Explore... Blues

By John Morthland

Despite the aggravatingly common assertion that it "all sounds the same," blues is a remarkably diverse music. Dividing it into subgenres is difficult. The style encompasses everything from a lone bluesman singing and playing his acoustic guitar to string bands to small, acoustic, urban combos with horns to hard-rocking electric bands to orchestras, with regional variations of each. And that's just for starters; when you get into contemporary blues — or post-blues blues, as I like to call it — all bets are off.

There's even a lot of so-called blues that utilizes neither blues rhythms nor blue notes! Still, you gotta start somewhere. There are few greater pleasures in life than a blues band hitting a solid groove, and the music has an inherent passion and integrity that's undeniable. Plus, the songs are loaded with terrific tales about life by people who've lived it to the fullest.

Here's one man's attempt to make some kind of sense of it all.

By Kevin Whitehead
Before Bob Dylan or David Bowie or whoever else became famous for periodically reinventing themselves, Miles Davis was already at it. He first gained attention playing fast bebop trumpet with Charlie Parker, then fronted the nine-piece band that established softer cool jazz. (One of his collaborators was arranger Gil Evans, who'd go on to direct a series of orchestral LPs for Miles.) In the '50s Davis founded his first great quintet, a highly influential group that made John Coltrane's reputation, and morphed into the sextet that recorded the most famous jazz album ever, Kind of Blue, in 1959. In the 1960s Miles assembled his second classic quintet, a gloriously loose outfit including Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock. In the '70s he went loud and electric, and in the '80s played overtly pop-influenced funk.

An irresistibly lyrical trumpet player, Miles Davis demonstrated how less could be more. He valued silences and chose notes with care, gravitating toward his horn's warm middle range. He popularized use of the metal Harmon mute, stuck in the trumpet's bell for an even more intimate, confidential timbre — one of the iconic sounds of jazz itself

It used to be easier to pretend that an album was its own perfectly self-contained artifact. The great records certainly feel that way. But albums are more permeable than solid, their motivations, executions and inspirations informed by, and often stolen from, their peers and forbearers. It all sounds awfully formal, but it's not. It's the very nature of music — of art, even. The Six Degrees features examine the relationships between classic records and five other albums we've deemed related in some way. In some cases these connections are obvious, in others they are tenuous. But, most important to you, all of the records are highly, highly recommended.

Welcome to eMusic Selects, a monthly program featuring exclusive music from handpicked, unsigned new artists. The label began in February of 2008 with albums from High Places and Breathe Owl Breathe, and has continued from there, releasing 14 albums total to date, and paying out over $100,000 in royalties to our artists. (eMusic does not get a stake in these records or anything like that.) The newest additions to eMusic Selects are Altair Nouveau and Julianna Barwick. Listen to their incredible records below.