It, therefore, doesn’t come as a surprise that it also has a considerable influence on the online casinos. If you’re a blues fan who also loves to play online slot games, we have something exciting here. Out of the many online casino games, we’ve picked some online slots themed on blues and jazz for you:

1. The Blues Brothers

This online slot game comes from Bally, one of the leading provider of online casino games. It consists of 5 reels and 3 lines, featuring icons based on the American television show Saturday Night Live. These icons include the Blue Brothers logo, queen, bonus case, jack, playing card numbers, and the king’s full suit. You’ll also come across the symbols of vinyl records, tickets, and jackpot.

All of these symbols or icons represent the game’s scatters, wilds, and free spins. Although there are some who criticize the game saying that it lacks innovation, it’s still worth playing. The Blues Brothers online slot features the symbols of John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd. They keep the spirit of the television show alive. The attractive graphics and random gameplay of this online slot also goes well with its music.

2. Jazz of the New Orleans

Jazz of the New Orleans is a fantastic offering from one of the leading casino game providers, Play’n GO. It has 5 reels and 3 lines just like The Blues Brothers online slot. However, it stands out because of its references to jazz music and its interesting history.

The progressive jackpot of this game has three levels of prizes in store for its players. So, if you’re a regular slot player, you’ll have an extra challenge here. This is something that they won’t get from the gameplay of The Blue Brothers, which is quite straightforward. You can also access the Bonus Game in Jazz of the New Orleans, where you’ll find three wilds on the reels.

These wilds substitute for all the other symbols as usual except the scatters. You have the chance of winning up to 25 free spins and 5 extra wilds in this game. One of the online casinos where you can play this online slot is Casumo.

3. In Jazz

More popular among the players of online casinos as a mobile slot game, In Jazz comes from Endorphina. This premium slot game provider for online casinos is based in Malta. In Jazz has 5 reels, 25 paylines, and 3 rows with loads of opportunities for you to win credits. Unlike the traditional slot games, this online slot uses musicality as its theme with some amazing improvisations.

You’ll find a full deck of cards, treble clef, a horn-playing jack, and other fantastic symbols in this game. The Free Spins mode in this online slot serves as the Bonus Game. Besides, there are multipliers to give you loads of wins. They include wilds such as the frontwoman, double bass player, and the sax player.

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Over the years, there have been some exceptionally talented singers in this genre. With the mention of blues, many remember B.B. King’s gritty voice and the soulful sound of Muddy Waters. Here we’ll take a look at some of the immensely popular singers of blues:

1. B.B. King

This singer and guitarist was born on the 16th of September 1925 as Riley B. King. When he was 22 years of age, he took a ride to Memphis for launching his career in music. In the year 1948, his career began to take off and he took on the catchy nickname B.B. King. He began touring across the country by mid-1950s.

His name and fame continued to grow over the next decade. In 1984, he was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame. He was also inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of fame in 1987.

2. Muddy Waters

Born McKinley Morganfield, this legendary blues singer and guitarist tasted success as a traveling musician in the early 1940s. In the year 1943, he traveled north to Chicago. He also received his first electric guitar as a gift in the same year. Waters began recording music while in the city for the record companies such as RCA and Columbia.

His stardom and success continued for the remainder of his life. Water suffered a heart-attack in 1983, resulting in his death at 68 years of age.

3. Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday was born in 1915 as Eleanora Fagan in Baltimore. Right from her early age, Eleanora knew that she was born to be a singer. When she was playing jazz in the clubs of New York in 1929, she adopted the name Billie Holiday. She met a producer named John Hammond at the age of 18. This resulted in her career taking off at an astonishing pace.

After her collaboration with the pianist Teddy Wilson, she produced many successive hits. Towards the end of the mid-20th century, she signed a huge deal with Columbia Records. However, she died a year later. Billie Holiday was just 44 years of age at the time of her death. She was awarded four Grammy awards posthumously. Even today, many regard her as one of the greatest female singers in jazz.

