West Coast blues

Style of blues music which incorporates elements of jazz and jump blues

This article is about the genre of blues music. For the album by Harold Land, see West Coast Blues!

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West Coast blues

Stylistic origins|

* Blues
* jazz blues
* jump blues
* Texas blues

Cultural origins| 1940s, Texas, U.S.

West Coast blues is a type of blues music influenced by jazz and jump blues, with strong piano-dominated sounds and jazzy guitar solos, which originated from Texas blues players who relocated to California in the 1940s.[1] West Coast blues also features smooth, honey-toned vocals, frequently crossing into rhythm and blues territory.

## Texas and the West Coast[edit]

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The towering figure of West Coast blues may be the guitarist T-Bone Walker, famous for the song "Call It Stormy Monday (But Tuesday Is Just as Bad)", a relocated Texan, who made his first recordings in the late 1920s. In the early 1940s, Walker moved to Los Angeles,[2] where he recorded many enduring sides for Capitol, Black & White, and Imperial. Walker was a crucial figure in the electrification and urbanization of the blues, probably doing more to popularize the electric guitar in the form than anyone else. Much of his material had a distinct jazzy jump blues feel, an influence that would characterize much of the most influential blues to emerge from California in the 1940s and 1950s.

Other Texas bluesmen followed: the pianist and songwriter Amos Milburn, the singer Percy Mayfield (who would later become famous for the song "Hit the Road Jack"), and Charles Brown moved to Los Angeles. The guitarist Pee Wee Crayton divided his time between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Lowell Fulson, from Texas by way of Oklahoma, moved to Oakland.

Little Willie Littlefield was a R&B and boogie-woogie pianist and singer[3] whose early recordings helped forge a vital link between boogie-woogie and rock and roll.[3]

## See also[edit]

* List of West Coast blues musicians

## References[edit]

1. ^ Vladimir, Bogdanov. All Music Guide to the Blues: The Definitive Guide to the Blues, Backbeat Books, page xii, (2002) - ISBN 0-87930-736-6
2. ^ Obrecht, Jas (2000). Rollin' and Tumblin': The Postwar Blues Guitarists. Backbeat Books. p. 7. ISBN 0-87930-613-0.
3. ^ a b McArdle, Terence. "Little Willie Littlefield, Blues Singer, Boogie-Woogie Pianist, Dies at 81". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 4, 2013.

## External links[edit]

* Bay Area Blues Society

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Blues

Musical form|

* Blue note
* Blues ballad
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* Call and response
* Eight-bar blues
* Musical improvisation
* Shuffles
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Origins|

* Origins
* Field hollers
* Spirituals
* Work songs
* American folk music

Regional
styles|

* Africa
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Subgenres|

* Boogie-woogie
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* Electric
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* Hokum
* Holler
* Jug band
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Fusion genres|

* Rhythm and blues
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* Biker metal
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* Punk
* Southern rock
* Gospel
* Jump
* Soul

Lists|

* Blues musicians
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* Blues portal
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