the blues better than anybody I've ever heard. He had the timing, the phrasing, a fabulous voice… he was just great." Hock Walsh died on December 31, 1999, at the age of 51, of an apparent heart attack. Performing on his own and with his own bands since 1990, he had been scheduled to perform
11659-650: The low rate of literacy among rural African Americans at the time. Reports of blues music in southern Texas and the Deep South were written at the dawn of the 20th century. Charles Peabody mentioned the appearance of blues music at Clarksdale, Mississippi , and Gate Thomas reported similar songs in southern Texas around 1901–1902. These observations coincide more or less with the recollections of Jelly Roll Morton , who said he first heard blues music in New Orleans in 1902; Ma Rainey , who remembered first hearing
11790-474: The morale of American forces, Joint Special Forces Operations Command (JSOC), based at Area 56 are at an all-time low. POTUS believes that following five years of arduous preparation far from home, the appalling quality of entertainment at the region's main base to be the core of the issue. His solution? He instructs the Joint Chiefs to find the only musical act that has a hope of raising morale, so saving
11921-525: The music industry during the 1920s and 1930s. Other chord progressions, such as 8-bar forms, are still considered blues; examples include " How Long Blues ", " Trouble in Mind ", and Big Bill Broonzy 's " Key to the Highway ". There are also 16-bar blues , such as Ray Charles 's instrumental "Sweet 16 Bars" and Herbie Hancock 's " Watermelon Man ". Idiosyncratic numbers of bars are occasionally used, such as
12052-452: The next four, and a longer concluding line over the last bars. This pattern can be heard in some of the first published blues songs, such as " Dallas Blues " (1912) and " Saint Louis Blues " (1914). According to W.C. Handy , the "AAB" pattern was adopted to avoid the monotony of lines repeated three times. The lyrics are often sung in a rhythmic talk style rather than a melody, resembling a form of talking blues . Early blues frequently took
12183-539: The only blues song on the list. Michael Fonfara died on 8 January 2021 in a Toronto hospital, following a two-year battle with cancer. Shortly after, drummer Mike Fitzpatrick retired. Later that summer, Downchild embarked on a 50th anniversary tour, long delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, joined by returning drummer Jim Casson (who played with the group 1996 - 2001) and Toronto keyboardist Tyler Yarema . In his book More Blues Singers: Biographies of 50 Artist from
12314-520: The powerhouse combo from Booker T. & the M.G.'s and subsequently almost every hit out of Memphis' Stax Records during the 1960s, were signed as well. Belushi wanted a powerful trumpet player and a hot blues guitarist, so Juilliard -trained trumpeter Alan Rubin was brought in, as was guitarist Matt "Guitar" Murphy , who had performed with many blues legends. For the brothers' look, Belushi borrowed John Lee Hooker 's trademark Ray-Ban Wayfarer sunglasses and soul patch . In Stories Behind
12445-495: The propulsive left-hand rhythms of the ragtime pianists with melodic figures similar to those of Armstrong's trumpet in the right hand". The smooth Louisiana style of Professor Longhair and, more recently, Dr. John blends classic rhythm and blues with blues styles. Another development in this period was big band blues. The " territory bands " operating out of Kansas City , the Bennie Moten orchestra, Jay McShann , and
12576-458: The religious community a musician belonged to, it was more or less considered a sin to play this low-down music: blues was the devil's music. Musicians were therefore segregated into two categories: gospel singers and blues singers, guitar preachers and songsters. However, when rural black music began to be recorded in the 1920s, both categories of musicians used similar techniques: call-and-response patterns, blue notes, and slide guitars. Gospel music
12707-605: The singers he had backed; he also noted that Belushi had, early in his career, briefly been a professional drummer, and had an especially keen sense of rhythm . The Blues Brothers recorded their first album, Briefcase Full of Blues , in 1978 while opening for comedian Steve Martin at Los Angeles ' Universal Amphitheatre . The album reached #1 on the Billboard 200 , went double platinum , and featured Top 40 hit recordings of Sam & Dave 's " Soul Man " and The Chips ' " Rubber Biscuit ". The album liner notes fleshed out
12838-515: The single direct ancestor of the blues. However the call-and-response format can be traced back to the music of Africa . That blue notes predate their use in blues and have an African origin is attested to by "A Negro Love Song", by the English composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor , from his African Suite for Piano , written in 1898, which contains blue third and seventh notes . The Diddley bow (a homemade one-stringed instrument found in parts of