4. Jimi Hendrix

When he was born, Jimi Hendrix was called Johnny Allen Hendrix and later named James Marshall Hendrix. Music fascinated him at an early age. In 1958, he purchased his first guitar and soon joined his first band. By the late 1960s, he moved to London and changed his name to Jimi Hendrix. While he was in London, he formed a band called Jimi Hendrix Experience.

The debut album of this band titled Are You Experienced? got instant success. Many fans of blues still consider it one of the biggest rock albums. Unfortunately, he died due to asphyxiation caused by a suspected drug overdose. He was only 27 years of age when he died.

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It also has the influences of traditional songs, slaves’ work songs, European hymns, and other forms of music. When the slave workers were on the field with their back-breaking work, singing gave them some respite.

The meaning of blues

At the outset, the meaning of blues was mostly sadness or melancholy. It is more likely that the origin of this term is associated with mysticism. This involved the blue indigo, which symbolizes death and mourning in many cultures of West Africa. During the ceremonies following the death of a person, a mourner’s clothes were dyed blue.

This was an indication of suffering and misfortune. The term blues can also be associated with betrayal and regret. Today, it signifies sadness. You get the blues upon losing your job, breaking up with your mate, and so on. The lyrics in blues music mostly deals with some kind of adversity. However, the music is much more than just about self-pity.

It is also about getting rid of frustrations, having fun, saying what you feel, and overcoming bad luck. On a personal level, the best form of blues can be starkly emotional or visceral. The feel in blues can range from immense joy to deep sadness. There’s hardly any musical form that communicates personal emotion more genuinely than blues.

Development of blues music

Blues developed in the Mississippi Delta, which is located just upriver from New Orleans. This city is also the place where jazz was born. The two musical forms of jazz and blues have always had an influence on each other. After the end of the Civil War, most of the black men had to opt for manual labor. The soulful and melancholic lyrics of several blues songs gave them the strength to celebrate life.

These songs created a powerful, rhythmic, and emotive music for them. The lyrics reflected their daily lives, mostly focusing on jail, poverty, drinking, and a few other aspects. In the early 20th century, blues became an important part of the popular culture in the United States. The first copyrighted song in the blues genre was Dallas Blues.

New forms of blues

Between 1915 and 1940, many African-Americans moved to the North. This was due to a failed Reconstruction, rampant oppression, and poor economic conditions in the South. They settled mostly in the urban areas of the North. As a result, a more urban type of blues developed, which eventually became ‘rhythm and blues’.

The popularity of blues then began decreasing considerably after a few years. In the late 1950s, there was a revival of this genre with the introduction of ‘folk and blues’. For quite some time, blues greatly influenced American popular music.

Its popularity in those times was mostly attributed to musicians such as Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley. Their style of blues was considerably different from the earlier melancholic tone of the genre. In the years that followed, blues merged with rock music. This led to the formation of the rock blues bands in the 1960s and 1970s.

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In their subsequent recordings, Belly and Jefferson used blues as their genre. The first blues song was recorded in 1920 by Mamie Smith. Over the years, many blues albums have become popular among the fans of this musical genre. Here are some of the best albums for the blues fans:

1. King Of The Delta Blues Singers – Robert Johnson

As a fan of blues music, you might go for a collection of Robert Johnson’s full recordings. Instead, start with this LP, which is more of an introduction of this music legend to the world. The recordings of Johnson were from the years before his death in the year 1938. Half of this album came out as 78 RPM singles. The other half was out at the same time with takes that were never released before.

There were several rumors about Johnson doing the rounds. According to one such rumor, the singer had sold his soul to the Devil at Mississippi crossroads. Within a few years of its release, this album attracted a sizable audience. Among them were the budding artists from the United Kingdom.

2. Live At The Regal – B.B. King

This is the album that had a great influence on Mark Knopfler and Eric Clapton. It’s the recording of B.B. King’s live performance at the Regal Theater in Chicago. The date of this event was the 21st of November 1964. It had many screaming fans who were full of adoration for King. At the event, he was at the peak of his abilities. His vocals were full of passion and his guitar lines were pure magic.

