The Professor’s Guide to The Blues

Ask any jazz musician worthy of their craft, and they’ll tell you “you can’t have jazz without the blues.” While I believe this to be correct, it’s not a statement you should think too hard about because it inevitably leads to the question:What is the blues? And that’s where we run into some trouble. The blues is a concept about which the more you try and identify it, the more elusive it gets. The blues is hard to define, like any emotion. It’s like asking what is love? (Well, these days it’s swiping right on Tinder. Forget that example.) But you get the point. The blues is a feeling; and we, each in our own way, all know what it’s like to get the blues. And by playing/listening to the blues, we feel better. The blues cures the blues. It’s a little confusing, but like I said, don’t think too much about it. Although it came out of a unique and very tragic time in American history, the blues is a concept that is universally understood. Take me for instance. I’m Australian. And as an Australian, I can get the blues if, for example, my kangaroo runs away from home, or my pub runs out of beer. These heartbreaking events can best be expressed with the blues. Here’s an acceptable Aussie blues: “When I woke up this morning, I was feeling so alone, I said when I woke up this morning, I was feeling so alone, Because my kanargoo gone and left me, And