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

Good question Frogman, beside the fact that I'm in pursuit of that vinyl LP and I think it's a most significant jazz tune, I had no real point, but I realize that is the central cause of confusion.

It seems that even "jazz musicians" are confused by what is, and what is not blues, and that includes Miles Davis. He said he liked Blues but gave no example. I bet nobody from "Clarksdale" would be confused; they can tell the difference between blues and jazz. I go along with the people from Clarksdale.

Anytime jazz musicians have spoken of the Blues, I always went away with a question mark on my mind because they are never definitive; it's always jazz with a "blue feeling" but not real blues.

Frogman, the best I can do is is two different categories of music; Delta Blues, and jazz Blues.

Strange.  I always thought Blues got lumped together with Rhythm, not Jazz.

Anyway, this debate is about as productive as trying to arrive at universally accepted definitions of what is yellow and what is orange.

Sure, the 12 bar blues is a classic blues form.  A form that has been used ("appropriated"????) zillions of times by jazz players, who don't have the "credentials" to be considered blues players.  So when the 12 bar blues are played by a jazz player, what is the music: blues, or jazz?  And more importantly, does it matter?

Mary Lou Williams - The Blues;


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-X4r5ZioIBw

twoleftears,

Of course it doesn’t matter. That is the point. Isn’t it? It doesn’t matter. That is precisely the rebuttal to the premise of the original post. As Duke said, “there are only two kinds of music....good and bad”.

However, if opening that can of worms one must, then other issues become relevant and inescapable if trying to define it. History and influences are just two; not to mention things like musical form and other theory. That Grant Green clip had a lot more in common with the Blues than just the “form”.

Now, about “credentials”. Did guitarist Peter Green pick cotton? I kinda doubt it. I guess that means he is not a Blues player. Tell that to all his fans.

Bottom line (and re that Grant Green clip):

Classic twelve bar Blues form. Uses a Blues tonality and scales. Is inflected like the Blues......it’s a Blues.