3. Are You Experienced? – Jimi Hendrix

At the time of the album’s release, Hendrix was an unknown performer and going through a tough financial struggle. So, it won’t be wrong to say that this record launched his career. Are You Experienced? went on to become a hit both commercially and critically.

Hendrix took the blues genre to new heights with his unmatched performances. They were an excellent blend of composure, feeling, emotion, and pure melody. More than half a century later, this album stands out as one of the best albums of Jimi Hendrix.

4. From The Cradle – Eric Clapton

Eric Clapton is popular worldwide as one of the greatest guitarists. In this album, which was his 13th solo studio album, he is full of respect for his blues roots. Through From The Cradle, he came up with interpretations of popular tunes by several American blues artists. Some of them were Otis Rush, Muddy Waters, Lowell Fulson, Tampa Red, and Freddy King.

Although the album didn’t quite impress the critics, it topped the US and UK album charts. From The Cradle was also the winner of the Best Traditional Blues Album award at the 1995 Grammy Awards. This album undoubtedly has some of the best guitar work of Eric Clapton’s career.

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They later combined with the American country and folk music. The blues music is a perfect combination of musicality, personal and emotional expression, and the process of improvisation that’s endless. Jazz and rock n’ roll came into existence because of blues. Despite this, blues is still unchanging and timeless. For the fans of blues, we’ve listed three of the top classic songs in this genre here:

1. The Thrill is Gone – B.B. King

B.B. King is a legend both in the world of blues and in the history of music. He is famous as one of the kings of electric blues. King’s flourishing career spanned 5 decades, making him the most celebrated blues artist. He had amazing skills in guitar and a call-and-response vocal style.

In blues music, his signature guitar style and phrasing known as ‘B.B. honk’ is among the most recognizable. The Thrill Is Gone is among the signature songs of B.B. King. This is a rather slow blues song and played in the minor-key. Rick Darnell and Roy Hawkins had originally written and performed this song in 1951.

In the year 1951, it made its way to the 6th position on the Billboard R&B chart. However, it was the version of B.B. King that made it one of blues music history’s biggest hits. King’s rendition of the song was instrumental in taking his career to greater heights.

2. Red House – Jimi Hendrix

With Red House, Hendrix proved that he is a master of guitar having exceptional skills in the instrument. This song is more or less a 13-minute-long track, depending on its rendition by the artist. He wrote the song himself and recorded it in the year 1966 with his band Jimi Hendrix Experience.

The recording took place in Greenwich Village with a call-and-response style of blues. This style originated from the songs that hollers workers sang on their field situated on the American south. In this style, each line of the song repeats twice over a slow 12-bar blues.

Red House is one of the earlier songs that Hendrix recorded with the Jimi Hendrix Experience band. Many of the blues fans also consider it as one of Jimi Hendrix’s most traditional form of song ever. It went on to become a favorite song of many Hendrix fans across the globe.

3. Hoochie Coochie Man – Muddy Waters

This is the song that helped Willie Dixon become the chief songwriter of Chess Records. Hoochie Coochie Man is a classic blues song from Muddy Waters, which came out in 1954. It is a Chicago-style classic electric blues song. The song features Muddy Waters linking Delta blues to stop-time riff and rock and roll. Since then, the stop-time riff has been used in many popular songs.

The phrasing in the song that Waters used became one of the musical phrases most recognizable in blues. The album The Best of Muddy Waters that came out in 1958 included the original recording of this song. It has also been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame.

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Blues originated in the southern areas of the United States. It combined the African and Western cultures. Some of the early blues musicians were Robert Johnson, Bukka White, and Bessie Smith. In the early days of this music genre, banjo and piano were used extensively.