12969-406: The southeastern "delicate and lyrical" Piedmont blues tradition, which used an elaborate ragtime-based fingerpicking guitar technique. Georgia also had an early slide tradition, with Curley Weaver , Tampa Red , "Barbecue Bob" Hicks and James "Kokomo" Arnold as representatives of this style. The lively Memphis blues style, which developed in the 1920s and 1930s near Memphis, Tennessee ,
13100-466: The term "blues" was associated with drinking alcohol, a meaning which survives in the phrase ' blue law ', which prohibits the sale of alcohol on Sunday. In 1827, it was in the sense of a sad state of mind that John James Audubon wrote to his wife that he "had the blues". In Henry David Thoreau 's book Walden , he mentions "the blues" in the chapter reflecting on his time in solitude. He wrote his account of his personal quest in 1845, although it
13231-535: The term in this sense is in George Colman 's one-act farce Blue Devils (1798). The phrase 'blue devils' may also have been derived from a British usage of the 1600s referring to the "intense visual hallucinations that can accompany severe alcohol withdrawal". As time went on, the phrase lost the reference to devils and came to mean a state of agitation or depression. By the 1800s in the United States,
13362-478: The time with the Eugene Register-Guard , he said: I was growing sick of rock and roll , it was starting to bore me ... and I hated disco , so I needed some place to go. I hadn't heard much blues before. It felt good. In an interview with Crawdaddy he added: I couldn't stop playing the stuff! I bought hundreds of records and singles ... I walked around playing that shit all
13493-551: The time, including Steve "The Colonel" Cropper , Donald "Duck" Dunn , Matt "Guitar" Murphy , "Blue" Lou Marini , Tom "Bones" Malone , and Alan "Mr. Fabulous" Rubin . In 1978, the band released their debut album, Briefcase Full of Blues , which was a recording of their original appearance with Steve Martin. Several subsequent albums followed. The act opened for the Grateful Dead at the closing of Winterland Arena in San Francisco, and gained further fame after spawning
13624-694: The time. And then I knew Danny had played the harp in Canada, and I always could sing, so we created the Blues Brothers. Salgado lent him some albums by Floyd Dixon , Charles Brown , Johnny "Guitar" Watson , and others. Belushi was hooked. In July 2024, John Belushi's Facebook page revealed that Belushi's wife Judith had a prominent role in the development of the Blue Brothers, stating that "Her unwavering dedication and creative genius alongside Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi gave birth to ‘The Blues Brothers." Belushi began to join Salgado on stage, singing
13755-450: The trance-like rhythm and call-and-response, and they form a repetitive effect called a groove . Characteristic of the blues since its Afro-American origins, the shuffles played a central role in swing music . The simplest shuffles, which were the clearest signature of the R&;B wave that started in the mid-1940s, were a three-note riff on the bass strings of the guitar. When this riff
13886-720: The two Blues Brothers characters. Aykroyd modeled Elwood Blues in part on Donnie Walsh, a harmonica player and guitarist, while Belushi's Jake Blues character was modeled after Hock Walsh, Downchild's lead singer, and Curtis Salgado . In their first album, Briefcase Full of Blues (1978), Aykroyd and Belushi featured three well-known Downchild songs closely associated with Hock Walsh's vocal style: "I've Got Everything I Need (Almost)", written by Donnie Walsh, "Shotgun Blues", co-written by Donnie and Hock Walsh, and "Flip, Flop and Fly", co-written and originally popularized by Big Joe Turner . All three songs were on Downchild's second album, Straight Up (1973), with "Flip, Flop and Fly" becoming
14017-524: The university in the city. And there was a place on Sussex Drive (Sussex Drive is where the Prime Minister's house is, right below Parliament Hill ), and there was a little club there called Le Hibou, which in French means 'the owl.' And it was run by a gentleman named Harvey Glatt , and he brought every, and I mean every blues star that you or I would ever have wanted to have seen through Ottawa in
14148-626: The voices of Elwood and Jake. To promote Blues Brothers 2000 (1998), Dan Aykroyd, Jim Belushi and John Goodman performed at the Super Bowl XXXI halftime show , along with ZZ Top and James Brown . The performance was preceded with a faux news report stating the Blues Brothers had escaped custody and were on their way to the Louisiana Superdome . Aykroyd has continued to be an active proponent of blues music and parlayed this avocation into foundation and partial ownership of
14279-591: The whole room. You’d go to the Muddy Waters section, and there would be eight Muddy Glasses of water singles. You’d go to the Sonny Boy Williamson section, and there would be five Sonny Boy Williamson singles." The band's first album, Bootleg , is regarded as one of the first independent albums ever produced in Canada. It was recorded over two nights in 1971, in a makeshift studio at Toronto's Rochdale College . Donnie Walsh and others distributed
