“The Three Kings of the Blues Guitar” are Albert, Freddie and BB King. Each had an enormous impact on the way we think about blues today.
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The Blues Dance Project
The Blues Dance Project – Unit 1 – Week 3 – Featured Artists: Ethel Waters, Alberta Hunter, Ruth Brown
Three women who had a huge impact on the world of Jazz, Blues and R&B. Defenitely worth a listen!
Ethel Waters
Ethel waters started her career in 1920 as a Blues singer- she was, in fact, the 5th woman to record a blues album. In her career, she also performed on Broadway, sang Jazz, blues, pop and show tunes.
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The Blues Dance Project – Unit 1 – Week 2 – Featured Artist: Howlin’ Wolf
Chester Arthur Burnett (Howlin’ Wolf) grew up the son of divorced share croppers. He was kicked out of his mother’s home at a young age when he refused to work for 18 cents per day. He was sent to live with his mother’s brother who treated him badly and then around age 14, he ran away and found his father’s family; supposedly walking 85 miles barefoot to reach him. His father loved him and they were happy together.
He learned to play guitar from a popular musician of the day, Charley Patton, who taught him how to use the guitar and “might” have given him his nickname.
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The Blues Dance Project – Unit 1 – Week 1 – Featured Artist: Muddy Waters
Right now I’m traveling the world teaching Blues Dancing and have to good fortune to be staying in the Malmö, Kobenhavn, Helsingborg region of Sweden and Denmark. This luxury is allowing me to offer blues dance classes in three cities simultaneously and to focus more deeply on material than I would otherwise be able to do while on tour.
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