Melody and harmony

A musical combination’s first, fourth, and fifth chords is the main focus of the harmony of blues. If the piece starts in chord A, next chords would be the chords 4th ‘D’ and 5th ‘E’. For the starting chord G, the chords that follow would be C and D. This bears similarity to the standard combinations of chord.

With regards to melody, blues music also emphasizes on the flattened 3rd, 5th, and 7th notes. These notes are of a major scale and played traditionally in the scale of blues music.

Rhythm

Rhythm is one of blues music’s unique feature as well. It is based on the repetitive pattern of 12-bar and 48-beat. The three chords are played for 12 bars. In case of different chords, the bar is normally divided into beats of certain numbers. For instance, the 1st chord would be played for 16 beats.

For the 4th chord 8 beats would be played and 8 beats are played again for the 1st chord. What follows is 4 beats for the 5th chord and 4 beats for the 4th chord. Finally, 8 beats are played for the 1st chord.

Lyrics

In blues music, the placement of lyrics is in a different manner as well, just like rhythm, harmony, and melody. There are three lines in a conventional blues song’s verse. The first two lines are almost the same with lyrics in the form of a question. Then, the third line follows, which is more like a response to the first two lines.

Considering these arrangements, the lyrical structure forms an AAB pattern. When it comes to theme, the lyrics of blues focus more on disappointing stories and sadness. The examples are poverty, violence, racism, death, and other thematic aspects.

Musical instruments

In the early years of blues music, the use of banjo was common as the main instrument. The later years saw the addition of guitar and piano. With the innovations in music over the years, blues music has seen the use of many other instruments. Today, the blues scene include musical instruments like drums, basses, and harmonica.

The use of modern instruments are the reason why blues music has many branches in recent times. Even in terms of lyrics, this form of music has undergone several changes. This is also true in case of most of the musical forms today. Over the years, there have been many sub-genres of blues. They include hip-hop, R&B, and rock and roll. Much of the heavy metal music also has roots in blues.

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Their music was initially influenced by Muddy Waters and Little Walter. Later, they were influenced by the renowned names in Wisconsin Blues, such as Billy Flynn and Jim Liban. Through their power-packed shows, the band rose to prominence on the Milwaukee Blues scene. They made the whole new generation fall in love with the Blues genre by their weekly performances.

These performances were mostly held at the Milwaukee Blues fixture and The Up & Under. The band has maintained the necessary freshness and relevance in their music. Despite all the changes over the years, the band still remained true to its roots of blues.

Eloise Davis

Eloise Davis is the cellist and bass player of The Blues Disciples. She resides in New Orleans, where she gives regular performances with bands such as The Swampdaddys and Major Bacon. She has served as the bassist for Pat Ramsey and the nationally touring blues band The Blues Disciples. Pat Ramsey was the frontman of this band. Unfortunately, he died in November 2008.

Eloise has also played alongside the some established female musicians. Moreover, she regularly plays bass as a substitute in several other local bands. Eloise played cello on many albums by the popular bands including The Bourbon Cowboys and The Parishioners. She has also given some wonderful performances as a solo cellist with orchestra.

She has even composed classical and modern pieces, thus utilizing her education in advanced music theory. Before pursuing music in 2005 full-time, Eloise was a writer and editor for 15 years. During this period, she worked for local, regional, and international publications.

Dave Renson

Starting off at the age of 10, Renson has been playing guitar for nearly 46 years. The first gig for which he got paid happened when he was 13 years of age. His mother worked with a church choir and later became a music teacher. She had his brother and sister take piano lessons. Thus, music had an influence on him right from his childhood.

Around 1970, his mother took him to The Paul Winter Concert. He described the music as very creative that didn’t quite fit into any of the typical genres. Johnny Winter, Jimi Hendrix, and Gibson Firebird were some of the musicians who had a great influence on him. According to him Johnny didn’t sound like anyone else. He had also mentioned that no one sounded like Johnny either.

Remembering his early years, he said that he used to spend many hours listening to the great blues musicians. He also played along with Johnny Winter, B.B. King, Jimi Hendrix, and Jeff Beck. Renson currently fronts his own band known as Major Bacon. It has three musicians from the blues rock genre and they have their weekly gigs in New Orleans.