14410-531: The world and developing intergalactic relations. Blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated amongst African-Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spirituals , work songs , field hollers , shouts , chants , and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the African-American culture . The blues form is ubiquitous in jazz , rhythm and blues , and rock and roll , and
14541-675: The world regularly. The only original members still in the band are Steve Cropper and Lou Marini . The lead singers are Bobby "Sweet Soul" Harden, Rob "The Honeydripper" Papparozi and Tommy "Pipes" McDonnel. They are occasionally joined by Eddie Floyd . Aykroyd most recently hosted a radio show as his character Elwood Blues on the weekly House of Blues Radio Hour , heard nationwide on the Dial Global Radio Network until 2017. It has now been succeeded by The Sam T. Blues Revue , which airs Wednesday nights on KHBT . In 1980 , The Blues Brothers , directed by John Landis ,
14672-470: The writers was to create a stage show based on a new storyline as complications with rights ownership meant the original movie script could not be adapted for the stage. The result was The Blues Brothers - First Contact. The Blues Brothers - First Contact Show Synopsis Jake and Elwood Blues are conditionally released from Joliet Detention Facility and are conscripted to the US military on direct orders from
14803-540: Was a formally trained musician, composer and arranger who helped to popularize the blues by transcribing and orchestrating blues in an almost symphonic style, with bands and singers. He became a popular and prolific composer, and billed himself as the "Father of the Blues"; however, his compositions can be described as a fusion of blues with ragtime and jazz, a merger facilitated using the Cuban habanera rhythm that had long been
14934-480: Was also at the bar that Aykroyd introduced Belushi to the blues . An interest soon became a fascination, and it was not long before the two began singing with local blues bands. Jokingly, SNL band leader Howard Shore suggested they call themselves "The Blues Brothers". In an April 1988, interview he gave to the Chicago Sun-Times , Aykroyd said the Blues Brothers act borrowed from Sam and Dave and others;
15065-590: Was at a tribute to the late Hock Walsh, in February 2000, at Toronto's Horseshoe Tavern . Most of the current lineup has been together since 1990, when Chuck Jackson (vocals) and Michael Fonfara (keyboards) joined Donnie Walsh (guitar and harmonica) and Pat Carey (sax). Sax player Pat Carey was the first to join the current Downchild lineup, in 1985, a year after arriving in Toronto and commencing his Toronto musical career playing with both Hock Walsh and Tony Flaim. Bass player Gary Kendall joined Downchild for
15196-399: Was closely related to ragtime , which developed at about the same time, though the blues better preserved "the original melodic patterns of African music". The musical forms and styles that are now considered the blues as well as modern country music arose in the same regions of the southern United States during the 19th century. Recorded blues and country music can be found as far back as
15327-478: Was co-founded by two brothers, Donnie "Mr. Downchild" Walsh and Richard "Hock" Walsh . The band's international fame is partially due to three of its songs, the originals "I've Got Everything I Need (Almost)" and "Shot Gun Blues", and its adaptation of " Flip, Flop and Fly ", all from its 1973 album, Straight Up , being featured on the first Blues Brothers album, Briefcase Full of Blues (1978). "Flip, Flop and Fly" has been Downchild's only hit single, and became
15458-631: Was exposed to all of these players, playing there as part of this scene to service the academic community in Ottawa, a very well-educated community. Had I lived in a different town I don't think that this would have happened, because it was just the confluence of educated government workers, and then also all the colleges in the area, Ottawa University , Carleton, and all the schools—these people were interested in blues culture. The Toronto -based Downchild Blues Band, co-founded in 1969 by two brothers, Donnie and Richard "Hock" Walsh , served as an inspiration for
15589-457: Was heard in slave ring shouts and field hollers , expanded into "simple solo songs laden with emotional content". Blues has evolved from the unaccompanied vocal music and oral traditions of slaves imported from West Africa and rural blacks into a wide variety of styles and subgenres, with regional variations across the United States. Although blues (as it is now known) can be seen as a musical style based on both European harmonic structure and
15720-581: Was influenced by jug bands such as the Memphis Jug Band or the Gus Cannon's Jug Stompers . Performers such as Frank Stokes , Sleepy John Estes , Robert Wilkins , Kansas Joe McCoy , Casey Bill Weldon and Memphis Minnie used a variety of unusual instruments such as washboard , fiddle , kazoo or mandolin . Memphis Minnie was famous for her virtuoso guitar style. Pianist Memphis Slim began his career in Memphis, but his distinct style
