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Enjoy learning the history of Chicago Blues from our fun timeline. Suitable for children, it gives a comprehensive overview of the history of Chicago Blues.
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Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18,...
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Contact Chicago Blues Society with any questions or...
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The positive aspects of bringing blues to our schools are...
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At a young age, Anji Brooks is already a force to be...
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Chicago Blues Clubs; History; Music; Support Us; Blog; Blues...
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The Chicago blues is a form of blues music that developed in Chicago, Illinois by adding electrically amplified guitar, drums, piano, bass guitar and sometimes saxophone to Delta blues.
By the ’40s Chicago blues artists started using a broader array of scales in their improvising than their Delta blues ancestors, advancing the genre beyond its original manifestation as an electrified form of down-home Southern blues.
Chicago Blues flourished in the 1940’s and 50’s in neighborhoods that were packed with night clubs and home to blues men. As the landscape changed and music became commoditized, clubs closed, radio stations stopped playing blues, and our children lost the connection to a great art form.
During the 1950s, Chicago blues flourished, developing the signatures—use of rhythm sections and amplification; reliance on guitar and harmonica leads; and routine reference to Mississippi Delta styles of playing and singing—that identify it today.
Coupled with the advent of electric guitar, the blues in Chicago evolved into a defining sound, diverging from its Southern Delta Blues counterpart and writing a unique chapter in the annals of music history.
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 urban style. It developed alongside the Great Migration of African Americans of the first half of the twentieth century.