He has spent more than a decade playing on the road with Pat Ramsey and The Blues Disciples. Before this, he had played with the singer and harmonica player, JD Hill and the Jammers. All the bands he played for are in the blues rock genre with a little bit of fusion.

3. Pat Ramsey

He was a veteran who spent more than 30 years in the trenches. Ramsey is famous for his work in White Hot & Blue, a critically-acclaimed album that came out in 1978. In the early 1970s, he was playing with the Bunny Brooks Band in Denver. He was a skilled harpist, which was noticed by Rick Derringer, a member of Johnny Winter’s band. Derringer recommended this young player of harmonica to Johnny Winter.

In order to join Butch Trucks from the Allman Brothers Band, Ramsey relocated to Florida. He joined the blues rock band from the 1980s, Crosscut Saw, as a harp player and frontman. While he was a member of this band, he opened for many great artists. They included B.B. King, Johnny Winter, and the Nighthawks. This also gave him the opportunity to tour the east coast extensively.

Crosscut Saw recorded Mad, Bad and Dangerous, which was an album for a Florida-based indie label. This album was later reissued by Akarma, an Italian rock label. After five years, Crosscut Saw disbanded when Julien Kasper left the band. This young blues guitar prodigy wanted to attend graduate school.

Ramsey collaborated with a number of bands from the late-1980s through the 1990s. They included the Poulos-Ramsey Band that he had formed with Greg Poulos, the former guitarist of Freddie King. From Sarasota to Memphis, this band became a popular name. It also opened for artists such as James Cotton and Charlie Musselwhite.

Ramsey recorded It’s About Time in the early 1990s. This was his first solo CD. He became a part of The Blues Disciples with drummer Steve Howell and guitarist Dave Renson. This band soon became one of the favorite bands of Florida. They played at the clubs and festivals. The Blues Disciples also released two live albums.

Ramsey wasn’t a celebrity and kept a low profile for much of his career. Despite this, he was a favorite among many of the blues and rock fans across south-eastern United States. He was an extremely talented and hard-working musician who was a personification of the blues spirit.

4. Steve Howell

A drummer for Pat Ramsey between 1986 and 1992, Howell has been a Sarasota resident since he was 12. He started drumming in bands featuring his brother Mike when he was a teenager. He was a drummer for The Blues Disciples for nearly seven years. In the early 2000s, he recorded and toured with Coco Robincheaux in France. Howell also toured with him at the New Orleans Heritage Jazz Festival in 2000.

His recording credits include Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know and Live at the Grand. Steve Howell was the co-writer for Allergic to Work and Build Me A Woman. These two songs featured Pat Ramsey and played on global blues radio channels. Howell also played behind some great musicians such as Johnny Marshall, Eddie Kirkland, Bill Wharton and Jason Ricci.

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Vocal and instrumental are the two types in blues music. The former deals with sadness, bad luck, and struggles. However, blues is not just about the tragic aspects of life. It can also be about exuberant, joyful, and positive feelings. This type of blues also celebrates life. Many blues artists also use a musical instrument such as a piano or guitar while singing.

The most popular instrument used in blues has always been the guitar. Instrumental blues deal with self-expression through the improvisational style of famous instrumentalists. Here are some interesting facts about this musical genre:

1. Pattern of lyrics

A single line was repeated four times in the lyrics of early traditional verses of blues. The current and the most common structure became a standard only in the 20th century’s early decades. The standard lyrical pattern in blues is AAB, which consists of singing a line over the four first bars. It repeats over the next four bars and then a longer concluding line repeats over final bars.

2. Early form of blues

Earlier, blues used to take the form of a loose narrative frequently. It was often the reflection of the troubles that the African-American community experienced. A trance-like rhythm and call-and-response is reinforced and then a repetitive effect is formed. This is called a groove.

