I guess that's why they call it the Blues
Tom Service is joined by jazz pianist Julian Joseph to discover its earliest African-American origins right up to current-day Blues music and its influence on classical musicians.
We all think we know what 'The Blues' means - whether it's feeling down in the dumps or a musical genre that links Muddy Waters through to The Rolling Stones.
But what is it really? What makes The Blues the Blues? And where did it come from? Tom Service is joined by jazz pianist Julian Joseph to discover its earliest African-American origins right up to current-day Blues music and its influence on classical musicians.
Whether we're talking Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, classical composers using 'Blue' notes or that feeling of melancholy - the Blues has often found its way onto the concert stage too. Tom looks back across classical music history to find that actually music has had a bad case of the blues for many centuries.
Last on
More episodes
Previous
Music Played
-
![]()
B.B. King
3 O聮Clock Blues
Performer: B.B. King.- Hallmark Records.
-
![]()
Claudio Monteverdi
Lamento della ninfa
Performer: Nuria Rial, soprano. Performer: L聮Arpeggiata. Performer: Christina Pluhar, director.- Erato.
-
![]()
Robert Johnson
Crossroad Blues
Performer: Robert Johnson.- Shadows Music.
-
![]()
IGOR STRAVINKSY
Ebony Concerto
Performer: Benny Goodman, clarinet. Performer: Columbia Jazz Ensemble. Performer: Igor Stravinsky, conductor.- Sony.
-
![]()
Elvis Presley
Heartbreak Hotel
Performer: Elvis Presley.- RCA.
-
![]()
Anthony Holborne
Countess of Pembrook's paradise - pavan for consort
Performer: Dowland Consort. Performer: Jakob Lundberg, director.- BIS.
-
![]()
WOLGANG AMADEUS MOZART
Lacrimosa from Requiem
Performer: Dunedin Consort. Performer: John Butt, conductor.- LINN.
-
![]()
John Dowland
Flow my Tears
Performer: Andreas Scholl, countertenor. Performer: Andreas Martin, lute.- Harmonia Mundi.
-
![]()
Henry Purcell
When I am Laid in Earth (Dido and Aeneas)
Performer: Joyce DiDonato, mezzo-soprano. Performer: Il Pomo d鈥橭ro. Performer: Maxim Emelyanychov, conductor.- Erato.
-
![]()
Johann Sebastian Bach
Air from Suite for orchestra no. 3 in D major (BWV.1068)
Performer: Akadamie fur Alte Musik.- Harmonia Mundi.
-
![]()
GYORGY LIGETI
Horn Trio 聳 聭Lamento聮
Performer: Danish Horn Trio.- CHANDOS.
-
![]()
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Symphony No 6 in B minor, Op 74 聭Pathetique聮 (Adagio lamentoso)
Performer: Czech Philharmonic. Performer: Semyon Bychkov, conductor.- Decca.
-
![]()
Alfred Schnittke
Hymn no.2 for cello and double bass
Performer: Torleif Thed茅en, cello,. Performer: Entcho Radoukanov, double bass.- Rhino.
-
![]()
John Dowland
Semper Dowland semper dolens - pavan for lute
Performer: Paul O鈥橠ette.- Harmonia Mundi.
-
![]()
John Dowland
If My Complaints could passions move
Performer: Mark Padmore, tenor. Performer: Elizabeth Kenny, lute.- Hyperion.
-
![]()
Benjamin Britten
Lachrymae
Performer: Chamber Orchestra of Europe. Performer: William Conway, conductor.- Warner.
-
![]()
John Dowland
In Darkness let me dwell
Performer: Iestyn Davies, counter-tenor. Performer: Thomas Dunford, lute.- Wigmore Hall Live.
-
![]()
Thomas Ad猫s
Darknesse Visible
Performer: Inon Barnatan (piano).- Avie.
-
![]()
Robert Johnson
Kind Hearted Woman Blues
Performer: Robert Johnson.- Shadows Music.
-
![]()
William Christopher Handy
St Louis Blues
Performer: Bessie Smith, vocals. Performer: Louis Armstrong, trumpet.- Columbia.
-
![]()
Ma Rainey
Blame it on the Blues
Performer: Ma Rainey.- JSP Records.
-
![]()
Bessie Smith
A good man is hard to find
Performer: Bessie Smith.- Music Rough Guides.
-
![]()
Charley Patton
Revenue Man Blues
Performer: Charley Patton.- Orbis.
-
![]()
Muddy Waters
Smokestack Lightning
Performer: Muddy Waters.- Not Now Music.
-
![]()
Robert Johnson
Kind Hearted Woman Blues
Performer: Robert Johnson.- Shadows Music.
-
![]()
George Gershwin
Rhapsody in Blue
Performer: Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano. Performer: Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Performer: Marin Alsop, conductor.- Decca.
-
![]()
George Gershwin
Summertime
Performer: Ella Fitzgerald, vocals. Performer: Louis Armstrong, vocals and trumpet.- Verve.
-
![]()
Maurice Ravel
Violin Sonata- 2nd movement "Blues聮
Performer: Janine Jansen, violin. Performer: Itmar Golan, piano.- Decca.
-
![]()
Derek and the Dominos
Bell Bottom Blues
Performer: Derek and the Dominos.- Polydor.
-
![]()
B.B. King
Don聮t Look Now But I聮ve Got The Blues
Performer: B.B. King.- Not Now Music.
Broadcasts
- Sun 4 Feb 2018 17:00成人快手 Radio 3
- Sun 24 Feb 2019 17:00成人快手 Radio 3
- Sun 21 Jun 2020 17:00成人快手 Radio 3
- Fri 26 Jun 2020 16:30成人快手 Radio 3
Why do we call it 'classical' music?
Tom Service poses a very simple question (with a not-so-simple answer).
Six of the world's most extreme voices
From babies to Mongolian throat singers: whose voice is the most extreme of all?
How did the number 12 revolutionise music?
How Schoenberg opened a new cosmos for composers and listeners to explore.
Why are we all addicted to bass?
Bass is everywhere, but why do we enjoy it? Join Tom Service on a journey of discovery.
Watch the animations
Join Tom Service on a musical journey through beginnings, repetition and bass lines.
When does noise become music?
We like to think we can separate 鈥渘oise鈥� from 鈥渕usic鈥�, but is it that simple?
Podcast
-
![]()
The Listening Service
An odyssey through the musical universe, presented by Tom Service
