Jazz is not Blues and Blues is not Jazz.......

Surely there are different styles of music, but for the most part the labels we placed upon them are marketing terms that assist record labels, radio stations and other music distributors.  Genre labels can be helpful, but they shouldn't be taken too seriously.  Is it really that important that southside Chicago blues was slightly different than westside Chicago blues?
It's my observation that if you can make a living playing music that you have the versatility and talent to play most forms of popular music.   As an example, take Paul Humphrey.  He's primarily known as a jazz drummer, but he worked with Albert King, Frank Zappa, Dusty Springfiled, Jerry Garcia, Tony Orlando and Marvin Gaye.  He was also the drummer in the Lawrence Welk Orchestra.  He made a living playing music.

The premise of this thread is quite relevant, and one that I have often wondered about myself.


We have clearly illustrated that even the people who create the two genres are so very different; then why shouldn't the music be different. Beyond the commonality of ethnicity, I can't see any similarities. Even the same word means two different things; when a jazz musician refers to "The Blues", does his reference sound like Howling Wolf?

A custom (also called a tradition) is a common way of doing things. It is something that many people do, and have done for a long time. Usually, the people come from the same country, culture, or religion. ... Many customs are things that people do that are handed down from the past.

50 years ago certain radio stations only played certain kinds of music and they were lumped together, not by genre, but by ....... You fill in the missing blank.

Now tell me, what do jazz, blues and Gospel have in common?



Once a tradition is started, it just carries on beyond the time that anybody knows why?