3. First published blues song

It was in 1908 that the first publication of blues sheet music took place. The first published song that used the word ‘blues’ was I Got the Blues by Antonio Maggio. At the beginning of the 20th century, chroniclers started reporting about blues in Deep South and Southern Texas.

4. First appearance

The first appearance of blues dates back to the days after emancipation. Later, the Blacks went to ‘juke joints’ to listen to music, gamble, or dance. Often, the early blues songs were an expression of the newfound freedom of the slaves in America.

5. Common characteristics

It were the strange behaviors of individual performers that shaped the blues genre. Despite this, there are a few characteristics common in all blues songs. One of them is the call-and-response sounds. One can attribute this to the unaccompanied vocals and oral traditions of the slave community. Later, blues evolved into a number of sub-genres and styles.

6. Possible African origins

There are several elements in blues music that one can trace back to the musical traditions of Africa. They include the call-and-response format. Many believe that the origin of blues is in the African-American community’s religious music. It is possible that a few other forms might have had an influence on this musical genre.

7. Origin of the term

It is highly possible that the term ‘blues’ might’ve come from the term ‘blue devils’. George Colman’s one-act farce in 1798 titled Blue Devils could be an example of the term’s earliest usage. The first copyrighted composition of blues was Dallas Blues by Hart Wand.

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Ramsey’s credentials of blues was undisputed, considering the fat and soulful sound that he produced from the harmonica. Among his mates were Dave Renson, who always came up with some excellent performances with his guitar. This came from his rich background of playing for the bands of New Orleans.

Early years

Pat Ramsey was born in the year 1953 in the state of Louisiana. He began playing harmonica when he was 17 years of age. In 1973, he joined the Denver-based band called Bunny Brooks Band. It was an offshoot of a band from the 1960s called Jam Factory.

Ramsey was discovered by Rick Derringer in 1978, who was pretty impressed with his performance. He told Johnny Winter about Ramsey. He liked the harp player’s performance so much that he hired him for his album White Hot & Blue. Ramsey met Butch Trucks of Allman Brothers in late 1978.

He had a few fantastic jams in Colorado with Trucks and his band. In the following year, Ramsey met a local band of Tallahassee known as Crosscut Saw. He formed a great partnership with the 17-year-old Julien Kasper, a guitar prodigy.

The number of members in the band reduced from seven to four. Crosscut Saw gave some impressive performances in the next five years. The band even opened for B.B. King, Johnny Van Zandt, Johnny Winter, and other musicians.

In the 1980s

Crosscut Saw released their album before disbanding, which was titled Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know. The band’s reunions that happen every year are still among the top draws of Tallahassee. In the year 1985, the Pat Ramsey Band was formed when Julien chose to study the graduate-level Jazz.

The band opened for many notable musicians. It also had a seven-city tour of Florida with Ramsey’s old friend Johnny Winter in 1987. Three years later, Pat Ramsey moved to Sarasota in Florida for playing with the guitarist Greg Poulos. This led to the formation of Poulos-Ramsey Band.

Within months of the band’s formation, they opened for Charlie Musslewhite, Albert Collins, Pinetop Perkins, and other leading musicians. Renowned music journalist Jerry Wexler hailed them as “Sarasota’s only blues band”.

Move to Memphis and death

The band made a move to Memphis two years later. Tragedy struck the family of Greg Poulos when Ramsey was busy looking for gigs in the city. This brought an end to the band and its endeavors. The next couple of years in the city was a struggle for Ramsey.

By now, his old friend Julien Kasper was a professor at Berklee College of Music in Boston. With the help of Kasper and some of the best musicians of Memphis, Ramsey produced a music CD. It was titled It’s About Time. This CD received some great reviews and Ramsey began touring once again.

Along with Dave Renson, he gave some memorable live performances for The Blues Disciples. They produced the live CDs Live at the Big Bend Blues Bash and Live at the Grand. On the 17th of November 2008, Pat Ramsey passed away after a long battle with Hepatitis C.

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