15851-458: Was living with Vasey at the time, took a period of time off to reflect on his future and that of the band. The band came back in the fall of 1982, with both a new singer and a new keyboard player, by way of a live recording from Toronto's historic El Mocambo club, But I'm On The Guest List . Despite being closely identified with the band's initial sound and also being the co-writer, with brother Donnie Walsh, of "Shot Gun Blues", later recorded by
15982-670: Was nevertheless using musical forms that were compatible with Christian hymns and therefore less marked by the blues form than its secular counterpart. The American sheet music publishing industry produced a great deal of ragtime music. By 1912, the sheet music industry had published three popular blues-like compositions, precipitating the Tin Pan Alley adoption of blues elements: "Baby Seals' Blues", by Baby Franklin Seals (arranged by Artie Matthews ); "Dallas Blues", by Hart Wand ; and " The Memphis Blues ", by W.C. Handy . Handy
16113-481: Was not published until 1854. The phrase "the blues" was written by Charlotte Forten , then aged 25, in her diary on December 14, 1862. She was a free-born black woman from Pennsylvania who was working as a schoolteacher in South Carolina, instructing both slaves and freedmen, and wrote that she "came home with the blues" because she felt lonesome and pitied herself. She overcame her depression and later noted
16244-438: Was perceived to be a more lucrative rock music career, Donnie Walsh has a different perspective: "Just around when I started there were all these guys in blues bands and of course they were impatient and they wanted to make some more money so they became rock bands. I played the blues then and I play the blues now. That's what I love. ... It's a living thing, it's living music. By living and breathing it goes on and what that means
16375-420: Was played over the bass and the drums, the groove "feel" was created. Shuffle rhythm is often vocalized as " dow , da dow , da dow , da" or " dump , da dump , da dump , da": it consists of uneven, or "swung", eighth notes. On a guitar this may be played as a simple steady bass or it may add to that stepwise quarter note motion from the fifth to the sixth of the chord and back. Hart Wand 's " Dallas Blues "
16506-430: Was published in 1912; W.C. Handy 's " The Memphis Blues " followed in the same year. The first recording by an African American singer was Mamie Smith 's 1920 rendition of Perry Bradford 's " Crazy Blues ". But the origins of the blues were some decades earlier, probably around 1890. This music is poorly documented, partly because of racial discrimination in U.S. society, including academic circles, and partly because of
16637-489: Was released. It featured epic car chases involving the Bluesmobile and musical performances by Aretha Franklin , James Brown , Cab Calloway , Ray Charles and John Lee Hooker . The story is set in and around Chicago, Illinois . It is a tale of redemption for the paroled convict Jake Blues and his brother Elwood, who after a visit to Sister Mary Stigmata ( Kathleen Freeman ), otherwise known as "The Penguin" at
16768-507: Was replaced by the term rhythm and blues . This rapidly evolving market was mirrored by Billboard magazine's Rhythm & Blues chart . This marketing strategy reinforced trends in urban blues music such as the use of electric instruments and amplification and the generalization of the blues beat, the blues shuffle , which became ubiquitous in rhythm and blues (R&B). This commercial stream had important consequences for blues music, which, together with jazz and gospel music , became
16899-444: Was smoother and had some swing elements. Many blues musicians based in Memphis moved to Chicago in the late 1930s or early 1940s and became part of the urban blues movement. City or urban blues styles were more codified and elaborate, as a performer was no longer within their local, immediate community, and had to adapt to a larger, more varied audience's aesthetic. Classic female urban and vaudeville blues singers were popular in
17030-555: Was the Chicago-based Bluebird Records . Before World War II, Tampa Red was sometimes referred to as "the Guitar Wizard". Carr accompanied himself on the piano with Scrapper Blackwell on guitar, a format that continued well into the 1950s with artists such as Charles Brown and even Nat "King" Cole . Boogie-woogie was another important style of 1930s and early 1940s urban blues. While the style
17161-543: Was the last recording the band would make with Belushi's Jake Blues. Belushi's wife, Judith Jacklin, and his friend, Tino Insana , wrote a book, Blues Brothers: Private , that further fleshed out the Blues Brothers' universe and gave a back story for the first movie. In 1981, Best of the Blues Brothers was released, with a previously unreleased track, a version of The Soul Survivors ' " Expressway to Your Heart ", and alternate live recordings of " Everybody Needs Somebody to Love " and "Rubber Biscuit"; this album would be
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